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Hello. A good friend of mine is very keen on starting up his own gun shop and i am lending a hand.

:rolleyes: You are probably thinking... here we go Again! :rolleyes: (someone else starting a gun shop! Yea Right!)

But no he is honestly serious and has been doing alot of work to do with it!

He can no longer do his job a stone mason due to health reasons and heavy lifting etc. (and unlikely to be fit for it again in the future!)

 

Could really use help! So does anyone know who you go to that supply's you the Guns?

Who do gun dealers buy all their stock off??

Also not just guns & bullets but the usual gun shop stuff e.g. Clothes, Safes, Decoys, Scopes.......... the list never ends!

Would be hugely appreciated if you can help!! :good:

 

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Not entirely sure how it works with gun shops, but i would have thought he'd need a contract either direct with the manufacturer or their supplier/intermediary e.g GMK for beretta. sometimes you can get away with low transactions costs if you have something factored into the deal e.g i will sell X amount over the next X time period, but sometimes manufacturers charge a multiple of the unit cost to secure the contract e.g unit cost of beretta avg £600, multiplied by 10 is £6000 to secure a contract.

 

something like this is probably needed http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm.gun-dealers-distributors.html

 

Either that or he needs to strike a deal with someone like edgar brothers or Highland outdoors, as they are major wholesale suppliers of anything shooting related.

 

Hope it works out for you guys!

 

Mitch

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http://www.gunmart.net/distributors

 

Viking arms is a large distributor as well not mentioned in that list.

 

Also, read this article as there seems to be a management consultancy firm offering specialist advice to RFD's/Gun shops- don't know their prices but may well be some useful info!

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/idUKnGNX7mlK0J+1c5+GNW20150303

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Well I hate to ‘Rain on your friend’s Parade’, but unless you really know what you are doing in any type of business enterprise a shop can turn into a ‘Bottomless Pit of Hell’ consuming both your cash and your will to live on a minute-by-minute basis as the bills mount and your customer base fails to meet your expectations or initially does but the shop then suffers from dwindling footfall.

 

I have had two friends that have lost everything due to an over estimation of their business skills and their retail initiatives had a much broader customer base than your friend’s intended scope of business.

 

A very successful business acquaintance of mine put it like this;

Ask yourself.

  1. “Do you think that you could learn to play the violin to any degree of professional competence”?
  2. If the reply is “NO”, then ask,
  3. How about the piano?
  4. If “Ditto” is the reply.
  5. Ask, “Do you think that you could run a business that would be commercially successful”?
  6. “YES”, Oh dear! :/

 

Regards

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Well I hate to ‘Rain on your friend’s Parade’, but unless you really know what you are doing in any type of business enterprise a shop can turn into a ‘Bottomless Pit of Hell’ consuming both your cash and your will to live on a minute-by-minute basis as the bills mount and your customer base fails to meet your expectations or initially does but the shop then suffers from dwindling footfall.

 

I have had two friends that have lost everything due to an over estimation of their business skills and their retail initiatives had a much broader customer base than your friend’s intended scope of business.

 

A very successful business acquaintance of mine put it like this;

Ask yourself.

  1. “Do you think that you could learn to play the violin to any degree of professional competence”?
  2. If the reply is “NO”, then ask,
  3. How about the piano?
  4. If “Ditto” is the reply.
  5. Ask, “Do you think that you could run a business that would be commercially successful”?
  6. “YES”, Oh dear! :/

 

Regards

Not for certain yet but he is still considering it.

Plus there is a very big demand for a gun shop in the area!

Area not being a 5 mile radius. I am into guns and i have a local guy that sells bullets, cartridges and VERY VERY basic stuff. Otherwise i travel over 40 miles to the next Gun Shop! (Not Handy!)

The person wanting to do this is my sisters boyfriend and he would have alot of support in doing this!

Plus i answered yes to the Questions!

