The Gun Room

[cyborg]

I love this thread . It makes me feel very good about myself. When I first moved to Portland half a life ago I made the rounds of the then existing gun shops. The Gun Room was my very first.

I never spoke a word to any of the employees but I noticed that as I walked around looking at his decent selection of rifles and such, I physically winced as I read each price. Holy F**K! How can he charge these prices? I cannot specifically recall anything I overheard but it became clear to me very quickly that they had no interest in offering me any assistance and were not the kind of people I wanted anything to do with.

I have never set foot in that place ever again. It warms my heart to know that even as a young man I had the intelligence to come to the same conclusion as everyone else so quickly. I have been kind of worried that maybe I was a dumb kid and had been inappropriately harsh in forming this very strong opinion so quickly. I had been considering going back to check them again but now I wont. I will rest well tonight in the knowledge that I can feel free to despise them without remorse. eace:

Does anyone know if this guy has tables at the gun shows?

 

[daddio]

You won't see any tables at the gun shows from "The Gunroom". Warren the owner calls them Ali Ba Ba & his 40 thieves. Although with his prices & service, it kinda like the kettle callin the pot black.

 

[Konad]

Holy crap! I just called them to see if they had a Ruger SR-22 and a Beretta Cx4 Storm. The guy says "No I refused to carry that" (when I asked about the ruger). Then says "Thats another piece of crap" when I asked about the Beretta. Could they be any more rude and offputting? I have no interest in going to this shop ever.

 

[Gaust]

Everyone should visit them once in their life just for the entertainment. I've driven by quite a few times but never stopped in till yesterday. It's a great place to go if ya like screwing with people.

 

[markw76]

Yeah. Drop a dozen $100s on the counter and tell the guy you want to buy an AR. See how fast his grape turns red.

 

[Cougfan2]

We should have a field trip! A bunch of us could go down and go in one at a time and ask for Mini-14's, Glocks, Rugers, Hi-Points, etc.... We could get enough stories to keep this thread going for another year if he didn't burst a blood vessel and croak on us after the first three people!

 

[DeletedUser1]

Lets do it,name the time and date .count me in for sure.i would love to go in and praise a high point and not let it go.haha.

 

[MEP1000]

OMG that sounds hilarious... We should do it in waves lol.. Groups of 5 every hour on the hour

 

[ZachS]

While you do that, I'll call and see what he has to say about XD's...

 

[Partsproduction]

This brings up the whole discussion of the lack of respect some folks have for people who like anything they don't. I'm guilty of it to some degree.

There's a thread in the Firing Line on it now, (http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=399884) and it made me think about it. It's childish to put down something that someone else admires.

Sometimes it's a reaction to koolaid drinkers ("Get a glock!" no matter what the OP is asking.) but sometimes it's just a high horse kinda thing. I suppose that having an actual gun store would make someone susceptible to that authoritarian attitude. But often in gun stores I've noticed that the customer is not always right.

The guy behind the counter has no idea whether or not the customer is Todd Jarrett or Bill Wilson, so it's automatically assumed that the first thing the customer needs is education about firearms.

Henry Ford said "Tell the customer he can have it in any color he wants as long as it's black". A good gunstore employee says "You want a glock? Let's see when we can get you one". I admit that would sour my mouth to say that to someone, but it gets down to why they are there, is it to impress others with one's own gun ideology and knowledge or to make money?

 

[Cougfan2]

But often in gun stores I've noticed that the customer is not always right.

I've been in sales for almost 30 years and if there is one thing I've learned it's that the customer isn't always right, but they're always the customer. It's not my money and my opinion is worth exactly what they paid for it. ZIP. If they ask for advice or suggestions, I'll try to help. Otherwise just shut up and take their money.

 

[Partsproduction]

Yes, but Coug, the saying is true because the first priority is profit, it has to be in a business. Of course the customer isn't always right, but he is always the one with the money that could make the store profitable and competitive.

I stated my own experience at The Gun Room early on, I was treated with what was obviously wrong advice about progressive presses because they didn't have any progressive presses in the store. Or (arguably) they didn't have any because they don't believe in them.
Either way they were wrong and should have said "We don't carry any progressive presses, but maybe we have some reloading equipment that you will find will work with the press you buy". The press is the smaller investment, in the long haul the components and dies and accessories cost as much or more and continue to cost.
Instead the guy hauled out two revolvers with blown cylinders and said "That's what you get with a progressive press".

He had the revolvers close to one end of the case where he could get at them quickly. No doubt he had shown them off many times! Many times he had tried to tell the customer he was foolish for wanting a progressive press instead of profiting from his decision to buy one, getting progressives in for sale, or at least accepting the sales of extras!

My point above was that although I personally will never own a glock and have strong feelings about the state of gun manufacturing, plastics and MIM, black plastic rifles and (Ironically) antique technology like revolvers, as a store owner or employee the customer is right as long as the money is in his hands (I know, I'm coming off as a cold greedy deceiver).

If I'm expressing my opinion about classless ugly guns in a forum like this I'm probably angering people, and I haven't lost any money.

But even if I'm right, in a gun store as a sales person I'm wrong if my customer walks out of the store shaking his head about fat headed arrogant misinformed salesmen.

I stated my own experience at The Gun Room early on,

Edit; I just looked over my posts and saw that I never said anything about the blown revolvers. It's a classic case of poor salesmanship.

