The Sportsman's Shop in East Earl

[aubie515]

This was my first time visiting The Sportsman's Shop in East Earl since they moved. The new facility is really nice. Very clean and modern. They could use a lot more reloading items, but they have a ton of rifles, shotguns and pistols. Prices were higher than what I spend, but I met a really nice employee. His name is Ron and he is retired LEO from Reading area. We were talking about 300BO and suppressors since the shop is also a class 3 dealer. They only had one Anderson lower $59 plus $10 NICS (which wasn't terrible considering most FFL around Montco want to charge you $30-40 per lower).

They have an indoor range...the range is limited to 25 yards, BUT the kicker is you can shoot centerfire as well as pistol. Ron said the indoor range was rated to 50BMG. I wouldn't want to be next to someone touching off a 50BMG indoors.

They have a little eat in area...but it's food from vending machine...not like Defcon1 in Emmaus, but a clean shop.

They have a lot of DD products...they didn't have any AR barrels, but they did have parts from Double Star. I notice that many gun shops do not have a lot of AR15 parts. I suppose those shops thing you can order the parts online. I think many gun shops miss out on a lot of sales by not having a good inventory of AR15 parts.

I'll go back because they guy Ron I met was very friendly and I was talking to some of the other staff there as well.

The shop is located just a little bit past Shady Maples.

[loknload]

Was down there not to long ago, very nice shop, prices are high as you stated but they were high at their old shop. I hope they do a better business at night and weekends because the day I was there it was just me and the rest of the other employees.
I'll probably go back again but I like Kerpers better!

[aubie515]

I was at Kerpers as well...their prices aren't great at Kerpers. Did they change ownership?

I agree the Sportsman's Shop was expensive at their old shop as well. I get that they must pay for overhead as they indoor range is very nice, but high prices will kill any business. Especially, when you consider you can buy/find everything online less expensive and not have to pay sales tax on the item.

[prospero1919]

Nice looking shop and range I guess, didn't spend a lot of time there because they unfortunately have a moronic policy of not performing person to person transfers over the weekend. I'm sure this kind of shortsightedness is rampant there.

[Gunsnwater]

Nice looking shop and range I guess, didn't spend a lot of time there because they unfortunately have a moronic policy of not performing person to person transfers over the weekend. I'm sure this kind of shortsightedness is rampant there.

Keepers is right down 625 from there, for the transfer. Great lgs too.

[Phlyers13]

Nice looking shop and range I guess, didn't spend a lot of time there because they unfortunately have a moronic policy of not performing person to person transfers over the weekend. I'm sure this kind of shortsightedness is rampant there.

So a busy retail store should drop what they are doing on their busiest day to perform a transfer for someone who isn’t making a purchase at their shop? Sounds like the only shortsightedness was you not doing your homework and calling over there first to see if they could accommodate you.

[SgtRecon]

Keepers is right down 625 from there, for the transfer. Great lgs too.

^^^ Yup^^^ Kerpers gets all my transfer business a third of the cost of the Sportsman's shop for FTF transfers and happy to accommodate you, Also the two sisters that run the shop are pretty easy on the eyes and are knowledgeable about guns. Nice small no BS shop and reasonable $35 internet purchase PICS fee, preferred dealer for Palmetto, Buds GS, Gun Broker, Davidsons

[Near Sighted Sniper]

So a busy retail store should drop what they are doing on their busiest day to perform a transfer for someone who isn’t making a purchase at their shop?

Yes, they need to earn your business. The 1st time I walked into that shop I was disgusted by their prices. I get it though, they have a lot of overhead however their overhead isn't my problem. I vote with my wallet, this shop will go under in 3 years or less

[R L Suehr]

So a busy retail store should drop what they are doing on their busiest day to perform a transfer for someone who isn’t making a purchase at their shop? Sounds like the only shortsightedness was you not doing your homework and calling over there first to see if they could accommodate you.

Shops usually do get business from person to person transfers. People buying the gun usually will pick up a new holster or ammo or something else while they're there and those are the higher profit margin items anyways.

The seller now has a pocket full of cash, likes guns, and is at your store for at least long enough to look around at things. That could turn into another purchase as well.

I would say not doing ftf transfers on weekends when most people have spare time is detrimental to their business for sure.

[tcc722]

Never would have thought to call and ask about transfers on a weekend. I actually thought the guy was kidding for a second. Makes no sense to me, especially at $60 per transfer. Kerpers would have been my first choice, but it was a sunday. Luckily, Bobs firearms wasn't too far. He works from home and happened to be there. I'll just go to Bob from now on when I have to do a transfer in that area.