hendersons Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 It seems that another gun shop seems to close every week at the moment. I heard today that adenbourne is closing in Witney at the end of the month. If they keep closing at this rate there won't be that many around anymore. I think it's a great shame that we will lose the service and knowledge that these small shops provide. So my question to you is where do you think we will be buying our bits from in coming years. Will it be just from 2/3 massive shops that specialise in mail order, eBay perhaps or will we be buying our bits from overseas which I know a few do anyway. Also is there anything we can do to stop this decline? Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Plenty of gun shops seem to think licenceing will get more stricter and expensive, the cost of cartridges is only going in one direction, and this will price allot of shooters out of the sport. They seem to think in 5 to 10 years it will be financially out of reach for most of us. Therefore, the small shops being forced to close. On the plus side, loads more pigeon shooting and the farmers might pay us to do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I live miles from Adenborne, but used to drive up there to buy a 1000 cartridges + whatever I needed at the time, they were/are that much cheaper than anyone else near me. They messed up an order for a sound mod I needed in a hurry but other than I have no problems with them at all. They always seemed pretty busy and they are one of the bigger shops, so I wouldn't hold out much hope for the small/overpriced/miserable type gunshops Are they having a sale? :yp: Edit: seems they are.. Closing down sale! Adenbourne field sports will be closing by 31st July 2012. Everything must go! All stock at very advantageous prices! Please note that if you have a gun lodged with us for sale, storage or repair it must be collected as soon as possible! The Staff would like to thank all of our customers for their business over the last twelve years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I heard the shop and land had been sold for a an Aldi supermarket development and it was the onwer cashing out rather than not making any money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 That would make it a very small Aldi, but stranger things have happened.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/206457-another-gun-shop-closing/page__p__1768263__hl__adenbourne__fromsearch__1#entry1768263 PArt of a larger buy up IIRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruity Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 As you say ebay/online are killing them, one of my local gunshops are great to have a look around and a chat but just so expensive compared to online. people cant afford to pay the higher prices to help keep there local stores open imho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersons Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I realise that the closure had been done before (I used the search). I was just wondering what the future held for us that still needed to buy our things. That's why I started this thread. Dunkield I may be able to help with decent cart prices for you and if I remember rightly just off the M4. I'll dig out the web address when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersons Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Sorry wrong motorway but not too far http://www.clayshootingrus.co.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I guess there is nothing stopping someone opening another one in the area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I've got a few gun shops near me, and in fact one practically on my doorstep. The price they seem to charge for things like ammunition varies hugely, and I for one wouldn't really count it as a massive loss if some of the aforementioned overpriced/miserable type gunshops shut down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David BASC Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 The problem faced by any business with the cost price of the things you sell is often down to volume. eg. You will typically get a better deal form a supplier the more items you buy; and the less you but the higher your unit cost. What ever your cost price is will have an impact on your selling price, that together with your overheads of course. Ultimately it will be very tough for a small shop to compete with some of the bigger guys on price, or for that matter someone who in effect runs a virtual shop above a small warehouse of goods. This does not just apply to the gun trade, how many butchers, bakers, greengrocers and so on have vanished near where you live over the past 30 years? Most of them I bet. How many of us get our milk delivered in glass pint bottles? Price is always going to be a motivator, but not always to top reasons for buying or not buying. The quality of the product and indeed the after sales service is very important, and how we are treated in the shop is probably most important of all. Good shops, with good products and good customer service will hallways have a better chance of surviving, and if any gunshops in the UK do not have its own website to help promote the business and sell a few bits well you are really missing a trick! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 RFD are one of the only industries that have legislation to protect them staying open (no mail order on guns and FAC ammunition) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 how we are treated in the shop is probably most important of all. David Reckon so, people are very likely to pay a little more to support a local business that does its best to support its customers. It's a sad irony that so many of the 'grumpy gunshop men' you see about can't seem to grasp what is a fairly simple premise. Makes you wonder if they started like that or whether the gun trade somehow sucked the souls out of them? We should be told... