National Fred Meyer is closing it’s Gun shops

[Alexx1401]

My local FM has a gun counter. Never bought a gun there, but ammo I've bought regularly - when it's on sale, it's a decent price. But certainly not highly competitive.

When I discovered the one one Fred's here that sold guns and ammo I would stop in there a lot when working down that way during the great panic shortage. Since I tended to stop almost daily at a Fred's anyway I just grabbed stuff at that one. Then I could swing by the counter and maybe a couple times a month they had some .22 ammo. Price was NOT good but close enough I would buy the allotted amount to share with others. That is as far as I have seen the only one in this county that sells guns. No loss to us when they stop.

 

[RVTECH]

Guns have been making a HUGE comeback due to the left and crime. CC is at an all time high.

Yes to some degree but the 'huge comeback' is sort of past tense with the large drop in gun sales. Also I don't believe the 'new buyers' will sustain gun sales. A lot of new gun buyers seem to be only interested in self defense and never grew up in a recreational shooting/hunting, outdoor lifestyle and many I know rarely shoot and I don't see them becoming regular, recreational shooters as this is not really an interest for them. My, (and friends) 'early' gun buying experiences (late 70s's early 80's) revolved around the idea of hunting, varmint shooting, target shooting etc. - and with self defense hardly a part of the equation.

 

[etrain16]

When I discovered the one one Fred's here that sold guns and ammo I would stop in there a lot when working down that way during the great panic shortage. Since I tended to stop almost daily at a Fred's anyway I just grabbed stuff at that one. Then I could swing by the counter and maybe a couple times a month they had some .22 ammo. Price was NOT good but close enough I would buy the allotted amount to share with others. That is as far as I have seen the only one in this county that sells guns. No loss to us when they stop.

.22lr is one thing the FM near me doesn't have at a decent price. They are still way up there and don't have much of a selection. So no .22lr business from me - Cabela's has a much better selection and better prices. My local BiMart hasn't had a decent selection of .22lr either. So I end up having to leave town to find any deals on .22lr

 

[Deavis]

Yes yes and yes!

The only reason I ever went there was for a little peek at the Gun counter.

Everyone else beats them in price.

I hope they fail.

 

[Alexx1401]

.22lr is one thing the FM near me doesn't have at a decent price. They are still way up there and don't have much of a selection. So no .22lr business from me - Cabela's has a much better selection and better prices. My local BiMart hasn't had a decent selection of .22lr either. So I end up having to leave town to find any deals on .22lr

I stopped bothering to look at .22 ammo after the panic was over. I had been shopping Academy for it weekly. Now that the limits are gone I just buy from them. I always preferred CCI stuff. During the panic I would buy what I could get. So now I have been burning up the other stuff and replacing it with CCI. They sell it at a price better than I can get it at Wally for and it's delivered for that price with no tax. I have long wandered how the hell they make any money on it the price they sell it for. I figure they must buy it by the train car load and get a hell of a deal.

 

[Koda]

have to admit when grocery shopping it was kinda fun to swing a wide path by the gun counter on the way to groceries just to see what they got.

 

[JohnnyD]

that's surprising really. the one in orchards just started selling them a year or two ago and seems like there' always someone at the counter when I've been.

 

[Jonnyuma]

Freddy's, as far as I know, is the ONLY grocery store that hasn't jumped-in with Bloomberg, MDA, Everytown, etc, to declare themselves a free-fire... uh, I mean "GUN-free" zone.
Safeway's logo is proudly displayed on MDA's FB page, as is Target's. Albertsons is owned by Safeway.
Freddy's has said that they will follow state and local laws regarding CC and OC without adding further, arbitrary restrictions. I made the decision a few yrs ago to pay a little more and quietly boycott GFZs. To my knowledge, FM/Kroger policy hasn't changed (I don't know for sure, but I haven't heard anything or seen any signs).
So, serious question: Who's left? If they're all the same and I'm going to defy a GFZ anyway, then I might as well shop the cheapest. Privately-owned grocery stores (bigger than a mini-mart) are pretty much gone... I don't know of a single one. Who's gonna be the lesser of evils in this situation? Wal*Mart? IGA?

BTW, I didn't grow up here (PDX) so I don't personally recall the good ol days. I was unaware that FM ever even sold firearms, much less bought one from them. I think the biggest box store I ever bought a gun from was the now defunct Yellow Front in AZ (kinda Bi-Mart-ish) in '90 or '91. FM not selling ARs doesn't affect me, but I do tend to vote with my dollars and do business with companies that understand and respect civil rights beyond just the perpetually aggreived classes.

 

[partsed]

The stores that still have ammo and such should have a sale, that way they don't have to box up as much stuff and send it somewhere else....

 

[PBinWA]

Good - FM was just an opportunistic seller - not a true friend of the second amendment. Jut like Walmart, Dicks and to a certain degree Bi-Mart.

