Bingo.

I think the example of 'take a new person hunting' fits well with GTB's comment. We might all want to consider being open to reaching out and broadening the market.

It seems to be an interesting thing right now. We are seeing dealers that move with the trends doing pretty well and the ones that stay put getting hurt pretty bad. We have been really blessed this year and are currently up 115% over last year across both companies but I believe its a segment deal and it was easy to get extended too much in one segment for a lot of guys.

Or they can hire an internet marketer consultant from upwork.com to find them customers to sell too. Remeber Facebook have 6.2 billions customers.

Do this:
1. Hire internet marketer consultant
2. Make a tshirt that says "Deer Meat Keeps Me Healthy "
3. Let the internet marketer sale it. Done

Remember Bitcoin. How you think it sold so well? Internet Marketing on Facebook.

Do this:
1. Go to every African American church in town and tell pastor you wanna take 10 teens rifle practice shooting who have no fathers in their life.
2. Tell the Pastor you have 10% off handguns and free home self defense 1 hour training for single black women. Walk them through the buying handgun and ammo process.


Think outside the box to get new customers.

If you were to do that I would admire your efforts, but speaking from a business stand point it would be a loss. African Americans are overwhelmingly Democrat. Democrats are overwhelmingly anti gun and anti Second Amendment. From a business stand point your efforts and money would be better spent elsewhere if you were looking to stay in business. Sure you would probably open a few eyes and sell a few guns but that same money and effort would net you more profits elsewhere. Keep in mind African Americans are only 11%-13% of the population as a whole to begin with so trying to target that market share is something that's not going to appeal to many gun stores given what I have already stated about that potential market base.

I think this is illegal and if it isn't, it should be. Imagine it this way-Tell the Pastor you have 10% off handguns and free home self defense 1 hour training for single white women. Not cool either way you say it.

Op is African American and was speaking specifically of being at an African American church. While he didn't need to specify that the women be black, I think you're out of line saying anything about his phrasing.

For that matter, if you're trying to drive business, they needn't be single, either.

Yes sir I can read. All I'm saying is that offering a discount based on race is wrong. I don't care what race it is.

You have come a long way since you first started posting and a number of people including myself thought you were a troll. I’m glad you are a member and welcome your perspective especially since it comes from a vastly under represented demographic.

I like your way of thinking!

Chad I’ve been in this industry 30 years and have seen it worse.
A lot of the closings are happening to the dealers that opened during the Obama years and never really experienced a slow year or a normal summer slowdown. Most thought it was a strong year around business. The firearms business has always been seasonal except for 1995-96,which was Clinton crime bill effect. And virtually all of the Obama years except for the first 6 months of 2015.
There were a lot of new dealers open in that period.
The overall business is fine though. Surprisingly our two biggest manufacturers we represent are up in sales so far this year.
Also right now I’m Texas the market is strong for higher end bolt guns. Last fall was one of the best in years for bolt action hunting rifles and predator speciality items and higher end thermal. Your business fits right in with with higher end trend so I predict good years ahead for you sir.

Very recently I found a new to me gun shop in Athens TX, while looking for something else. Spent some time with him, an under 40 well spoken guy who's into Long Range. He's only been open about a year but has already outgrown his leased space and will be moving into a much larger space on the Downtown Square, I think on the east side (Hwy 19 side) and facing west in 60+ days. I am using him for some consignments, after seeing his customer traffic.

FWIW this is the kind of dealer I looked for back in the days when I was repping back in the mid to late '70's and early to mid '80s, 1st for a Distributor and later for Stoeger with SAKO and their other stuff.

Ya'll stop by when you go thru downtown Athens and say hello to Ben Johnston, at Bens Customs & Back 40 Firearms. He's got a couple of name brand, I think both completed LR rifles were Seekins. These were displayed on the counter where you could look at all the features up close at about $5500 with big Night Force scopes on them. Ben's is apparently the only gunsmith in town doing repairs in town as he had steady stream of guys bringing stuff in to be worked on. Told him he needs to advertise in the Palestine Newspaper too, since there is no gunsmith I've found in Anderson County either.
Ron