walmart no longer selling firearms in the state of michigan

B

bigmike22

New member
I just got off the phone with the regional manager for my area of walmart. I called because every walmart that i am going to is no longer selling firearms. I can see some of there stores in the bigger markets not carrying them but several of there smaller markets walmart is the only avenue for customers to purchase a firearm. Anyways he said that walmart is discontinuing sales of guns in all michigan stores but two and they are fremont and bigrapids. All other walmarts in the state will no longer carry firearms effective february 9th. He said the more calls he gets the more imput he gave give the upstairs corporate guys.
His name is Joe Woods and his Number is 616-949-7670.
 
Michigan isn't the only place this is happening. Wal-Mart is trying to phase out gun sales all together. This is really gonna hurt everyone, even the ones like me that don't buy guns from Wal-Mart, the smaller local gun shops will have no reason to keep gun prices down with no competition from the chain store. The place I get most of my guns from told me he barely makes $10 a gun when he sells them because he has to compete with Wally Worlds prices!!
 
My wife is a dept. manager for walmart and I can tell you that there is alot more happening with walmart than what we see now. Their plan is to virtually do away with the majority of sporting goods and electronics within the next 3-5 years along with many other departments. They want to be able to cut back the employees it currently takes to run these departments. Their end goal is to reach out to the higher income market and become a store more like Macy's or whatever.

Funny thing is in smaller towns like the one I live in and many others do, Walmart has already put many of the mom and pop type business out of business and now if they try and move away from the average working man then there will be nowhere for us to go. In my small town in TN walmart is all we have. They have put the mass majority of other grocery stores and such out of business already.

To be honest if they do away with sporting goods and electronics to the scale they are talking then there will no reason for me to ever step foot back inside their doors. But hey apparently that is what they want. They dont want my lower/middle class dollars...
 
Most small gun dealers do not depend on the sales of guns to stay in business. Most sell other things like holsters, slings, ammo etc. When you buy a gun, you are more than likely to buy other things with it, so they try and get you to buy those other things.

Hopefully this won't change anything. Those places still have to compete with places like Gander mountain. Sure, Wal Mart was cheap, but to beat Gander's prices, you are now in Wal Mart price range anyway.

I would much rather support local business by paying $10 more than buy from Wallie World any day.
 
Last edited:
"Their plan is to virtually do away with the majority of sporting goods and electronics within the next 3-5 years along with many other departments. They want to be able to cut back the employees it currently takes to run these departments. Their end goal is to reach out to the higher income market and become a store more like Macy's or whatever."

I don't think thats what ole Sam Walton had in mind when he was alive /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
And i dont think that will ever work anyways. I live in a well to do area with decent median income and for the most part the people with money avoid walmart like the plague. Our walmart is always dirty and disorganized. They are alienating the only customers they have left.
 
...I think that's because they couldn't get Remington to agree to build 'em in China. For me it means that WalMart does not want to sell me any more hunting supplies. Another good reason to "roll your own".
 
Here's the deal...they could give a tin sh%t about you as a sportsman or a person. The only thing that matters to them is the almighty dollar and if they can't get it from you they will suck it out of some other poor, ignorant, gullible sap who chooses to go in there and shop. I know for a straight up FACT that they liquidate items that do NOT pass ASTM, CATB and BS fire testing standards (this means that the items are extremely FLAMMABLE!!) in their stores that they buy from china. They could care less about you. They rely on the sheeple that don't realise that you CAN/SHOULD go somewhere else and shop. Realise this and you will have an easier time shopping somewhere else for everything. wal mart is the debil. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
Trashcan
 
I have never purchased a rifle or shotgun from Walmarts. I do buy rimfire and shotshell ammo from them. They never have any firearms i would waste my money on. I do wish they would start stocking Rock River and Bushy AR's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Quote:
My wife is a dept. manager for walmart and I can tell you that there is alot more happening with walmart than what we see now. Their plan is to virtually do away with the majority of sporting goods and electronics within the next 3-5 years along with many other departments. They want to be able to cut back the employees it currently takes to run these departments. Their end goal is to reach out to the higher income market and become a store more like Macy's or whatever.