I am no real genius at business. I made quite a bit of money in school selling sweets. I work in a Shop and i am in charge of everything in the shop. I also buy & sell bits & pieces online when not working. So i know how to sell. My sisters boyfriend just has a really good knowledge of guns and is a great worker. And my sister is VERY good at business. Won awards in school days for best in NI and now coming out the back of college.

Still don't know what to do and it's really hard to decide.

I appreciate your opinion! :good:

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Good luck mate, you'll need it! Times are very hard at the minute for most small dealers, suppliers have said its the worst 6 months they've had for years. One has given up chasing customer accounts as they know all the shops are quiet!!

I'm from the motorcycle trade which is surprisingly similar! 20% off our customers used bikes as either work or sole transport, they generally wanted cheaper stuff, tighter deals. The majority was people who had bikes as toys, and spent a lot of money. But as times changed and economy took a nose dive the first thing to go was toys, people didn't change their bike as often, made their crash helmet go another year etc.

Gun trade is very similar, 20% for farmers and pest controllers, majority is for fun. Cartridges are the key, keep them stocked up and you'll stand half a chance, but how many cartridges do you get for £5k?? And the margins are low! I think your brave especially at the minute.

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My wife and I retired from work and were so bored we opened a shop , we sold anything we could get our hands on that we knew at least a little about ( you can always pick it up as you go along ), the first few weeks we struggled, but locals started coming in to support us, within 3 months we were in profit, after 2 years it had taken over our lives, we were making so much money it was incredible, we tried to find someone who could help us out but they didn't have the enthusiasm we had, my health failed and my wife couldn't manage on her own, so we closed up , we missed the buzz and the money, but after a couple of years I beat the dreaded 'c' and bounced back, this time opening an 'ebay shop' , we pace ourselves now, just doing the hours that suit us, topping up our pitiful pensions but keeping busy and enjoying it, we also run another summer business renting out holiday chalets, we just cant seem to stop, before our venture into retail sales I was an engineer and my wife had a pet grooming business, so no previous experience,

my advice , ignore the doom and gloom merchants just get on with it, take it steady at first, always listen to good advice, make sure all your friends know about it and get them to spread the word, if you can, get on line both to buy and sell, it will top up any gaps in people through the door, we all start somewhere but its up to you ( or your mate ) where it goes from there.best of luck. :good::good:

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Brilliant help Mitchiet! Thanks!!

Already 2 more large wholesalers i didn't know about!

The only one i knew was Edgar Brothers now i have Highland Outdoors and Viking Arms as 2 other big Suppliers!

Thank-You!!

 

No worries mate hope it all works out!

 

Another thing I would add is think of all the business aspects e.g. how you're going to do your marketing, operations etc and get a really good business plan in place first. Most important though is your STRATEGY. are you going to be a cost leader competing with uttings on an e-business platform, a customer intimacy business competing with the local gun shops (most likely) and charge slightly higher prices in return for outstanding customer service and knowledge etc. or a product leader who continually comes up with new products e.g getting deals with American companies for 'very hard to get' products in the UK. (Im sure you've seen how much money brownells/midway UK charges for things that aren't easily available in the UK) think of the margins! :D

 

Strategy is said to be the most important thing in a business along with people, research some of the books on it and they are amazing- transformed my little side-business and other business' I know of. THE best book I know of on the subject and the one I read all the time is "strategic management, Theory and Application" by Adrian Haberberg and Alison Rieple.

 

Good luck!

 

Mitch

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Not for certain yet but he is still considering it.

Plus there is a very big demand for a gun shop in the area!

Area not being a 5 mile radius. I am into guns and i have a local guy that sells bullets, cartridges and VERY VERY basic stuff. Otherwise i travel over 40 miles to the next Gun Shop! (Not Handy!)

The person wanting to do this is my sisters boyfriend and he would have alot of support in doing this!

Plus i answered yes to the Questions!

