Is this the sad loss of another gun shop?

[Reloader708]

Some one put me right if ive miss heard this but got sad news today that a cracking gun/shooting store has closed its doors. Skipton gun room.

Its been a while since I was last in there, having moved away but it was my go to shop for a good few years.
Phil put some serious money into the place and really built it from nothing.
Im unsure of the reasons its closing but its a sad day for the area and will created quite a vacuum.

 

[bbrc]

Phil sold out to cadman sporting a year or two ago,
I called in a few weeks ago and found it shut when it was supposed to be open but I spoke to someone who said he found it open last week so not sure??

 

[slider]

The rise and rise of Internet sales. Local shops are diamonds. Use them or lose them!

 

[MarkL]

It’s harder and harder to find a proper old school gunsmith. Our local one shut last year. Proper gunsmith he could fix most things

 

[Donkey Basher]

My local gunmakers is now a ladies hairdressers ffs - it’s right opposite another ladies hairdressers

 

[nun_hunter]

My local gunmakers is now a ladies hairdressers ffs - it’s right opposite another ladies hairdressers

Clearly in that area more people want to spend money on getting their hair cut and styled than buying shooting items.

I've definitely found that hairdressers/barbers are better conversationalists than most gun shop owners

 

[Yorkie]

Some one put me right if ive miss heard this but got sad news today that a cracking gun/shooting store has closed its doors. Skipton gun room.

Its been a while since I was last in there, having moved away but it was my go to shop for a good few years.
Phil put some serious money into the place and really built it from nothing.
Im unsure of the reasons its closing but its a sad day for the area and will created quite a vacuum.

Hi.
Yes, it would appear it is closing. A friend of mine has a rifle in the shop for a commission sale, they have asked him to come collect it.

That will be two gunshops lost in Skipton. I used to visit The Shooting Lodge regularly. I bought my first rifle and scope from them back in 98. They had a good gunsmith too.

 

[VSS]

My local gunmakers is now a ladies hairdressers ffs - it’s right opposite another ladies hairdressers

I kid you not, there actually used to be a shop in Pwllheli called "Gren's Hairdressers & Gun Shop".

(I remember a local farmer getting a live round stuck in his .22lr, so he sent his wife in to town with the rifle to get it sorted out. She came back with a new perm ).

 

[merlin]

I kid you not, there actually used to be a shop in Pwllheli called "Gren's Hairdressers & Gun Shop".

(I remember a local farmer getting a live round stuck in his .22lr, so he sent his wife in to town with the rifle to get it sorted out. She came back with a new perm ).

Perm as in "somewhere to shoot"?

 

[VSS]

Perm as in "somewhere to shoot"?

I typed "hairdo" initially, but changed it to "perm" for the obvious double meaning
Glad someone got the joke!

(Actually, I made up the bit about the perm, but the rest of the story - about the wife taking the loaded rifle in to town - was absolutely true!).

 

[Foxyboy43]

Difficult times for the trade indeed.
Saying that today I paid £125 for a tub of Viht N120 and was delighted to do so. Shooting is really on track for becoming a rich man’s sport…

 

[Fosbery Holster]

Well I’m disgusted with myself l live about half an hour away from the shop and I’ve never been in it, l won’t be a customer now then will I !

 

[Klenchblaize]

I do miss the aroma of hand-rubbed pipe tobaccos and over-applied Youngs 303.

K

 

[Tikkat1x]

it was doomed when phil sold up, Johnathan did a good job managing the place when it got took over, but when he left it was only a matter of time, no good stock of anything, it was my local and im sick its gone, i went a couple of months ago and it was shut through a staff shortage, went a couple of weeks after and it was shut down,
shame the W*&*&$S at cadman cant update the website to let people know, for them, im glad its shut

 

[enfieldspares]

My local gunmakers is now a ladies hairdressers ffs - it’s right opposite another ladies hairdressers

Not just UK!

As is Gastinne Rennette in Paris since maybe 2000 or so. Now a hair salon...Dessange. I went in just once before it closed and asked if they had a "ressort d'ejecteur" (ejector spring) for a Manufrance Fusil Robust Model 28E (a side by side boxlock ejector made in 1928). To which came reply "Seize ou douze Monsieur?" (Sixteen bore or twelve bore, Sir?). I replied 16 and a man was summoned and sent downstairs and three minutes later reappeared to ask how many I would like. Faure le Page lasted until the mid-2000s and I also visited there and, oddly, Holland & Holland had a shop too. Latterly just up from the Nigerian Embassy and, indeed, I had a rifle and shotgun sent from Northwood to Paris and some two years later back the other way. There were still a good few old school gunshops in Paris in the early 2000s.

 

[Crowstalker]

Difficult times for the trade indeed.
Saying that today I paid £125 for a tub of Viht N120 and was delighted to do so. Shooting is really on track for becoming a rich man’s sport…

only a couple of years ago £80 would have bought that tub of powder.

 

[shakey jake]

Cadman bought whittlesea gun shop a couple of years ago, thats gone down hill fast. They had a couple of decent staff when they took over but not the last couple of visits

 

[Liveonce]

Home Office stats show nearly two RFDs a week closing, the significant increase in RFD certification fee will see more follow especially the ones operating from home with likely a small turnover.
The profit on ammo, cartridges, reloading components is very small for the retailer being consumable items, far less than other goods in other shop types.
Had a friendly now sadly departed Chris O he was an RFD working from home in Folkestone, he refused to sell ammo, cartridges and reloading stuff said it was not worth his time and effort to keep them. He was a gun smith made money from buying from the likes of holts auctions and then restoring them, like reducing barrel length and screw cutting for mod, making them an easier sell. RIP Chris.