Your lucky to have it so good. The sporting goods stores her in Northeast Arkansas don't carry O/U or SXS shoguns. You'd be hard pressed to find one.
Can't Order What you want?
I got off work a bit early today. Decided to hit a few sporting goods stores on the way home. I went into one nameless store, a national chain btw...Asked how one would go about ordering a gun that WASNT in stock...or on their racks.
Same thing at all 3 stores I checked: You can only buy a brand name that they are already a stocking dealer for, and can not special order anything else! I also noticed that these particular stores only carried about 4 brands, one store had only ONE SXS on the rack, the rest semi-autos, no pumps and only two O/U. It truly is disappointing, of course this is probably how all the "discount chains" do it. Anyone else have this experience anywhere else in the country?
Same thing at all 3 stores I checked: You can only buy a brand name that they are already a stocking dealer for, and can not special order anything else! I also noticed that these particular stores only carried about 4 brands, one store had only ONE SXS on the rack, the rest semi-autos, no pumps and only two O/U. It truly is disappointing, of course this is probably how all the "discount chains" do it. Anyone else have this experience anywhere else in the country?
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Here's a great time to mention the little gun shops you find here and there and a perfect reason to support them. They don't have a chance at beating Wally-Worlds prices with their buying power, but if it means paying an extra 20 bucks for a new gun, then I say keep the little guy going. My favorite "little guy" can get about anything you want on Friday if you ask by noon Wednesday. This guy usually has about 20 or so guns on hand, no employees, and basically lives in his shop. He's not making it rich, but apparently does enough to keep going since he's been here for about 15 years. There's not much he can't find very quickly and is a nice guy to chat with. No need to buy something just to be welcomed into his place. I'll support this type of shop any chance I get.
It's a joke when you want to spend thousand dollars and they shy away from your purchase.
Desertrat - Holy Cow! I now see that I am not the only one who had trouble getting what they wanted as opposed to being sold something they didn't... I had the luxury, if you call it that, of going to and/or contacting a total of (8) gun stores / dealers before I was able to get what I was looking for... After an arduous 3 month personal soul searching journey of deciding exactly what type / make / model SG would proudly be called my 'first' I began what could only be considered the worst hunt in my 32 year life - finding a Winchester Supreme Select O/U Field.
Ahhhh! Is all I could say time and time again... No one carried the new version of the Select. 1 national chain store didn't show it on their list to order and therefore wouldn't even look into it. 4 of the stores SALES wouldn't even give me the time of day once I asked about it. A national chain store that is commission driven only tried to tell me that what they had was better than what I wanted and wouldn't look into ordering it. A small store in a nearby town would order it, but with a heafty markup. The last place - a pawn shop in another nearby town - if you can believe it - actually was the only place who did any searching. After a few days and about a half dozen phone calls they found a dealer whom they could get it from and ordered it for me. Their price was, I felt, incredibly low so I had them check / re-check and verify for me it was the exact model I was looking for. After reassurance the order was placed; the deal was done; and the Shotgun is tons of fun!
The journey was well worth it, but it was probably more difficult for me too to obtain the SG after I decided what I wanted...
Keep searching... Call everyone in the book... Look at nearby towns... You never know. The last place you might think would be able to get your SG might be the best place to get it! And by the way, this little pawn shop did beat Wally Worlds price by $40.
Ahhhh! Is all I could say time and time again... No one carried the new version of the Select. 1 national chain store didn't show it on their list to order and therefore wouldn't even look into it. 4 of the stores SALES wouldn't even give me the time of day once I asked about it. A national chain store that is commission driven only tried to tell me that what they had was better than what I wanted and wouldn't look into ordering it. A small store in a nearby town would order it, but with a heafty markup. The last place - a pawn shop in another nearby town - if you can believe it - actually was the only place who did any searching. After a few days and about a half dozen phone calls they found a dealer whom they could get it from and ordered it for me. Their price was, I felt, incredibly low so I had them check / re-check and verify for me it was the exact model I was looking for. After reassurance the order was placed; the deal was done; and the Shotgun is tons of fun!