I am no real genius at business. I made quite a bit of money in school selling sweets. I work in a Shop and i am in charge of everything in the shop. I also buy & sell bits & pieces online when not working. So i know how to sell. My sisters boyfriend just has a really good knowledge of guns and is a great worker. And my sister is VERY good at business. Won awards in school days for best in NI and now coming out the back of college.

Still don't know what to do and it's really hard to decide.

I appreciate your opinion! :good:

 

There is only one thing that could prove more disastrous than going into business with a friend that is going into business with a relative! You could be about to invoke a ‘Double Whammy’!

 

Ask yourself, “Is there an actual viable commercial opportunity at this location or is the business plan ‘Cloud Based”?? Plod the ‘Terra Firma’ and do some local market research to determine if dreams stand any chance of becoming a reality or if the reality could become your worst nightmare!

 

Whatever you decide the very best of luck to you as you sound well equipped to make the right judgement! :good:

 

Regards

 

Something else to think about! http://basc.org.uk/northern-ireland/

Edited by STOTTO
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Slightly different I know but... In 2011 i went into business wwith what i thought was a good friend of mine, we sat down and wrote a solid business plan, secured a loan and opened a local pub as planned. All went really well for thw first year, we ticked over nicely, but did have to put money in ( I say we,I put money ). We came to the end of year one having broken evan, but his wife asked where the money was.. Ended up her saying it was her and kids or the pub to him... He ditched the pub and left me with all the business debt and chefless... Not everything has a fairytale ending... I do wish you well buddy but go in with your eye's wide open....

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He is going to need a huge chunk of capital to get off the ground.

Premises will need to meet the requirements of the RFD licence, safe, secure storage, 24 hour monitored alarm (this alone is expensive)

Then he will need to buy stock as the importers / suppliers are not going to offer credit until you get a trading history.

I bought a business in 2011 and ploughed an awful lot of money in to it for the first 3 years until it has now started paying for itself.

You/he will need to learn quickly about VAT & all the other taxes and returns.

Then there are the bills you don't expect like business rates, commercial rate electric etc etc.

 

Good luck but no offence intended, from your initial post asking for very basic advice you are not going to make it. Please prove me wrong, but I hope you take heed of some of these posts.

 

Mike

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My wife and I retired from work and were so bored we opened a shop , we sold anything we could get our hands on that we knew at least a little about ( you can always pick it up as you go along ), the first few weeks we struggled, but locals started coming in to support us, within 3 months we were in profit, after 2 years it had taken over our lives, we were making so much money it was incredible, we tried to find someone who could help us out but they didn't have the enthusiasm we had, my health failed and my wife couldn't manage on her own, so we closed up , we missed the buzz and the money, but after a couple of years I beat the dreaded 'c' and bounced back, this time opening an 'ebay shop' , we pace ourselves now, just doing the hours that suit us, topping up our pitiful pensions but keeping busy and enjoying it, we also run another summer business renting out holiday chalets, we just cant seem to stop, before our venture into retail sales I was an engineer and my wife had a pet grooming business, so no previous experience,

my advice , ignore the doom and gloom merchants just get on with it, take it steady at first, always listen to good advice, make sure all your friends know about it and get them to spread the word, if you can, get on line both to buy and sell, it will top up any gaps in people through the door, we all start somewhere but its up to you ( or your mate ) where it goes from there.best of luck. :good::good:

Thanks Lakeside!

Inspiring Words!! :)

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I am not going into business with him.

I will be there to help him out whenever i can.

I have done very very little research but he has done lots.

I used to work in a Gun shop so he thought i would know a few suppliers and asked if i could find out for him.

Everyone has made lots of Great points and there are loads to be considered.

My sister and him have been doing research the last few months.

