I did not know where to post this topic but for what it is worth, I was at the Bass Pro shop in Dallas / FW the other day nad they had closed their fine gun room and gunsmithing shop due to the down turn in the economy.
They might be liquidating inventory soon and perhaps some good deals.
I am not sure all their fine gun rooms have been closed.

That was the nicer of the Bass Pro Fine Gun rooms, that is too bad.

harrisburg pa closed too

In the grand scheme of things- gun trading, retail gun selling and gun making is a low rate of return business. Bass Pro can make more money selling $3 fishing lures than selling shotguns or rifles. The mark up on firearms is remarkably low when compared to other retail items. To be successful in re-selling guns, you are competing with mom/pop shops, pawn shots and WalMart. Good luck.

I have never understood the entire "glory" in trading guns. They are tools like hammers and wrenches. Like most of you, I have seen guys negotiate to the last $5 over a $300 used gun. Who cares? That is tip money.

Anyway, I suspect the reason Bass Pro shut this down is that they do not make money at it.

Anybody that wishes to spend that kind of money on a firearm isn't usually going to go to a big box store to purchase. Anytime I wandered by one of these rooms in either Bass Pro or Cabela's there's usually just one (or even two) employees sitting on there butt. No serious buyers. Hell, an AIG executive would know to shut it down.

I was in the Phoenix store in Oct. last year and had a great conversation with the Fine Gun Room manager. He told me that the corporate folks wanted to shut the rooms down that they felt it was a waste of space and that they could indeed sell more small items and make money on volume. The key owner who is a big game hunter was resisting this effort because he just liked having a place where like minded folks could relax and look at nicer things. A pity if economics wins the day!

quote:

A pity if economics wins the day!

It always wins the day-- except, of course, if it's liberals spending money on worthless, bullshit social programs. Then it's the good intentions of the idea, not how well it actually worked...