Thread: Shooters Mercantile in Salem

I drove by the old Shooting range on Silverton rd. yesterday and it looked like somethings going on there. Is it open again?

Have not heard anything about it, will try to drive by and check it out.

That would be SWEET if it opened back up.... Let us know.


Stay Safe.

That place has been closed for years.. Anyone know what happened the first time anyway?

Originally Posted by VW_Factor

That place has been closed for years.. Anyone know what happened the first time anyway?

The owner had health issues and no one else bought it. I wish they were open; I use to go in the small range room with the fold-down benches and work from the holster once a week.

Tom closed soon after Sportsman Warehouse came to town He told me the competition from them was just to much he wasn't able to make a profit. I wasn't aware of any health issues. Though that could have factored in.

Originally Posted by Mark W.

Tom closed soon after Sportsman Warehouse came to town He told me the competition from them was just to much he wasn't able to make a profit. I wasn't aware of any health issues. Though that could have factored in.

I could have sworn it was closed for 2 or 3 years before Sportsmans even opened up.. Beyond that, the prices @ Sportsmans are still awful. Can't imagine they would have been much competition, especially with him having a range.

Yeah, they were closed long before Sportsman's opened

The Sportsman Warehouse in Salem Oregon Opened between Mar and Jun of 2002 based on the companies Web site at the time.

Shooters Mercantile closed later the same year. And as I said Tom Foster the Owner told me part of the reason for closing was not being able to compete in the new gun market with Sportsman Warehouse.

Tom and I lobbied together on various firearms bills in the late 80's early 90's I even gave him rides to a couple of the hearings we attended

It would be nice if the indoor range they had would open back up to the public. As far as competing with Sportsmans, I think he could have given them a run for their money. It was (for me) always a pleasure to do business at Shooters.

It is to bad about them closing. I drive by there often. A friend looked at tearing out the walls for a potential buyer. They said the only way to do it was with explosives. I would think there would be money to be made as a shooting range.

yeah, id love to go there when I dont have the time to drive for 45 minutes to go shooting

Went by there last week, sadly it's still totally closed up.

we are talking about the indoor shooting range that was once open in Salem...correct? I moved here after that place closed down. Before that I lived in Eugene and would go to the Barrons Den weekly. I think there is money to be made if someone would open an indoor range in Salem. Shoot if I had the money I would love to make that my day job It seems like someone would get on that... And I could go without the high lane fee's and over priced ammo too...I would price everything to keep costomers coming back if it were me who owned it. Aahh wouldn't that be awesome...

there have been two indoor ranges in Salem in recent decades. The well known Shooters Mercantile on Silverton Rd and then there was one in the strip mall right behind the Chase bank and Burger King on South Commercial I believe it is now a Gym. The range was down stairs with a full line gun shop on the first floor.

I think I remember there was an accident or purposed shooting at the range that caused it to be shut down. I could be remembering wrong it's been quite a while. I think we shot there 2-3 times.

never knew about the downstairs one. What year was that?

Is there an indoor range in Pdx? Only one I know of in Oregon is Barrons Den

just learned about "a place to shoot" in pdx but wow, those range fee's for non-member is way out of comprehension. And you have to buy and use their bullets!? wonder what kind of mark-up they have on their ammo. It seems like knowone in their right mind would shoot at the place unless they were so rich they had money to literaly throw away

link to fee's at "a place to shoot" Range Info

I went to an indoor range years ago in the midwest & they had very similar policies. Think about things like rent, utilities, payroll, taxes. When you only rent range time, requiring ammo purchases only makes viable business sense IMO. Obviously, the indoor range business isn't the get rich scheme, evidenced by the lack of them around.

Originally Posted by RallySoob

Is there an indoor range in Pdx? Only one I know of in Oregon is Barrons Den

Well, not exactly in Portland, but just south of Clackamas Town Center there is a pubic indoor range:

Public Safety Training Center & Indoor Shooting Range

$15 range fee and you have to buy/shoot their ammo. It isn't cheap but it is a very nice facility. A 50 round box of 9mm is $16 and 100 round box of 22LR is $9.

Originally Posted by RallySoob

just learned about "a place to shoot" in pdx but wow, those range fee's for non-member is way out of comprehension. And you have to buy and use their bullets!? wonder what kind of mark-up they have on their ammo. It seems like knowone in their right mind would shoot at the place unless they were so rich they had money to literaly throw away

link to fee's at "a place to shoot" Range Info

Screw them, they are out of line with their prices. They also tried to double charged me on ammo and I had to call them on it.

Originally Posted by PDXSparky

Well, not exactly in Portland, but just south of Clackamas Town Center there is a pubic indoor range:

Public Safety Training Center & Indoor Shooting Range

$15 range fee and you have to buy/shoot their ammo. It isn't cheap but it is a very nice facility. A 50 round box of 9mm is $16 and 100 round box of 22LR is $9.

Just be sure to bring your own gun.