01 April 2016

First Impression

We have a new local range.

And I do mean new, having been built from scratch on a property where a hotel once stood.  Said hotel was razed to the ground and a new building installed.

It's very large.

They are RELoad Guns.

The wall displays are backlit in red, white and blue.  Silhouetting the guns displayed there.  Basically this means you cannot clearly see what you're looking at.

Things are only sporadically marked with their prices.  It makes shopping frustrating, especially coupled with the dim lighting of the sales area.  Where there were price tags, they were about $50 to $100 over other places nearby.  That's a failure to do market research, says I.

The range is a lot more conventionally lit.

Range prices are, well... optimistic.  The equally nice range at Shooter's World is $7 an hour cheaper for the 100 yard rifle range ($25 vs $18).  The other ranges around here are a mere $14 an hour.  The family one-year membership is $450 which is similar to Shooter's World, as are the discounts for having one; including free range time and priority service.

Several people made note that they require you to buy your range ammo from them, which could explain why the place was packed, but nobody was using the spiffy new range at the GRAND OPENING!!

Another odd thing was 15% (at least) of the customers were in-uniform law enforcement.  I didn't see a flier bragging about LEO discounts, but something got them all curious to swing by.  I do kinda worry that the place will turn into something like the out-of-business Knight's Shooting Sports (bought out by Shoot Straight, then relocated).  Knights was near as makes no difference Pinellas County Sheriff Department official range, and they were constantly closed for LEO training during time periods where people would logically be off work and have time to waste their filthy lucre shooting.  I could see the Tarpon Springs Police Department making it their private clubhouse and getting the place killed for lack of time where the unwashed can pay to shoot.  When you offer a steep LEO discount it has to be offset by customers paying enough to profit.

More than a couple gun shops around here discovered that they have to mark their prices past where customers will pay when they make such discounts.  Almost as if some understanding of economics is required to run a business!  Since they're priced higher than the surrounding area... who knows where it will lead.

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