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Many of the good gun shops in NJ have closed down

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Many of the really good gun shops in NJ have unfortunately closed down. There used to be Ray's Sport Shop, Meltzer's, and Effingers to name a few. Now there's Middlebrook Firearms in Green Brook and the Heritage Guild in Branchburg but neither shop from what I've seen has the huge selection of Ray's or the really good prices of Meltzer's. That's just life I guess.

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Meanwhile, awesome shops/Ranges like Monmouth Arms, GSSC, TTC, RTSP, GFH, etc. which have opened...  Big box gun stores have huge competition now from internet-based sales... 

Efingers suffered greatly from other big box stores (and their prices were never great anyway).

Just the way life is now.

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40 minutes ago, 1563621 said:

Loved going to Ray's, has been closed about 10 years now!

Yeah its a bummer. Ray's was pricy with their guns, they were perhaps even more pricy, or at least just as pricy with guns as Cabela's in Hamburg PA but they had a really good range and it was a good place to buy other supplies. From what I understand the owner was in his 90s and decided it was time to retire and he didn't have anybody to pass the store on to. The place definitely had character.

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I'm trying to understand why Photon Guy cares about the shops in Jersey....By his own admission, he high-tailed it outta here and is now a PA resident, who wants to know why WE still live here.  NJ gunshops ARE hurting; because of over regulation (with the goal of shutting them down) and guys high-tailing it outta here!

 

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40 minutes ago, Krdshrk said:

Meanwhile, awesome shops/Ranges like Monmouth Arms, GSSC, TTC, RTSP, GFH, etc. which have opened...  Big box gun stores have huge competition now from internet-based sales... 

Efingers suffered greatly from other big box stores (and their prices were never great anyway).

Just the way life is now.

I wonder if Efingers suffered in part due to Bass Pro more or less taking over the industry. Bass Pro now seems to run the show in terms of outfitter stores and as I understand they now own Cabela's. Im not sure but why Gander Mountain went under might have something to do with Bass Pro. I do know they have a Bass Pro shop in Atlantic City, NJ but I've yet to visit it. I also know at one time they were planning to open a Cabela's in NJ but they never followed through with it. Efingers was very expensive with guns but if you wanted to buy guns in NJ Meltzer's had the best prices that I knew of. Sadly Meltzers is closed too. Bass Pro will of course be very expensive.

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5 minutes ago, photon guy said:

I wonder if Efingers suffered in part due to Bass Pro more or less taking over the industry. Bass Pro now seems to run the show in terms of outfitter stores and as I understand they now own Cabela's. Im not sure but why Gander Mountain went under might have something to do with Bass Pro. I do know they have a Bass Pro shop in Atlantic City, NJ but I've yet to visit it. I also know at one time they were planning to open a Cabela's in NJ but they never followed through with it. Efingers was very expensive with guns but if you wanted to buy guns in NJ Meltzer's had the best prices that I knew of. Sadly Meltzers is closed too. Bass Pro will of course be very expensive.

I see it as big box type store shortages/closings.  Toys R Us, Sears/KMart, JC Penny, Macy's, and other stores are getting overpowered by Amazon/The Internet as well as Walmart/Target.  Smaller mom and pop shops have to EXCEL at products/customer service to keep patrons... and if they're selling the same thing that can be bought off the internet for a lot cheaper, people will generally go to the internet to save some bucks.  Plus, keeping a big store full of product can be very expensive and if things don't move, you sometimes have to eat the cost and sell for a loss.

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14 minutes ago, W2MC said:

I'm trying to understand why Photon Guy cares about the shops in Jersey....By his own admission, he high-tailed it outta here and is now a PA resident, who wants to know why WE still live here.  NJ gunshops ARE hurting; because of over regulation (with the goal of shutting them down) and guys high-tailing it outta here!

 

If you are gonna step all over the nuts of everybody that high tailed out of NJ - as you put it- you are going to have a long  day ahead of you. 

Instead why don't we give the new guy a little leeway?

