Austin Saxet gun show cancelled?

[jdm]

I read the Austin Saxet gun show was cancelled this weekend. Does anybody know why?

[jdm]

After more googling I found that the other gun show will go on instead at the same place and day. http://texasgunshows.net/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mike1951]

It appears that all three remaining 2009 shows at the Crocket Convention Center have been cancelled.

[dcphoto]

After more googling I found that the other gun show will go on instead at the same place and day. http://texasgunshows.net/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I went to their early October show at the old target at William Canon and was somewhat disappointed. Given the size of the building I was expecting something, well, bigger. I think there were 10 or 15 sellers there. Hopefully they will grow since Saxet seems to have left Austin, but it is certainly a small start.

[81aggie]

I read or heard somewhere that there was an issue with the owner of the venue that couldn't be resolved and that Saxet is looking for a new facility in the Austin area. Unfortunately they had to cancel the shows for the remainder of the year. They are changing venues in San Antonio from the Freeman Coliseum to the San Antonio Event Center after the first of the year. It'll be interesting, the Event Center is nowhere near as big as the Coliseum. Wondering if they are going to try to jam everything into the smaller space or scale back the size of the show

[HankB]

After more googling I found that the other gun show will go on instead at the same place and day. http://texasgunshows.net/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I went to their early October show at the old target at William Canon and was somewhat disappointed. Given the size of the building I was expecting something, well, bigger. I think there were 10 or 15 sellers there. Hopefully they will grow since Saxet seems to have left Austin, but it is certainly a small start.

I went to that show a couple of months ago . . . higher admission than the Saxet, and I'd say well under 1/4 the size . . . big let down.

[jdm]

Today's show was disappointing. To be fair, most of the usual vendors that attend got the word the Saxet show was cancelled and booked a table in Waco's show. They may not have known about Texas Gun Show's booking the venue as a replacement. Today, only about 1/3 of the vendors were there compared to the previous Saxets shows. I could still have bought a Sham-Wow, jewelry, or sunglasses though.

I heard the Crockett Center, landlord, and Saxet promoter had a disagreement about payments which led to the cancelation.

[NcongruNt]

IMO, gun shows are declining in popularity because they're no longer a place to find deals. Loads of junk guns, and the few normal firearms I do see are way overpriced. There are no deals on ammo that I've seen anywhere recently, and from what I can tell, people won't pay the inflated prices being asked. Once folks go to a couple shows and see squat, they see no value in paying the entrance fee to go look anymore. This is by no means a local phenomenon, as the last show I went to (the Pasadena show a couple months back) had the same problems. I took my girlfriends dad to see if we could find a Bersa Thunder .380, and found one... and the asking price was a ridiculous $479! It was nearly a ghost town in there, and the number of vendors was obviously nowhere near normal.

With big box stores catching up on inventory and offering better prices, the gun shows have lost their base. Vendors aren't offering anything people want at reasonable prices, so people stopped going. Vendors aren't making any money because no one is going anymore, so they don't go either. What you see at the shows now is the result of these two things. I saw more non-gun booths at the Pasadena than I did gun booths. It left me with no desire to return.

Once sanity returns to the firearms market (which it slowly appears to be doing) and vendor stocks are built back up, I'd guess that gun shows will be a good place to go again. Until supply and demand even themselves out, we might see more shows closing down due to lack of interest.

[jdm]

I like Mil-surp stuff. A gunshow is the best place to find Mil-surp firearms and other junk that goes with them. Plus I just like shooting the breeze with the vendors, I learn a lot. Can't get that at the big box stores.

Today, one vendor was agressive about trying to sell me 200 rounds of UMC .223 for $125. I didn't have the heart to tell him I had the same box that I bought at Academy on the way there for $99.

[joe817]

I like Mil-surp stuff. A gunshow is the best place to find Mil-surp firearms and other junk that goes with them. Plus I just like shooting the breeze with the vendors, I learn a lot. Can't get that at the big box stores.

Today, one vendor was agressive about trying to sell me 200 rounds of UMC .223 for $125. I didn't have the heart to tell him I had the same box that I bought at Academy on the way there for $99.

I think you should have. It would give him a reality check, and those people who have been price gouging NEEDS a reality check. It might make him mad, but so what? He's way over priced on current market value of ammo. Besides he probably has a pretty good idea of real world prices. Just my 2 cents worth.

