Gun Store Etiquette

[Bekeart]

No my experience with locally owned shop

Back to using my locally owned stores where I can just walk in and be greeted with 'Can I help you find something ?' and seeing several people behind the counter.
How do these store managers justify having only 2 people manning the gun counter when there are approximately 10 people standing there waiting ?

Recent experience at locally owned shop.
Had hear that the shop either had, or a companion shop had a particular model Smith.
Walk in an stand at counter.
Owner in "serious conversation" with a person.
Employee is standing at other counter and seems to be doing nothing.
I wait, wait, and wait.
Turn to walk out - suddenly I am noticed.
Do you need something?
I walked out in silence.

 

[Bald1]

I don't mind to much if an employee is not real knowledgeable on a certain item I'm interested in. It's hard to know everything about everything. As long as they try and service the customer I'll come back. At my local Cabelas there's a little hipster guy. You know the type. Skinny jeans, work boots and beard. Hes very opinionated. On a personal level, he and I would NEVER get along. But he's good at his job. I've actually seeked him out before.

 

[tlawler]

The one thing that makes Me leave any store is when I am in a conversation with a sales person and They say " excuse Me " and take a phone call. If it's a male I usually get close and say really loud "remember, We gotta meet the girls right after work." For the ladies I just change girls to guys.

Recent experience at locally owned shop.
Had hear that the shop either had, or a companion shop had a particular model Smith.
Walk in an stand at counter.
Owner in "serious conversation" with a person.
Employee is standing at other counter and seems to be doing nothing.
I wait, wait, and wait.
Turn to walk out - suddenly I am noticed.
Do you need something?
I walked out in silence.

In both of those scenarios, I've just turned and walked out. Doesn't matter if it's a trade supply house or LGS.

I really don't like salespeople in general. I love to ask them pointed questions in regard to an item I'm interested in and have researched extensively myself and then call them on their bs when they try and "wing it" with whatever limited knowledge they have or just outright make up stuff. The more they talk, the more I know they are trying to snow you. Remember, to them, you are just a mark.

I see an era in the not too distant future where salespeople are an anachronism.

 

[jeffrefrig]

This went from poor gun shop clerks to Walmart, which I despise.
A nice little sport shop up in the North Hills of PGH has about everything a hunter/shooter could want, pretty decent service, etc., except for the ONE old guy that always has something smart to say, and it's usually wrong. (that's MY job!) But, it's near a shooting range run by the PA Game Commission.
All I know about Walmart, is if I ever have to jump out of a perfectly fine-running airplane, my parachute will be made of whatever that material is that some of these beasts shove all those rolls of tires & fat into and put them on...then jiggle like Frosty when they walk.
Edit to add: As far as supply houses, I've told more than one nit wit that he's on THAT side of the counter for a reason. I know what I need!

 

[Buford57]

Would this have been Mega Sports in Plainfield, IL?

Wouldn't have surprised me. When they started requiring a FOID card to walk through the door and buy decapping pins 10 years ago I took my business elsewhere.

 

[Warren Sear]

I notice there are a lot of easily-offended pinky lifters on the forum these days.

 

[Autonomous]

It's tough on both sides of the counter with a high percentage of flakes everywhere.
Salespeople get just as sick of ****** customers as we do of bad salespeople.
Business owners don't get a pass either. When you are talking to a counter person, and he picks up the phone it's because she has instructions to take the call to try to make that sale. It is assumed you will stay in line and buy something anyway.

 

[Kiwi cop]

It's tough on both sides of the counter with a high percentage of flakes everywhere.
Salespeople get just as sick of ****** customers as we do of bad salespeople.
Business owners don't get a pass either. When you are talking to a counter person, and he picks up the phone it's because she has instructions to take the call to try to make that sale. It is assumed you will stay in line and buy something anyway.

I never mind the salesman/owner of my LGS taking a phone call. It's probably me on the other end of the call

Also they spend too much time in useless discussion with me at the counter.

 

[Harrison]

Max, I'm sure I'm going to sound like a curmudgeon, but this type of behavior in sales personnel is becoming more and more frequent. It used to be where a sales person saw their job as a service. Sadly, many of today's younger generation see it only as a job.

Thankfully at the small local gun store I frequent, the owner is the youngest one there, He is in his early 40s. The other three that work there (not all at the same time) could qualify as geezers. They are all helpful and friendly, and know their guns. But then it is a small store in a small town and depends a lot on return customers, and a good reputation among the locals. And, if they don't have it, they can usually get it in 3-4 days.

 

[GaryS]

Tractor supply does the same thing. They had a gun cabinet on sale and I was willing to buy the store model, but they couldn't find the key. The store manager said that she could order one and have it shipped to the store but the shipping would be $99. I went to academy and bought larger one for the same as the sale price at tractor supply.

Here is my gripe with PSA. If you go there and they do not have the gun you want, but it is at the warehouse, they cannot order it at the store level and have it shipped into the store. The customer has to go online, order it, PAY SHIPPING to the local store and it still gets delivered by their truck on the weekly warehouse delivery.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Precisely why I never shop at large stores.

Mom and pop gun shops are just trying to support their family and put kids through school. Not buy their second vacation home in the Hamptons.

 

[Smeckler]

It sounds like the salesman had no knowledge about the type of firearm you were looking for and didn't want to look like the fool he was, so wanted you to help yourself. I bet he could've talked for days about the Glocks they sold. That seems to be the way it goes now.