 

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Greg at Jersey City Armory had the best prices around compared to most NJ FFLs in the 90's. He had a website and could probably order what you wanted if asked. No retail store front as he worked out of his home and you would have to schedule an appointment for pick up. Unfortunately, the city hassled him so much that he moved out of state. Purchased my Benelli M3 from him, 300.00 cheaper than what other places were asking for.

Regards,

TokenEntry

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Rays was opened in 1947, 

1 hour ago, T Bill said:

Actually never thought very much of those three mentioned.  Their demise came from their lack of good business sense and poor attitude of the staff.  

Rays was in business for over 63 years. Meltzers for 101 years, Efingers for over 107 years. They all must have done something right to be in business that long...yes there was less competition then there is today, but you cannot discount that kind of longevity. 

Ray’s kids were in their late 60s spending most of their adult life working there. Ray was in his 90’s and did not want to retire, but his kids did. Since they were more or less running the business you can figure out why they sold out. They tried to sell the business as is, but Ray refused to sell until his health was failing.

Meltzers story was similar, Billy’s kid did not want to own the business when he was ready to retire.

Efinger suffered from increasing completion in the area as well as the internet. The team business suffered greatly when parents had to choose to have their kids play only one sport, once the schools stopped supplying necessary equipment for them to participate. Add to the fact that many hunters started to age, and kids were not taking it up in the same numbers.  Not to mention every year there seemed to be less public land to hunt. The writing was on the wall. All great memories in all of those stores. But as was posted earlier there are still Great choices out there. Support your local stores and gun ranges so they don’t one day become a memory.

 

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1 minute ago, Indianajonze said:

what's the point of this thread? to stroll down memory lane? if so, i miss child world and kb toys. i also will soon be missing toys r us. luckily there are plenty of walmarts and targets and amazon to take their place

Sorry about that. Us old guys will just shut up now. Didn’t mean to bore you with any history. 

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9X19

I am one of the old guys too and I will not shut up. I don't mind the subject matter of the thread and miss a few of the places mentioned down here in Ocean County.

Just ignore those who find fault with the posts made by others.  Everyone is not as open minded and experienced as those of us who past mile marker 60!

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1 hour ago, WP22 said:

If you are gonna step all over the nuts of everybody that high tailed out of NJ - as you put it- you are going to have a long  day ahead of you. 

Instead why don't we give the new guy a little leeway?

 

read his comments where I linked and you'd understand......

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1 hour ago, Krdshrk said:

I see it as big box type store shortages/closings.  Toys R Us, Sears/KMart, JC Penny, Macy's, and other stores are getting overpowered by Amazon/The Internet as well as Walmart/Target.  Smaller mom and pop shops have to EXCEL at products/customer service to keep patrons... and if they're selling the same thing that can be bought off the internet for a lot cheaper, people will generally go to the internet to save some bucks.  Plus, keeping a big store full of product can be very expensive and if things don't move, you sometimes have to eat the cost and sell for a loss.

Well I do know that much of the shopping today is done over the internet and that includes shopping for guns. With guns in particular from my experience you can get really good deals on the internet, but you will still need the gun shops where you would go to pick up the guns that you buy on the internet. So that's the reason I see why gun shops would stay in business, if for any reason at all to do transfers.

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11 minutes ago, Indianajonze said:

what's the point of this thread? to stroll down memory lane? if so, i miss child world and kb toys. i also will soon be missing toys r us. luckily there are plenty of walmarts and targets and amazon to take their place

More or less yes. A stroll down memory lane. I miss child world too even though I was only there once since they never had any in my area but I remember the commercials with the mascot bear and all. Toys R Us will be missed too but at this point I've moved on to Cabela's which has become the Toys R Us or Child World for me now.

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49 minutes ago, TokenEntry said:

Greg at Jersey City Armory had the best prices around compared to most NJ FFLs in the 90's. He had a website and could probably order what you wanted if asked. No retail store front as he worked out of his home and you would have to schedule an appointment for pick up. Unfortunately, the city hassled him so much that he moved out of state. Purchased my Benelli M3 from him, 300.00 cheaper than what other places were asking for.

