FEATURE

Changes and Constants

Yesterday, I wandered into a new retail store near my home. For the past few weeks, I'd been noticing a sign that said "Coming Soon" in a pretty prominent retail location along one of the most-traveled retail areas in the Birmingham area.

The reason I'd been noticing was that the store was called "Hoover Tactical Firearms" - reason enough to blip on my radar. Another reason was the fact that there are already two very good gun shops within a couple of minutes drive in either direction.

When I walked in, it was a surprise to be greeted by three people I know fairly well, including one from one of the other stores. As it turns out, the store was opened by someone I knew through his former career in law enforcement.

He and I have spent several minutes looking at guns I've had in for test and evaluation. Since he was a former military sniper, tactical team shooter and pretty darned good gunsmith, I always valued his opinion on firearms. We occasionally disagreed, but the disagreements were more from where we looked at firearms than real disagreements.

After all, guns were tools of his trade. They're important to my work, too, but I didn't bet my life on them on a daily basis - at least not willingly.

So, I asked my friend Payton Zarzour what possessed him to open a retail store between two other long-established ones.

His answers showed a knowledge of the marketplace, and a darned-good insight into the desires - and frustrations- of today's gun buyer.

First of all, he's not dealing in hunting rifles. That, he says, is partially because it's not his area and he doesn't want to compete with friends when they have more expertise. I don't know about you, but it's refreshing to talk with someone in a gun store who's not an expert on everything, and knows it. Secondly, he says it's not like people have been running out to buy bolt action rifles since the November elections.

But, I noticed, there were lever action rifles on display walls primarily covered with AR, FN and other styled rifles. His response didn't just show a sense of humor, it showed a knowledge of firearms. "Those," he laughed, "are the original tactical rifles, and they're still very good at it."

As a former police officer who has a son following in his footsteps, Zarzour already had some LE guys passing through his store, and he had the gear and the guys to talk shop with them.

He also has a couple of nice consumer-friendly touches, including chairs and a sitting area for customers to talk or look at a nice selection of magazines, flat-screen TVs (not tuned to gun shows), and enough room to actually look around without being cheek-to-jowl with other customers.

But where I was impressed was his work with the people he calls "first-timers".

Rather than tell someone what they wanted, he has trained his staff to ask what the customer wants, then to ask follow-up questions to see if there might not be a better choice- or to offer some suggestions based on the information they'd exchanged.

Again, a refreshing touch - like watching a role-play out of a training manual from an industry group. Talking. Listening. Suggesting.

That helpful attitude also extended into the sale itself. A consultation area was set off from the main sales area. There, Zarzour explained, new gun buyers were given a basic familiarization with their firearm. An elementary one- starting with the actual parts and nomenclatures for their gun, a basic care and feeding briefing, and encouragement to get real training with their guns.

"A dad brought two daughters in last week," Zarzour said, "and bought them a pair of pistols. He asked me to explain how they worked, and to tell them how to get comfortable with them. I told them the gun was just a tool - the weapon was their minds - they had to realize what a gun could do, and decide if they were comfortable with that - or not."

Practical advice from someone who's seen what happens when that awareness is missing - or misapplied.

Future plans include additional "basic instruction" -including NRA certified instruction that includes everything but actual shooting (no facility there -yet), and assistance in getting access to facilities and training. The kind of assistance that builds a customer base. And the kind of commonsense assistance that is learned by watching while customers were turned off to shooting by a lack of attention to what they wanted.

He'll probably be embarrassed that I've called attention to a business that celebrated it's first anniversary (it's first week anniversary) yesterday, but it is refreshing to see another retail location in the gun business that's focused on listening to customers instead of telling the customer what they want.

He's located between a pair of pretty savvy retailers, but I think they'll all benefit from the newest neighbor.

We'll keep watching - and see how a customer-focused guy with a good knowledge of product, but no real retail experience does. It will probably teach us all something.

And a late industry note.....Paul Miller, Chairman of The Freedom Group resigned last Friday. The official word inside the companies owned by Freedom Group is that Miller was "resigning in order to pursue more operational business opportunities." No, we're not going to try and read the tea leaves on this one.

--Jim Shepherd