 

[Bigd6943]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww AK47 that's crap
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww Ruger 10/22 that will kill you
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww Obama All edit
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww any gun tha was made in the last 10 years is Junk
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww it's over their I'm just going to sit on my old fad *** and read my new edit mag

That guy is old and only knows what he read in guns and amo in 1957 cuz after that the edit took over and made all guns crap.

Well that's my 2 cents

Ps. Don't got to that shop unless you feel better about your self lol

 

[satinwood]

I like to go there and look around. Warren is rude, but the other older guy was nice to me and tried hard to give me good service. The problem was that it was all overpriced. It is entertaining to go in and see Warren yell at customers asking questions and walk out mad. This place is a joke.

 

[jkraig]

I have never been in this store, but it sounds like it would be a fun place to visit. LOL

 

[jaded monkey]

They are rude, they are well overpriced, and they are racist/bigoted. They don't sell any firearm that is not american made, and if you ask if they have one, they launch a slurry of racist remarks at you. This is not an exaggeration, there are about 10 forums that I have found online that everyone on them has had the same experience as me. Don't believe me? Call them and ask for an AK, SKS, or a Makarov. Please don't support this company.

i called this company yesterday for a bi pod for my panther .... OMG i got an ear full how stupid i was WTH ..... i wont ever step foot in this establishment ..... and this tread showed me more reasons not to give them my $$$$$

 

[toobigtofail]

I called and asked about an SKS. They said that they had some, so I went in. They wanted $600 for a Russian one in decent shape. Yeah -- at least $250 too much, if not $300. I left quickly.

 

[altairPDX]

More than 19 years ago I went in there to buy my first gun. I was young and stupid and hadn't really shopped around. I saw a nice looking store and assumed they would treat me fairly. I settled on a Ruger SP101 .38 special, and was expecting a GI Bill check within about a week that would pay for the gun. I told the salesman about the GI Bill check, but he talked me into taking their 'free' credit offer to start the 15-day waiting period, and then I could just pay cash when I picked it up, as my check would be in by then.

He knew I was going to pay cash, but never told me they offered a cash discount. During the 15 day wiating period I happened to go to another gun store (anyone remember Larry's Sporting Goods?) and found the same gun for significantly less (more than $100). When I went back to The Gun Room I told him their prices were high, and the very same salesman said, "Well, you should have paid cash instead of buying on credit - you would have gotten the cash discount." As if I were the fool for taking his offer of 'free' credit instead of sticking to my guns and paying cash as I had originally planned. I vowed never to go back in there again.

But then the '94 gun ban came around. It was still in Congress, but everyone was expecting it to pass and nobody was sure what guns were going to be on the list. I'd wanted a Ruger Mini-14 for a long time and figured now was potentially my last chance. I looked everywhere, but everyone was sold out (nothing like the threat of a gun ban to make sure guns get sold quickly). I finally broke down and stopped at the gun room.

That's when I had the wonderful opportunity to get chewed out for wanting a semi-automatic rifle. Did you know we lost Vietnam because our guys weren't using bolt-action hunting rifles? Well, you may not have known that, but the wonderful staff at The Gun Room were more than happy to share that information with me, and a half-dozen other bogus reasons to try and convince me that there is no reason on this earth why anyone should own anything that can load it's next bullet automatically, and I really needed to be looking for another hunting rifle.

I turned around and walked out the door. It's now been 16 years since I last stepped foot inside their business. I've bought a lot of guns since then, and I've told a lot of people my story. I've helped make sure a lot of folks never step foot in that store ever.

Every now and then I wonder if things have changed. Was it just me? But then every now and then I hear someone else's story, and I realize it's not me, it's them. And tonight I stumbled on this site. Judging by the scores that were already here, and the stories I've read on this board, not only was my story the norm, but nothing has changed.

How is it possible that when 95% of people rate your store below average, you can stay in business as long as they have? Here are the ratings when I logged in tonight:

3 - Excellent
1 - Very Good
3 - Average
13 - Fair
122 - Poor

Unbelievable!

 

[numbnutz]

I remember going to Larry's with my dad when I was younger, that place was great it was where Fisherman's is now in oregon city. The only reason I will ever go to the Gunroom is for pure entertainment

 

[kaoboi503]

Me and my little brother went into the gun room a couple of months ago because I had bought my first pistol. We were looking for the Maglula speed loader for pistols. The guy at the counter said they didn't have any, then another guy came in and the counter guy asked him. He looked pissed but he grabbed me something off a shelf and put it in my hand, I looked at it, and it was a 6 shot wheel gun speed loader.

As I'm a younger dude, the wears somewhat baggy pants, I understand that I may be misinterpreted as a no good thug. This is why I always ask if it's okay if I take a look around, and then translate the body language of the person I just asked; because if they don't want me there, I sure as **** don't want to be there either. The counter guy didn't seem to mind so we took a look around. We were looking at M4s when the guy that was coming in and out of the store with ammo overheard my little brother say the price for this one is kinda really really high for what it's worth. We were asked to leave.

We told our father that we got kicked out of a gun store, and he asked "which one?" When we had told him, he laughed at us, and said "why the **** would you guys want to go to that gun store? When you walk into a gun store and see no customers there, you should leave." and kept saying things like "Did you see all the trash they had in that store?" "I thought they went out of business." and etc.

I feel kind of stupid for even stepping foot into that gun store. But I kind of want to go back in and ask them if they read any of their reviews.

P.S. the I didn't know that the land down under word is filtered.