[.45mac.40]

NcongruNt...
jdm



DITTO, ditto ..... SAME, same !

Went to tha' old Target bldg. last weekend AND after finding out about tha' Crocket cntr..(here last night).. which I visited today =

I just left .... (went for a ride on my Wing to Marble Falls !)

Mac

[81aggie]

I like Mil-surp stuff. A gunshow is the best place to find Mil-surp firearms and other junk that goes with them. Plus I just like shooting the breeze with the vendors, I learn a lot. Can't get that at the big box stores.

Today, one vendor was agressive about trying to sell me 200 rounds of UMC .223 for $125. I didn't have the heart to tell him I had the same box that I bought at Academy on the way there for $99.

I think you should have. It would give him a reality check, and those people who have been price gouging NEEDS a reality check. It might make him mad, but so what? He's way over priced on current market value of ammo. Besides he probably has a pretty good idea of real world prices. Just my 2 cents worth.

I agree. A couple of months ago I was at the Texas Gun Show here and saw a Glock 36, one of which I had been considering buying. The dealer let me handle it and look it over, but then acted surprised when I decided not to buy because of the $677 price tag. Told him I could go up the street to Academy and get the same gun for $579 but he still didn't want to offer a realistic price on the gun. Maybe I offended him or maybe his overhead is so much higher that it justified his prices (I noticed he was similarly overpriced on a lot of his guns) but I can't bring myself to spend that much more.

[mr.72]

those people who have been price gouging NEEDS a reality check

It's not "price gouging", it's just mildly overpriced ammo. The reality check the guy needed was to not sell it. That's how the marketplace works. If you price something too high, it's not "gouging", it's just pricing it too high for the market to bear and it will not sell.

There are numerous reasons people will willfully pay above-market prices for things like guns and ammo and lots of other things. If they have it in stock, the standard for commodity-pricing on range ammo is Wal Mart but a lot of people will pay 1.5x the Wal Mart price at a locally-owned gun store because it's a gun store and not Wal Mart. Some people get mad at Academy for some of their gun sales policies so maybe they would rather pay more at a gun show because it's a gun show. Most of us will pay way above-market prices for a soft drink at a movie theater or other event simply for the convenience of having the drink while at the event, so maybe it is perfectly valid to pay above-market for ammo at a gun show simply because you just bought that AR at the other table at the same gun show and it's a lot more convenient to pay 25% above market for the ammo and not have to go shop for it elsewhere. I have been in Wal Mart or Academy probably 20 times looking for ammo and only found it ONCE in the past six months, so you know to pay a little extra to get it when you actually find it may be worth it. I bought the limit of what they would sell me at Academy last time I was there, at 25% above the Wal Mart price, simply because they happened to have it and it was worth the extra $25 for me to actually GET 500 rounds of 9mm rather than burn time and energy looking for a better deal.

[mr.72]

maybe his overhead is so much higher that it justified his prices

High overhead does not justify high prices. The only thing that justifies prices is supply and demand. High overhead may necessitate low or negative profits in light of market prices, or high overhead may reduce the business case for selling something in the first place. But even if the gun show guy's wholesale price was the same as Academy's retail price, then he is making $100 on the sale and there will likely be some chump who will come up and buy it at that price, given that most gun stores that are not Academy charge a similar price and maybe some people just don't shop for guns at Academy or have any idea what the low-end of the market looks like. Or maybe some people just don't care about the price that much. But if the gun show guy were to reduce the price, say, to $600, then he'd have to sell 5x as many to make that same $100, but that's 5x as many forms, background checks, paperwork to manage, etc., and he's STILL above Academy's price.

BTW the one and only gun I ever bought at a gun show was in fact $20 below the lowest price I had ever seen on it. But that was a year ago. I paid $370 for a Kahr CW9 and all of the other tables had it for $399, $409, $429 etc. So even a year ago, most of the prices on guns at gun shows were 20% or so above the real-world market prices. I tend to think gun shows are not necessarily for buying guns, but more of a recreational outlet for gun enthusiasts.

[Oldgringo]

mr.72 wrote:

I tend to think gun shows are not necessarily for buying guns, but more of a recreational outlet for gun enthusiasts.

You know, I'm inclined to agree with the above statement; at least, in the current political climate.

After the drive, finding a parking place, shouldering through the masses only to find expensive ( ) stuff, "the juice somehow ain't worth the squeeze".