Regards,

TokenEntry

Better than Meltzer's? I've never been to Jersey City Armory but when I was at Meltzer's they had among the best prices that I've seen and I did some looking around, visiting a whole bunch of different gun shops. This was back in 1999. 

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2 hours ago, photon guy said:

Ray's was pricy with their guns, they were perhaps even more pricy, or at least just as pricy with guns as Cabela's in Hamburg PA but they had a really good range...

I enjoyed the shop, and was sad to see it go...but a good range?  Really?

I had a few free passes to the range at Rays, and after shooting there once I never used the rest of them.

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5 minutes ago, 10X said:

I enjoyed the shop, and was sad to see it go...but a good range?  Really?

I had a few free passes to the range at Rays, and after shooting there once I never used the rest of them.

It was one of the best NJ ranges that I knew of although I don't know about that many NJ ranges. Aside from Ray's there's been 2 or 3 NJ ranges that I've been to. 

Now, one of my favorite public ranges is the Sunset Hill Shooting Range in Henryville PA. One of my favorite ranges overall is the range at Front Sight but that's all the way in Pahrump, NV and its a private range so you only get to use it if you're taking a class there.

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking of things past.

I bought my first rifle, a Marlin 60, from Effingers in 2010. I worked in Somerville at the time, and stopped in a few times a week to shop. I made a point to buy a box of ammo every time I went in. I was always treated very well. I wish they were still around. I purchased a few firearms from them over the years.

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2 minutes ago, JohnnyB said:

For us old guys down in South Jersey, I miss Edelmans!

so do I....in fact, I bought an "extended warranty" from them on my S&W M-41...that I could get fixed if they were still in business!

 

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2 minutes ago, JohnnyB said:

For us old guys down in South Jersey, I miss Edelmans!

Yes Sir, I remember them too. What most  people don’t know is that Leslie Edelman who owns Kimber, is the very same guy who owned Edelmans.

1 minute ago, W2MC said:

so do I....in fact, I bought an "extended warranty" from them on my S&W M-41...that I could get fixed if they were still in business!

 

Send it to Smith. You’ll get it back by the time we have a Republican Governor again.

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1 hour ago, photon guy said:

Better than Meltzer's? I've never been to Jersey City Armory but when I was at Meltzer's they had among the best prices that I've seen and I did some looking around, visiting a whole bunch of different gun shops. This was back in 1999. 

I would have avoided Meltzer's if someone had told me about Jersey City Armory back then. Meltzer's had a decent inventory, but was a little pricey. My first AR purchase was there, a Colt MT6700 at $1,100 + tax.

 

27 minutes ago, photon guy said:

It was one of the best NJ ranges that I knew of although I don't know about that many NJ ranges. Aside from Ray's there's been 2 or 3 NJ ranges that I've been to. 

Now, one of my favorite public ranges is the Sunset Hill Shooting Range in Henryville PA. One of my favorite ranges overall is the range at Front Sight but that's all the way in Pahrump, NV and its a private range so you only get to use it if you're taking a class there.

Sunset Hills Shooting Range was where quite a few NJ and NY residents went to shoot. Back then the range was 200 yards.

 

6 minutes ago, JohnnyB said:

For us old guys down in South Jersey, I miss Edelmans!

Is this the same Edelmans that was in the movie "The Survivors? with Robin Williams and Walter Matthau?

Regards,

TokenEntry

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Ok, lets go back again...I used to buy my fishing gear at Hermans Sporting Goods. A few executives left there to start up The Sports Authority, who were actually pretty good for a decade or so. They used to even sell handguns there. They went downhill quickly when they stopped selling handguns, and then long guns a few years later.

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5 minutes ago, TokenEntry said:

 

 

Is this the same Edelmans that was in the movie "The Survivors? with Robin Williams and Walter Matthau?

Regards,

TokenEntry

Not sure about that, but I believe Ramsey Outdoor was featured in The Sopranos several times.

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