I made an 8-hour round trip so my son, who had just turned 21, could buy his first firearm on his…read moreown as a birthday milestone. The prices here were excellent, and while we were shopping, I found several firearms I wanted to purchase as well.
We arrived about two hours before closing, which should have been plenty of time. The first salesperson retrieved the box for the firearm my son initially selected, but he changed his mind after finding the same model in black. I also let the staff know which firearms I wanted to buy, and they said they needed to locate the boxes.
A little later, we were told they couldn't continue looking because there was a manager meeting in the area where the boxes were stored, and employees weren't allowed in. That was a baffling decision. Why schedule a meeting that prevents your sales staff from accessing inventory and completing sales?
To save time, they had us complete all of the paperwork while they continued looking. Our background checks were approved without issue. At that point, all that remained was checking out. Then we were told they couldn't find any of the four boxes for the firearms, so they couldn't sell them.
I understand why the original boxes are required, they contain the extra magazines, accessories, and documentation. I even suggested completing the sale and having my son, who lives in Knoxville, pick up the box later if necessary. That wasn't an option.
What was even more concerning was the explanation. We were told Beretta "just gives them tons of guns," as if the manufacturer was somehow responsible. But Beretta doesn't unpack the firearms, place them in display cases, and lose track of the boxes. That's entirely an inventory management issue.
If you have dozens of identical firearms, I understand that finding a specific serial-numbered box could be challenging. But there are simple inventory solutions. Assign each display firearm a matching inventory number, place the same number on its box, and store the boxes sequentially. Locating the correct box would take minutes instead of potentially becoming impossible.
To one employee's credit, he made another attempt to locate my son's box and eventually found it, allowing him to complete his birthday purchase. I genuinely appreciated his effort.
Unfortunately, I left empty-handed. Initially, I told them not to bother looking for my firearms the next day because I wasn't driving another eight-hour round trip. Before leaving, however, I changed my mind and asked them to call me if they located the boxes so I could decide whether I could make arrangements.
Two days later, I still hadn't received a phone call.
The store lost roughly $1,400 in sales from my purchases alone. That's not an insignificant amount, and it's hard to understand how any business can be comfortable displaying inventory that it ultimately can't sell because it can't locate the required packaging.
The pricing was outstanding, and several employees were friendly and genuinely tried to help. Unfortunately, poor inventory management and operational decisions completely overshadowed what should have been a great experience. I hope management takes a hard look at these processes because I can't imagine the owners would be pleased knowing sales are being lost simply because employees can't access or locate inventory that's already on display.
