BrettonJudy7
Sharpshooter
Wait, what? Have you been in either store?
-Overpriced firearms, usually in the order of $100-200+ over pricing of competing Indianapolis stores
-Over-marked decent quality accessories, with 1.5x pricing on their cheap junk ones
-No transfers (or in the case of Don's, transfers priced to the point no one wants to do them, so effectively no transfers)
-Clientele engaging in straw purchases (git me dat gun honey) almost everytime I was in there, as opposed to once in a blue moon, with girlfriends/wives going out to cars filled with the best East Indy (or west Indy at Don's) has to offer to ask them what gun to buy them
-One out of three clientele entering the store reeking of weed (and the timidness of employees to ask them to leave)
-Poorly ventilated and lit range with numerous holes in ceiling, chipped concrete in front of stalls from errant rounds
-Range clientele ranging anywhere from exceedingly dangerous old men who don't understand muzzle discipline or "don't load guns behind people" to gangbangers trying out their new Glawk Fowdy (again, with similar dangerous muzzle direction issues)
-Lack of focus on customer service
-Boorish, sophomoric "former (insert civil, military or police service here) experts" that spout off hackneyed and rather dangerous rhetoric (e.g. You only need this Airweight revolver or high recoil impulse .380 honey, or birdshot being superior for HD with a shotgun)
-Poorly lit, disorganized and generally dirty store
-Quotes for special order items, such as readily accessible accessories online, for drastically higher pricing than other locations and lead times of a week+ for something in stock at other Indy stores or online
-Horrifically overpriced ammo ($39.99 for a box of Federal HST, $12+ for FMJ 9mm, etc...)
-Relatively expensive range time (compared to other locations in Indianapolis) and especially considering the lack of safety monitoring, cleanliness and cross your fingers if the target tracks work or will fall apart with you using it, of course, sticking you with the charge they level at you for 'breaking their range'
-Laughable trade in values (I'll give you $200 in trade for that Gen4 Glock 9mm, $100 at Don's)
-The higher chance of crimes of opportunity to be committed against you as you leave both facilities
I mean, the difference between them is that Don's used to allow rifles, not sure if that's a thing anymore...
Being a former employee, I can shed some light on these.. Of course I cant answer for some of it, because I only worked there for a few months while in between jobs. Also, I can only speak for myself. I do not know about the other salesmen there.
"Overpriced firearms" - Yes. I have nothing else to say about this. The guns had nor problem selling at their prices. I regularly sold FN FiveSevens for $1499 over there. We couldn't hold onto those guns. I went into gander in Greenfield and they had a 5.7 for $1299. I asked how many they sell, and the guy told me they never sell them. They have had theirs on the shelf for months.
"No transfers" - I was told by the owner that the insurance was too high too accommodate this.
"reeking of weed" - this is also true, but we did not sell any firearms or ammo to anyone smelling of weed.
"straw purchases" - regularly turned away straw purchases. Once again, I cant speak for every instance, but during my time there, we regularly turned them away.
"holes in range etc." - Yes. This is true. It's impossible to control everyone shooting. I remember kicking people out for using rifles on the range, erratic shooting etc. Once the holes are there though, it takes some time to replace. Bottom line, range needs updated.
"Horrifically overpriced ammo" - Yes. Nothing else to say about this.
"breaking range" - Yes there were multiple times when someone would break the equipment because they would aim too high, and shoot the target rail. It was difficult to curb this, given the clientele.
"higher chances of crime" - Not really the gun shops fault for the area having higher crime rate.
I cant speak for everyone who works there, and these are all very valid complaints. Just hope I could shed some light on some of them. Would I change things if I could? Absolutely. But I also don't have a gun shop.
