rmbstyle
Member
I have been seriously looking into opening a small gun shop in Calvert County for the past few months, and what I cant figure out is why there are no gun shops in Calvert County to begin with?
No Gun Stores in Calvert County?
- Thread starter rmbstyle
- Start date
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Not enough business. Shooters are also too cheap to support a local store. There is little margin on new guns given the competition of the internet and all the guys who run their FFL out of a mailbox and their living room.
If you find a piece of land zoned to allow the construction of a nice indoor range, you may be able to draw some business.
Free State Firearms in the beach, and Ron's Bay Pro Shop come to mind right away.
Most people can also get most of what they need from wal-mart
Most people can also get most of what they need from wal-mart
Robert1955
Ultimate Member
http://freestatemilitiafirearms.com/ is just on the south side of P.F. close to the Bay. Chuck Early, the owner, is a good guy and can probably get you what you need. He is actively working on putting in a Range in Calvert County as well.
PIT BULL
Active Member
- Mar 5, 2013
- 278
A nice range with a gun shop in Calvert would be awesome.
BigDaddy
Ultimate Member
- Feb 7, 2014
- 2,235
One is in the works, don't know how much I am allowed to say on that. The county does not make it an easy process to open a shop or a range.
Robert1955
Ultimate Member
Chuck has posted comments about the range on his F.B. page
Vile Shadow
...
- Feb 28, 2013
- 28,953
deMontjoie
Ultimate Member
Sadly, this has a great deal of truth to it.
Few shooters are willing to pay a slight premium (~5% over internet pricing or WalMart) to a local stocking dealer. Unfortunately, that is the price that we must be willing to pay if we want to have the convenience of a local stocking dealer who can offer full-service to the shooting community.
Having a gun-range associated with your local firearms store is certainly a draw. But the economics of a gun-range/gun-store are tough. It is recommended by the NRA that at least 750,000 folks live within 45 minutes in order to make the commercial range viable.
Recommend that anybody looking to start-up a commercial range should first attend one of the NRA's Range-Development Conferences -- the next one is next month in Cincinatti. The NSSF offers similar conferences, with the content of one of their recent conferences available on DVD for $695.
Biggfoot44
Ultimate Member
- Aug 2, 2009
- 33,469
And within living memory Ken's Gun Room was a fine establishment, but alas didn't last. And for that matter the recently closed C&EJ's may have been over the line in AACo , but was de facto a Calvert business.
As multiply noted a low margin business , difficult startup , and modest customer base in terms of the imeadate area.
If you have a business model that draws customers and their $ from all of SoMd , and DC metro , go for it. Otherwise the best plan is to start a sucuessful , profitable business unrelated to guns , or related sports. Then add a gun counter/ dept , and let the other 90% of your operation subsidize your gun dealing hobby.
As multiply noted a low margin business , difficult startup , and modest customer base in terms of the imeadate area.
If you have a business model that draws customers and their $ from all of SoMd , and DC metro , go for it. Otherwise the best plan is to start a sucuessful , profitable business unrelated to guns , or related sports. Then add a gun counter/ dept , and let the other 90% of your operation subsidize your gun dealing hobby.
I think the NRA is off their rocker on that one. I am a member of a club range in my home state. I am familiar with the budget and the ongoing expenses to run the range. Our community is a fraction of the NRA number and based on the business we see, it could be entirely viable as a commercial enterprise. Your big expenses are staff and capital. If you combine the range with a retail store, you are not going to have any extra personnel expense to run the range. It also depends on how large of a facility you build and how over the top you go with your buildout.
I wouldn't build a range in Calvert. If anywhere, it would be in Hughesville. You do have a 250k population within a 30min drive, it is easy to reach from PF, the Dorf, La Plata and northern St Marys. But that would be if I was dumb enough to invest money in another business in Maryland. Aside from the regulatory uncertainty, the taxation on small businesses in MD is brutal and dealing with the state offices in Baltimore and Annapolis will make you bash your head against the wall just because you know the pain from that will eventually subside.
deMontjoie
Ultimate Member
I hear that comment A LOT -- "The NRA and NSSF are crazy. A gun-range/gun-store can work in my town, just not with MY MONEY behind it."
The NRA very badly wants more gun-stores and ranges. They just do not want failed gun-stores and ranges, they want successful ones.
The banks DO trust the NRA's/NSSF's numbers and use them to decide whether or not to grant commercial loans for ranges.
traveller said:
On that count we agree wholeheartedly. You really have to be a masochist to want to start a business in MD. Unless you're a sleazy Democratic politician or a crack-dealer/crack-whore, but there I repeat myself.
Biggfoot44
Ultimate Member
- Aug 2, 2009
- 33,469
A private club that has/ is a gun range is a whole different set of numbers than a profit making range geared to the general public. And most private gun clubs are long existing clubs started many, many years ago. Most of them (in our area anyway) would not be able to start up from scratch today, either at all, or at an investment level viable for a club of regular middle class guys and gals.
Actually, the club that I am a member of was started up in 2007 and built the range in 2010.
The numbers for operating the range are no different. Electricity for the blowers costs the same, water bill and toiletpaper dont get discounted because you are a non-profit. Unless you are a big non-profit with access to bonding authority, you still have to get your mortgage from a commercial bank.
The big difference between a club and a commercial business is in staffing expense. If you have volunteers to supervise and run the cashier, of course you dont have personnel cost to deal with. But if your range is combined with something else like a retail store, there is very little additional personnel expense involved. Look at Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly. I dont think they have a 750k catchment area.
If southern MD was not in MD but lets say in NC, I would gladly put up some money to make this happen. But then again, if we were in NC, there would already be a nice range somewhere in Hughesville
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