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedwards1966 Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Well it's a shame when they go, I do think that it's largely down to the internet. If I can buy something for much less (often half the price) online, usually on eBay, it will often arrive the next day or so and it's easier than a trip out - so where is the incentive to buy from a gun shop, which may or may not be local? Only those with time and money to spare can do so. What will really kill them off is when shotguns become section 1 (yes it will happen, whether in 2 years or 60) and shotgunning dies, and if/when air-guns become restricted again starting to kill them off. At that point I suppose most shops will close, leaving only a few of the more successful shops to serve the remaining shooter at almost any price they want. They don't always help themselves, you hear of some shops that are unhelpful, not businesslike, and sometimes rude, when they act like that they don't do themselves any favors. Shops often seem bad at building and maintaining websites, which must be important for their survival considering everything is happening on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 i had to smile as i read the thread. This is not a comment aimed at this thread but just an observation. As a population, we complain of "Rip off Britain", yet when a business does go, we then complain again. You cannot compare like for like when looking abroad as local taxes etc come into it & as David BASC says, poor service and poor quality products will not help but the fact is you cannot run a retail shop on web based margins. In my years at Sony, it was scary just how small some retailer margins were. Not sure I agree with you HDAV, it does not protect them as it does not control price, in most industries (electronics is one, by law the manufacturer cannot set or even discuss retail price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 i had to smile as i read the thread. This is not a comment aimed at this thread but just an observation. As a population, we complain of "Rip off Britain", yet when a business does go, we then complain again. I think to be fair a lot of the 'rip-offs' in Britain which annoy the public are, more or less, Government led. All businesses have to make a decision about the basis on which they intend to compete, be it price, service, specialism etc. I think in the gun trade we've all seen gun shops which don't appear to try to compete at all, and exist by virtue of there not being another one for miles around, thus creating a regional monopoly. It's not rocket science to appear interested in your customer and eager to help them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keg Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Agreed Thunderbird, i stil think the way forward for the government is to get rid of all taxes apart from VAT, then it's case of user pays .. Tin Hat on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Not sure I agree with you HDAV, it does not protect them as it does not control price, in most industries (electronics is one, by law the manufacturer cannot set or even discuss retail price. PRice has nothing to do with it, RFD's will always exist some are retail premises, some are "workshops", some are from homes and garages. There is no national chain of RFD's there are some big regional dealers. Perhaps there just aren't enough shooters to maintain the number of retailers? I see lots where angling seems to be the focus not guns and the RFD bit is secondary. Or they sell airguns but little in the way of FAC or SGC guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cant hit rabbits 123 Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 PRice has nothing to do with it, RFD's will always exist some are retail premises, some are "workshops", some are from homes and garages. There is no national chain of RFD's there are some big regional dealers. Perhaps there just aren't enough shooters to maintain the number of retailers? I see lots where angling seems to be the focus not guns and the RFD bit is secondary. Or they sell airguns but little in the way of FAC or SGC guns. I've been to many shops where all they have on display are air guns, and when asked they may have a few shotguns or a rifle in the safe that they have had for ages. A considerable amount of places I have been to have seen speciallist airgun shops stay open while RFD's and county stores have closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBS Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Last time I visited the gun shop in rugby he was telling me how he had just spent 4k on a custom rifle and 1k for the scope to go on it just as he was putting my hard earned in his cash register! It made me screw my fist up as i had just paid £50 for a few bits I could have easily picked up for £25 on eBay, I like to do my bit to keep people ticking over when I can but I'll only be buying ammo from him from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Last time I visited the gun shop in rugby he was telling me how he had just spent 4k on a custom rifle and 1k for the scope to go on it just as he was putting my hard earned in his cash register! It made me screw my fist up as i had just paid £50 for a few bits I could have easily picked up for £25 on eBay, I like to do my bit to keep people ticking over when I can but I'll only be buying ammo from him from now on. Erm I don't get it, if he told you he had just bought a used mondeo would you feel the same? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
englishman-in-wales Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Last time I visited the gun shop in rugby he was telling me how he had just spent 4k on a custom rifle and 1k for the scope to go on it just as he was putting my hard earned in his cash register! Is that not the whole point of been in business to turn a profit, how he chooses to spend that 'profit' is down to him i would have thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersons Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Last time I visited the gun shop in rugby he was telling me how he had just spent 4k on a custom rifle and 1k for the scope to go on it just as he was putting my hard earned in his cash register! It made me screw my fist up as i had just paid £50 for a few bits I could have easily picked up for £25 on eBay, I like to do my bit to keep people ticking over when I can but I'll only be buying ammo from him from now on. I'm sure the guy works hard for his money and like the rest of us can save it to buy what he likes. The very fact he was telling you about it suggests that it is something unusual for him and something that he is proud of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBS Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 I'm sure the guy works hard for his money and like the rest of us can save it to buy what he likes. The very fact he was telling you about it suggests that it is something unusual for him and something that he is proud of. The point im making is that he must be doing ok to spend 5k on a custom rifle and I'm not suprised seeing his prices are so high, I spend in ther because I feel gunships struggle if you don't but if he's going to rub it in my face then I'll spend my money elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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