Favorite gun shop in Berks co.?

[stainless]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm on the other side of the county so don't get down that way often. Will check it out.

[xotech]

It is on its third ownership now. Jay Fisher got arrested for being a whackjob. Art bought the store and closed it due to too much riff raff (and some other issues, but all heresay so I won't go into details on that), and some new guys bought the place primarily because of the range because they focus on training. They have their FFL and sell guns now, and are planning on making gun sales a larger part of their business.

No hearsay here....

It's been an uphill battle from day one, given the previous history there. NOBODY has ANY idea what I've had to deal with on that corner since opening.
I've dealt with enough scumbags and criminals to last me a lifetime. I've simply "Had enough"
The shop is closing strictly because of this reason. The shop made money and supported itself, even in this crappy economy, the previous history and with a huge overhead...
My ultimate decision came down to my lack of tolerance for the degenerates and scumbags that so often frequented the store. Many of my regular customers never got to see the ugly side of the business... but trust me, it's there and in abundance at the edge of the city.
Also note...
No shop is immune from criticism.
The majority of the criticism I receive, comes from people who get tossed from the store or from people who have never been in the store or met me.
In the online criticism of my shop, they always conveniently omit the minor details... like the fact they came in with a straw-buyer... or had MS13 gang tat's all over them... or told me they were a convicted felon... have PFA's... were drunk... smelled like weed... etc...
You cannot begin to imagine the kind of folks that walk into a gun shop.
Back in October I had a very nice, pleasant elderly man come in to buy a gun. He was a textbook customer and even reminded me of my Dad a little. I spent 45 minutes with the guy going over different guns, features, etc...
He bought a S&W J-frame and a box of ammo... He asked about using the range to test fire it. Since (as some here would say) I am such a prick... I told him he'd need to join the range first. He declined the membership offer and went home instead.
Later that afternoon he put the gun in his mouth and killed himself with it.

Obviously I was pretty upset about it... as I felt like I should have been able to pick up on his intentions. I played the transaction over and over again in my head, looking for something I may have missed... and there was NOTHING. He was as normal and textbook as any other regular walk-in customer. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it... yet after hearing about it, I actually offered to buy the gun back from the family at full price.
Two weeks later I got the gun back from the PD, in an evidence bag, complete with blood and goo all over it. I had to clean that gun myself.
If you missed the part about him asking to use the range... I will spell it out for you. He WOULD have killed himself right there in my range, right in front of me, on camera. I would have had to live with that the rest of my life. THANK GOD I didn't let him in the range.
If he had done that in the range, I would have locked the doors for good, right then and there.

When I got my FFL... I never imagined any of this kind of crap could happen.

It's unfortunate for the good folks that I've had the pleasure of meeting and dealing with since I opened. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them around.
Just a few weeks ago... (I kid you not) I had to toss 7 people out of the shop in just one day. By 4:30... I had enough stress and adrenaline... so I locked the door and went home. The week before that, it was one person each day of the week.
Last week... I had a jackass walk up to the counter with a loaded and unholstered Desert Eagle .50 while I had a showroom full of customers.
I was nice to the guy and actually asked him nicely NOT to handle an unholstered gun in the store and especially not if it's loaded. Even then... I didn't toss him out for being so rude or stupid. I only asked him to leave after he had the nerve to get mouthy with me about it.
That's not the only loaded, unholstered gun I've had pointed at me by a dummy. There have been plenty others.

I have a wife and kids at home.
I will not take a bullet for that shop.
I am done with it.

I will be starting a new fulltime job on Monday morning.
I will be at the shop this week a few hours each day getting stuff packed and consignment guns back to the owners. All the inventory guns have been sold to another dealer. After this week the doors will remain locked.

[Ontarget]

"some new guys bought the place primarily because of the range because they focus on training"
Mr. & Mrs. Fisher still own the building and rent it out.

[Keith A]

No hearsay here....

Thanks for digging that post up. That certainly clarifies some things. I wasn't implying any hearsay on Art's part. I haven't spoken to Art since he closed up shop, and hadn't heard the details from some of his friends that I know. I had heard that someone killed himself with a gun they bought there, but hadn't heard of it outside of word of mouth or from Art himself, that was then only reason I called it hearsay.

[Gunowner99]

There is a woman in our area who can help you. She is an excellent and very patient NRA Certified Instructor. Her name is Margaret and you can contact her at
learn2shootsafely@yahoo.com
You may want to talk to her before you go anywhere else or buy something you don't know enough about.

Took my basic pistol course with her today. See my thread, she is excellent!

[stainless]

Took my basic pistol course with her today. See my thread, she is excellent!

Link to thread?

ETA - found it:

http://forum.pafoa.org/training-tact...ol-course.html

[Gunowner99]

Link to thread?

ETA - found it:

http://forum.pafoa.org/training-tact...ol-course.html

Sorry, got lazy at late night. Thanks for linking.

[Nereaga]

Just contacted her for my wife and I, she is gonna give me a call tonight!

Thanks guys!

[Gunowner99]

I'm glad, you will be satisfied in my opinion.

[ZKend]

Oh, yeah... SA - it's a shooting factory over there. Get 'em in, take their cash and get 'em out fast cause other people who paid a membership fee are waiting to pay $15 hr. to use the 6 lane range. Sorry, but its all about quantity there.

What exactly gave you that implication of the establishment there? I have heard not one bad thing, and have positive experiences myself.