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Ericstac wrote:

Baytown_Cajun wrote:I will remember CheaperThanDirt.com selling PMC 9mm ammo at $69.00 for a fifty_round box.

And you should.. From what I understand the website isn't part of a storefront which means it probably has very little overhead and shouldn't need to compensate much at all.

Unfortunately, that reasoning may seem to make sense, it does not work like that. Web site business is not a separate company than storefront business. It all goes into the same bucket. The two work in conjunction with each other to support the entire company.

I agree that the local places need to make an extra effort to be friendly and welcoming to customers. As a small business owner I am constantly reminding not only myself, but my co-workers that the real product we have to offer is ourselves. People can buy air conditioning from many sources, many cheaper and many are more expensive. At the end of the day it is how we make our customers feel about us that makes the difference. Retailers have to do even more to make folks want to do business with them. While we can be a better choice based on criteria that is not out of a box, like service response and installation quality and techniques, retailers face the issue that they are all basically offering the exact same product. They must concentrate on how they offer that product.

At the end of the day, I will always spend a few extra dollars to support my local business with the one exception texascajun pointed out above. If they treat me with disrespect or act like they are doing me a favor by allowing me into their store, they aren't going to get my money.

I don't know the folks running carter country so my next suggestion might be a bad one. Maybe make a call or send an email respectfully telling them they made you feel unwelcome in their store. I would use some Dale Carnege and try not to get insulting and rude, but I would make it known.

I wish I could claim that my business always performs without flaw. I am not sure any business can. We business owners get beat down at times and forget ourselves at the worse possible moment. We are humans too. When I get feedback from customers that believe we fell short, it hurts like crazy, even embarrasses me, but is still appreciated and NEEDED. It helps me in the end. Keeps me on track. I can't correct a mistake if I don't know about it. Same goes for them.

Ericstac wrote:I used to feel the same way but then it was explained to me that stores that dedicate themselves to guns and ammo rely solely on gun and ammo profits to cover overhead expenses each month. Places like academy and walmart are so diversified that the profits from one or two categories doesn't affect them if they are lost. So the gun stores that raise the prices during difficult times is due to needing that profit support by us since the restock of all their merchandise is slowed and their normal profit will not cover the expenses each month since they are currently being limited to what they can get back into stock. This is just for overall sakes.. I don't buy from Carter's due to the attitude they present and their pricing, new or old.

Of course, as a consumer we have the right to buy wherever we please which most of us choose to buy from walmart and academy when it's in stock.

Exactly correct! Most individuals who work for companies rather than owning a business, seem to have trouble grasping this concept. Unfortunately for the individual mom and pop store who actually keep the money they make in our local communities, people tend to look for price. So they spend their money at academy and Walmart so these stores can send the money offshore and hire cheap labor to produce more goods at lower prices. The whole process is a suicide of sorts but what the heck? We saved a couple bucks! Who cares if it eventually works its way back around to bite us in the rump.

Yep.... I agree. This is the perfect example of the free market economy at work. Once enough folks do like you and go elsewhere, they will drop the prices or suffer a loss in business.