Funny thing is in smaller towns like the one I live in and many others do, Walmart has already put many of the mom and pop type business out of business and now if they try and move away from the average working man then there will be nowhere for us to go. In my small town in TN walmart is all we have. They have put the mass majority of other grocery stores and such out of business already.

To be honest if they do away with sporting goods and electronics to the scale they are talking then there will no reason for me to ever step foot back inside their doors. But hey apparently that is what they want. They dont want my lower/middle class dollars...



That is the most ridiculus thing I have ever heard! I can understand the firearm part but stating that wal mart will close its electronics department and others to reach out to higher end markets is absurd. Wal mart is not, cannot, and has no desire to sell to higher end markets like Macy's or other big name department stores. Wal Marts whole niche, the reason they are in business, their business model revolves around stores in lower income areas. They are quite good at it and precious few others can compete with them. That business model makes them a ton of money. Why would they want to compete with higher name retailers and bring on more competition? What you say is happening is nothing more than a rumor and makes no (and I mean NO) economic sense.

Its like saying Chevy is going to stop making vehichles and enter the tupperware market. Complete and utter nonsense. I don't care if your wife is the CEO of Wal Mart. She is wrong.
 
Quote:
And i dont think that will ever work anyways. I live in a well to do area with decent median income and for the most part the people with money avoid walmart like the plague. Our walmart is always dirty and disorganized. They are alienating the only customers they have left.



Yup. My wife and I can afford to shop elsewhere, so we do. If I can't find it locally, I will order it online. I admit, I did however shop at Wal Mart when getting camo Ts and two pair of pants. They were $3 a pop post season for Ts and $12 for pants.
 
Last edited:
Miss your coffee this morning Keystone?

I am fully aware of the lack of economic sense something like this makes. I took economics in college also. Now maybe Macy's was a bad example. Personally I have never been into or even near a store like Macy's. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Wal-Mart's current plan is to move away from their current market and towards a higher end market. Atleast that is what the home office is telling its store managers.

You ask why Wal-Mart would want more competition and yet there is no one that can compete with them. Walmart does more business in 2 months than the number two retailer in the US does in 12 months (Home Depot is number 2 FWIW). Also Walmart has higher sales than Sears, K-Mart, Target and JC Penny combined.

Here is a quote from Wal-Mart's executive in charge of U.S. operations you might enjoy.

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will retool its 3,256 U.S. stores over two years to give them a more customized mix of goods and layouts for affluent shoppers."

And yet another one.

"In March, Wal-Mart opened a new upscale store in Plano, Texas, aimed at shoppers in that affluent Dallas suburb. It includes high-end electronics, more fine jewelry, hundreds of types of wine ranging up to $500 a bottle, and even a sushi bar."

Now I dont know about you but little ole low income me really could use a sushi bar and $500 bottles of wine in my Wal-Mart.

One last thing Keystone. Before accusing my wife of being a liar why don't you know what the heck you are talking about. It makes you look less ignorant.
 
Quote:
One last thing Keystone. Before accusing my wife of being a liar why don't you know what the heck you are talking about. It makes you look less ignorant.




Just because a statement sounds totally insane, doesn't make it so, and to attack someone like keystone did is way out of line. I'm sure tnvarmint didn't just make this up to sound like he's got an "inside source".

I personally do not think this new marketing strategy will work and hope they take a big hit because of it. They have put too many mom and pop stores out of business. I can't stand wally worlds and make every effort to do business elsewhere.
 
I spent 23 years at GM listening to their plans. Let me tell you, GM is in the business of selling stock and keeping Wall Street happy. If they need to stop making Chevy's and start making Tupperware, it will happen. The decisions made do not seem and some times are not logical, on the surface.