More business for the local gun store.

 

[ma96782]

KR stock is down 12% this week.

Aloha, Mark

 

[etrain16]

Well one thing is certain, if they stop selling guns and ammo they don't have to worry about making a decision about selling to 18-20 year olds. Sounds like they're not willing to stand up to the slightest bit of pressure. But then, that seems to be a common theme with a lot of people and businesses now.

 

[Alexx1401]

Well one thing is certain, if they stop selling guns and ammo they don't have to worry about making a decision about selling to 18-20 year olds. Sounds like they're not willing to stand up to the slightest bit of pressure. But then, that seems to be a common theme with a lot of people and businesses now.

Yes, and I would MUCH rather see stores afraid to stand just do the same. Just stop selling at all. They all claim they make no real money off this, so then just don't sell it. It will be a sad day when we lose the ability to mail order ammo again. It was the days when we could not that got me to learn to load though. At the time had a couple .44 EDC guns and the ammo was almost never to be found and then only the one load. After I tried rolling for that I decided hey this is fun

 

[Argonaut]

I feel that driving gun sales into specialty type stores goes to demonize them to many people not normally familiar with them. The same as mainstream TV Programs like Top Shot was good for gun owners in general showing good non evil gun recreation by normal people. The more we drive guns and gun sales outlets into the weeds the more difficult it will be for us to depict them as non evil and accessible to people new to the shooting sports. There is just something about people walking by a gun rack while doing other shopping that helps to normalize them in our society and some of those people will even get curious enough to check them out.

 

[Alexx1401]

I feel that driving gun sales into specialty type stores goes to demonize them to many people not normally familiar with them. The same as mainstream TV Programs like Top Shot was good for gun owners in general showing good non evil gun recreation by normal people. The more we drive guns and gun sales outlets into the weeds the more difficult it will be for us to depict them as non evil and accessible to people new to the shooting sports. There is just something about people walking by a gun rack while doing other shopping that helps to normalize them in our society and some of those people will even get curious enough to check them out.

Then we all need to just work harder
I have never been afraid to let those I work with know I shoot. I don't of course get over the top about it but will read a mag or such at work. When some approach me I am always open. If they just attack I just let it go. If they act like they really are interested I will devote time to them. Up to and including taking them the a range if they want. If a large percentage of us do this IMHO it will do far more than a gun counter at Fred's or Wal-mart. Fred's AFAIK only had one store in this entire county that even sells or sold guns. Wally's hear have not sold guns since the 90's. I have heard there is one around here that did or does but have not seen it. One Wife goes to did or does still sell ammo but there is no gun counter there. I used to have her check for .22 there when she was there and rarely she would come home with some. All of us shooters need to let those who work with us, and hopefully don't think us some kind of kooks, know we are shooters. Those who are curious may then test the waters and ask us.

 

[Argonaut]

Then we all need to just work harder
I have never been afraid to let those I work with know I shoot. I don't of course get over the top about it but will read a mag or such at work. When some approach me I am always open. If they just attack I just let it go. If they act like they really are interested I will devote time to them. Up to and including taking them the a range if they want. If a large percentage of us do this IMHO it will do far more than a gun counter at Fred's or Wal-mart. Fred's AFAIK only had one store in this entire county that even sells or sold guns. Wally's hear have not sold guns since the 90's. I have heard there is one around here that did or does but have not seen it. One Wife goes to did or does still sell ammo but there is no gun counter there. I used to have her check for .22 there when she was there and rarely she would come home with some. All of us shooters need to let those who work with us, and hopefully don't think us some kind of kooks, know we are shooters. Those who are curious may then test the waters and ask us.

There is no reason for the two ideas to be exclusive..........we need to do both. Driving gun sales into the dingy gun stores that we enthusiasts like that will never be visited by a large percentage of the population is not helpful to our cause.

 

[Nosferatu]

That sucks. The one in Monroe, WA is actually pretty decent. I bought my Henry .22 and Beretta Nano from them. Their retail prices are about the norm for a chain, but they do have good sales. It's also nice to pickup a box of ammo with my bourbon, beer, carharrts and taco fixin's.

 

[Cigarlvr313]

There is no reason for the two ideas to be exclusive..........we need to do both. Driving gun sales into the dingy gun stores that we enthusiasts like that will never be visited by a large percentage of the population is not helpful to our cause.

I agree but the dingy store made me think that back when I started riding "Harleys" (1970 OMG!) no self respecting "yuppie" would have come within 100 yards of a Harley dealer..........Those places were for "Bad Boys" only..........lol........we had 2 dealers in portland/vancouver

 

[DuneHopper]

What.... we only just got one here like 4 years ago... not cool at all.

 

[Diamondback]

Was just dragged kicking and screaming into Fred's by Crabzilla the Hutt for groceries... 21+ signs up and PMags all pulled from the shelf.