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I didn't know The Arms Room in League City closed. It's now for sale at auction starting at $1.5 Million for any entrepreneurs out there, It will be interesting to see the outcome.

There is a reason it is up for sale, we know the answer the to age old question. How do you make one million dollars in the firearms industry? You start off with two million. At one time someone told me their overhead was 25k a month - that is a lot of overhead. Firearms have very little profit margin, you have to make it in parts and accessories and in todays market those are hard to get. Unless the range is packed morning to evening I cannot see that making up for it. The firearms business is a tough one, I'd like to see someone make it profitable but I doubt I will see it. I know the guy that sold the business that became the Arms Room. Back in the day he was mainly doing AR's before anyone else was and he was doing well.

During the gold rush the guy selling shovels and jeans got the richest of all.

You cannot survive on 5-15% profit on new guns. Used guns can fetch 15-30%
Accessories are 50%-100%, but they are low dollars items.
So, Also you need to compete with Amazon and Walmart too.

I think a lot of firearms businesses do themselves no favor by turning off a significant amount of customers. I visited a small shop recently where the front door had two signs. One telling people not to enter if they are wearing a mask, and another saying that if you smell like "weed" you are not welcome there (the store was right next to a CBD / smoke shop). While I actually agree with the sentiment behind both signs, the first one in particular is likely to turn away a decent percentage of customers. My first thought was "wow, my wife would definitely never set foot in here".

I contrast that to my all time favorite gun range, Boyert Shooting Center. They seem to intentionally hire female workers, which makes them more welcoming to women from what my wife tells me. They are also friendly and inviting, and strike a really good balance between not being the "gruff" gun experts and also not being so lax that the range doesn't operate efficiently, and most of all, safely. I haven't been able to visit much in the last year or two given ammo availability and price, but I have maintained my membership simply because it is always a pleasant experience and it is one gun place where I feel completely comfortable bringing anyone regardless of their comfort level around guns.

We have two new indoor ranges in the Waco area now. I have not been yet to either, but I have looked at their memberships online. They are both quite pricy, compared to my outdoor range member ship. You would have to go often to get your money's worth. It will be interesting to see how they do. I'm not sure the local community can support two ranges.

mrvmax wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 2:04 pm There is a reason it is up for sale, we know the answer the to age old question. How do you make one million dollars in the firearms industry? You start off with two million. At one time someone told me their overhead was 25k a month - that is a lot of overhead. Firearms have very little profit margin, you have to make it in parts and accessories and in todays market those are hard to get. Unless the range is packed morning to evening I cannot see that making up for it. The firearms business is a tough one, I'd like to see someone make it profitable but I doubt I will see it. I know the guy that sold the business that became the Arms Room. Back in the day he was mainly doing AR's before anyone else was and he was doing well.

Back in the middle 60's and early 70's as a manager of the sporting goods department for one of the earliest chain discount stores firearms profits were minuscule. We sold guns basically at wholesale prices with the exception of Marlin and Glenfield. We had manufacturer contracts that supplied our warehouse with those firearms. Even so, though the mark up was about 15% profit we had to pay fees to our warehouse on top of the price of the guns. We made our profit on accessories, athletic, fishing, camping and hunting items. I was most always #2 in total sales with an occasional #1 spot out of 24 stores, but our overall profit wouldn't have kept a stand alone store in business long. The company considered us a necessary evil to bring men into the store with their wives hoping they'd make their way past other enticing merchandise on the way to Sporting Goods, which was always at the rear of our 120,000 sq foot stores.

I went there a couple of times. I found them pretty expensive. Ammo prices were always outrageous. I could never justify paying their range fees over the Texas City $6.00 price.

They have a lot of competition these days. Academy in Webster, several gun stores on 146 in Kemah Baycliff area and Cabela's put pressure on them. Anyone looking to buy or build and customize an AR-15 will look at Primary Arms before going to a place like primary Arms which generally has meager selections.