This is another reason to stay out of Wmart and buy from Mom & Pop


ELJ
 
That was the only reason i ever went in there. We have a few local sporting goods stores and only one of them sells firearms. The others dont. And the one that does wants 10% over retail for all his guns. I buy my ammo from him but cant afford to purchase guns from him. He does have the greatest selection of ammo i have ever seen. They stock the really hard to find stuff that might sit there for a few years but he has it and as soon as he sells it he orders more.I have bought a few cheaper guns from walmart, 22lr and a mossberg 500. Im not really that mad that they are not selling firearms here because gander and dunhams are not that far away and both have great prices. Im mad because they are being deceptive about the whole thing. They said they are going to stop selling in about 1000 stores nation wide. Weed out the stores that dont sell. I know for a fact that two of there stores that they are not selling firearms were in the top 10 walmarts in firearms sales last year yet they are closing them. There is something fishy here going on and i dont like being lied to or mislead.
 
IMHO, ELJ hit on a key driver to all of this- stock value. Stock market share prices drive the actions of companies. Companies don't get rewarded in terms of share price solely by making a lot of profit, they have to demonstrate a plan for continued future growth and bottom line profit improvement.

In the beginning, Walmart could do that by adding new stores. New markets = new income. Then, as they consumed more and more of the growth opportunity coming from additional locations, they tapped into the "grocery" segment market. Again, increased revenue and profits coming from an idea that generated growth from "new" money. Now, with an established store base, and the inability to jack up food/product pricing at a rate the stock market analysts would find acceptable and sustainable, they need to do something else, and it will probably be very different from the past model because they need to find "new" income. What that will be I don't know, but what I read above doesn't seem unrealistic to me at all. They have to identify something that will get them a new and significant revenue stream to keep the share price moving the right direction.

Additionally, there are other things they have done that could be interpreted as consistent with this "more affluent" customer strategy, in terms of who they have hired for future marketing efforts.

Personally, I dislike what they have been doing over the past few years, and I shop there less and less. Unfortunately, between doing that and making some phone calls or writing some emails, there is often not a lot more an individual can do.
 
Walmarts market change to a higher income customer makes sense. In 2006 Walmarts 2nd and 3rd quarter sales and profits were in the toilet. They realized that their blue collar customer base was strapped with debt by high gasoline prices they were buying on CREDIT CARDS. This left little funds to shop other than absolute necessities.

Whether Walmart can accomplish this from a merchandise mix,
customer service, store cleanliness stand point remains to be seen. Target stores is doing this and increasing sales and profits.

Walmart pulled out 2006 at Christmas by being price aggressive. They had too. Wall Street was watching.

The Guns all mass merchants sell are very low profit items for the merchandise space and inventory dollars invested.
This has been an on going problem for the mass merchants in the gun business for the last 25 years.

Also Walmarts payout to the State of California of
$15,000,000 (15 million) for gun sale violations did help them MAKE a corporate decision to discontinue gun sales in most stores.
 
It is nation wide even though they will lie and tell you it is only regonal all stores are only selling stock on hand if you want somthing they do not have they may try to find one at another store but as far as getting any new stock forget it Wal Mart has totally joined the anti's now and will no longe sell firearms. Ammunition will be next. They have done what they started to do and run many of the small independants out of business along with the harassment from ATF. Waht your seeing is the liberal anti gun agenda in action. Like many have said it is not a once in a while full scale attack it is a nibbling constant assault on our rights. Remove the supply, and the demand will stop. Make purchasing so expencive that only the privledged can afford to own a firearm then stop hunting so in a generation or so no one remembers the right to self defense. Big Brother will take care of you. STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, JUST DO WHAT WE TELL YOU. WE KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU. GIVE UP SOME FREEDOM NOW, SO WE CAN GIVE YOU MORE EVENTUALY!
Just ask Hillary she knows whats best.
 
Our walmart in Ontario never did sell guns. We have good prices on ammo there but never any guns. If I could afford to shop elsewhere I would but on certain stuff they have good prices. They just closed there old store and opened a bigger one around the corner and after seing and hearing some of the stuff that went on with items in the store like sending all the old stock toys, crayons, markers and such in the shredder I would love to pound them. There is tons of charitys for kids and poor families who would have loved that stuff for christmas and yet they threw tons of boxes out. Yes I know this first hand from seing boxes in the lanes marked garbage and from knowing people that work there.
 
Back
Top