Still very very hard to know what is the right decision! :/

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My wife ran a successful shop for a few years - family illness stopped things - and there were two things which I noticed seemed to make the difference:

 

1) Committment - she worked very long hours to set the shop up and running. This didn't stop as she became successful

 

2) Web site/advertising - if if you are not selling on-line the web is so much part of our lives you must have a site advertising your presence. There are excellent web-builder products out there who will help you set this up.

 

I wish you luck.

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Where would he be based? One or two RFD's over here have exclusive contracts with suppliers, meaning competing with them is out of the question. Hollow Farm are the go to people for gun sales through Frankonia in Germany (a major supplier). Not to put a downer on things, but not only do you have to deal with all the red tape here, you also have to deal with the red tape in the suppliers countries. If you found a good supplier in Belgium who already has an export permit, that would be a good start.

Edited by Cannon
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Steve Jobs , Sir Richard Branson , Bill Gates .

They were all told don't do it , I Personally would rather fall on my **** and fail than spend the rest of my life thinking what if .

You only get ONE shot at life , put on yer big girl panties and go for it !

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There are a great many challenges to running a retail business and a niche business is particularly challenging as the customer market is much more limited, having said that the competition in terms of physical shops is also less.

 

The main thing that your mate will have to contend with is cash flow. One of the barriers in retail is getting inventory into the shop so people have something to buy, which ties up a lot of cash, it's helpful if you have experience of that trade as you will know what sells well already and can build a stock profile to suit, but if setting out without a lot of knowledge then you have to take a wider picture and build that knowledge through experience.

 

Stock all costs money and very likely will need to be paid up front, if he has to borrow to do that then there is the cost of the interest on top of the cost of the product. Stock has to be turned to make money, i.e. the goods have to go off the shelf quickly. Each business is unique and the number of times they turnover their stock depends on many factors, but as a rough guide he needs to be looking to turn his stock over at least 12 times a year on average, more likely 24 times a year. That means as a minimum every month he has to sell what he has in stock, then refresh that from suppliers.

 

Obviously some stock needs a faster stock turn and other stock can be slower, but as a average that is what he needs to be looking at.

 

Stock turns have a major impact on cash flow, if you don't turn the stock you get no cash, even if what he does sell is hugely profitable it needs to move quickly. This is important to consider when setting prices. Selling lots of stuff relatively quickly at lower margins is often better than selling slowly at larger margins, just for the cash flow benefits, this is how a lot of web based businesses work.

 

Spend time in the other gun shops that you can go to, look at what stock they have in and visit them regularly to see what product lines are moving and change regularly and what are static, use that to your advantage in deciding what to stock in your shop.

 

If you are using European suppliers then there are many complexities around VAT so make sure that he has a good accountant.

 

Not discounting the advice given by some posters previously, but long term business plans and strategic roadmaps mean very little if the business has no cash. The first part of planning for a retail business is understanding the market demand and then funding, where is the money going to come from, what is it going to cost and how long will it last and take a very conservative line when considering that, don't plan around wishful thinking.

 

If there is a decent answer to the question of cash then start to consider the next steps which will be location, footfall is everything in retail, then marketing.

 

Nobody ever got successful without taking a risk and if your mate is serious about it then I wish him the best of luck.

 

If you want to chat anymore then drop me a PM, I was a board director of a global business employing 6000 people and now run my own business which is focussed on business improvement and transformation, strategic consulting, etc.

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When you're up and running (and this applies to anyone else who has an RFD) - drop me a PM and I can sort you a good deal to list your guns on Gun Watch http://www.gunwatch.co.uk- and they will appear on Pigeon Watch in the Trade section too. It'll get you a huge amount of exposure to some of the most active participants of shooting in the UK for a low cost. Can even give you a free trial to get you started :good:

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I'm surprised it hasn't been asked before, but is he a talented machinist? - Is he happy (and experienced) at woodwork, stock bluing and the like?

Why most gunshops don't know anything about them either, if he wanted to be a gunsmith that would be different.

 

Good luck to him but it's hard.

Edited by welshwarrior
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