The journey was well worth it, but it was probably more difficult for me too to obtain the SG after I decided what I wanted...
Keep searching... Call everyone in the book... Look at nearby towns... You never know. The last place you might think would be able to get your SG might be the best place to get it! And by the way, this little pawn shop did beat Wally Worlds price by $40.
Thanks for all the insight. I always have and always will try and support the independents and the "little guy"...I am glad I did my little survey yesterday cuz it sure shows the state of affairs at most stores nowadays.
Good shooting all!
Good shooting all!
G
id like to know what sporting goods store your talking about, because i work at Dick's in the lodge, and we dont decide what guns we carry. Whats on the rack and in the stock room is what we offer. We can however, special order guns, but your looking at paying FULL msrp on the item. There is no markup on those guns from our store, because you are paying what we have to pay to get just one of the gun you want from the manufacturer. We have ONE book with the list of firearms and manufacturers that we can special order from. We cant order a gun that isnt in the book. As a corperate store, the associates dont decide what is carried in the store, and customers like you who dont accept that as an answer can write the head guys at corperate or go elsewhere.
The reason that we dont carry many SxS is for the simple fact that no one is coming to our store to buy a 1500 gun,thats what the local GUN only shops are for. They are not popular to the average joe who is looking for an all purpose shotgun. Also what is carried differs from store to store. We dont carry many rifles for the simple fact that you cant hunt most places with one, therfor they arent as popular.
As for the associates not helping you, you should have asked to speak to the manager and explained your situation if you thought something was wrong. Dont let one employee blacken the entire chain.
The reason that we dont carry many SxS is for the simple fact that no one is coming to our store to buy a 1500 gun,thats what the local GUN only shops are for. They are not popular to the average joe who is looking for an all purpose shotgun. Also what is carried differs from store to store. We dont carry many rifles for the simple fact that you cant hunt most places with one, therfor they arent as popular.
As for the associates not helping you, you should have asked to speak to the manager and explained your situation if you thought something was wrong. Dont let one employee blacken the entire chain.
Well said Clint...
Anyone that goes into a national chain and expects custom service needs to rethink their actions...
Wally-World, K-Mart, Target, Sears, etc...None of them will special order you stuff anymore...The world just does not work that way...
You want to special order, then go to a locally owned store or your buddy at work with the FFL...
There is one place here that does SRO business and the place is small...It is in fact one converted bay in the guys gas station/garage...He is the closest gunshop to the metro area of Burlington, VT...They know their stuff and can't be beat for service...
Anyone that goes into a national chain and expects custom service needs to rethink their actions...
Wally-World, K-Mart, Target, Sears, etc...None of them will special order you stuff anymore...The world just does not work that way...
You want to special order, then go to a locally owned store or your buddy at work with the FFL...
There is one place here that does SRO business and the place is small...It is in fact one converted bay in the guys gas station/garage...He is the closest gunshop to the metro area of Burlington, VT...They know their stuff and can't be beat for service...
G
Life is good here I guess-----within a 2 hour drive----locally and neighboring cities----I can look at and handle most any model from-----AyA--Merkel----Remington---Browning ----Winchester----Ruger---Perazzi----Kreigoff----Baikal---Stoeger---Beretta---Benelli----Franchi---SKB---Weatherby----Verona----Mossberg---Savage---Marlin---H&R----CZ---Charles Daly---Legacy----Fabarms---Traditions---SIG----and Rizzini-------If I remembered them all---whew.
Check out your local True Value hardware store for ordering stuff in-----although I would never order a shotgun that I hadn't at least handled an example of---and for a higher priced blued/walnut gun----I'd want to see the wood first too.
Check out your local True Value hardware store for ordering stuff in-----although I would never order a shotgun that I hadn't at least handled an example of---and for a higher priced blued/walnut gun----I'd want to see the wood first too.
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