The Buy Local Gun Dilemma

[TripleDigitRide]

I agree, but we've also seen that once someone reaches walmart status, there is not much room for more than a handfun of real competitors. I guess one solution is to go niche. I've seen this in the guitar market. There were in the 90s 4-5 giant retail guitar chains. The market really showed it would only bear one. However, there are lots of thriving niche shops on the web that cater to a more focused market, rather than the catch all market that Guitar Center/ Musician's Friend has cornered. Even the local stores have had to go niche to survive, many focusing on doing lessons, and selling gear that will cater to the lessons crowd. You can't go into a local guitar store and find the variety that you could 20 years ago.

Yep, very true.

It's difficult for many people to see any signs of real damage being done by places like Wal-Mart and Bud's, because many owners of smaller companies still in business appear to be doing very well.

Take the gun dealers for instance. I can't claim to know much about all of their personal lives, but the few I do know about, they at least appear to be living quite well.

While many American's are struggling to make it day-to-day, more than a few of these dealers are living in homes worth several hundred-thousand dollar. Some have garages and shops full of high dollar cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, etc. Many of them own tens and tens and tens of thousands of dollars worth of firearms. Not to mention the ones that own hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of firearms. They are able to go on very expensive vacations around the country and world. All this while many average gun owners are only able to buy a gun or two per year, if they are lucky. These days there are too many people simply trying to figure out how they are going to pay their rent, mortgage or electric bill this month.

There is nothing wrong with dealers making good money and living a nice life, but don't expect the average American to feel pitty because Bud's or some other online store is taking away a few of their cutomers. Once they're forced to begin selling off their most prized possessions to pay their rent or buy their child school clothes, maybe people will really give a damn.