I think in troubled times like these we should reach out to the national retailers who have continuously supported the firearms community.
Sure the big box stores have a few dummies behind the counter from time to time, but at the end of the day at a corporate level there haven't been many big box vendors who haven't changed their practices with their consumers.
Academy's Contact Us http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUs_10151_10051_-1
Bass Pro's Contact Us
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&pageID=5046
Also, I'd like to be clear that I'm thankful and support of local gun shops as well, but the big box companies are an important part of the economic landscape, especially in ammunition. They are the only entities that guarantee orders in the millions of rounds at the national level, which gives the confidence to manufacturers to keep certain ammo product at high levels. They also play a key role in helping establish the "baseline" for ammo costs. Walmart WAS the de facto leader in establishing the lowest baseline. Their ability to continuously sell ammo at low prices based on their volume discounts, helped keep some sanity in the marketplace, because you always knew what ammo SHOULD cost.
Honestly, that mantel now falls solely on Academy in opinion. Bass Pro has never had favorable pricing, so while I think we should thank them for continuing to take care of their customers, I don't thik they are that important of a player in the economic landscape as Academy, who is now the default low cost, high volume company in the marketplace.
Whether you entirely agree with my summary of the situation or not, you should still spend time making sure national chains like Academy know that we appreciate them, as well as making sure places like Dick's and Walmart knows they lost a lot of consumers.
Sure the big box stores have a few dummies behind the counter from time to time, but at the end of the day at a corporate level there haven't been many big box vendors who haven't changed their practices with their consumers.
Academy's Contact Us http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUs_10151_10051_-1
Bass Pro's Contact Us
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&pageID=5046
Also, I'd like to be clear that I'm thankful and support of local gun shops as well, but the big box companies are an important part of the economic landscape, especially in ammunition. They are the only entities that guarantee orders in the millions of rounds at the national level, which gives the confidence to manufacturers to keep certain ammo product at high levels. They also play a key role in helping establish the "baseline" for ammo costs. Walmart WAS the de facto leader in establishing the lowest baseline. Their ability to continuously sell ammo at low prices based on their volume discounts, helped keep some sanity in the marketplace, because you always knew what ammo SHOULD cost.
Honestly, that mantel now falls solely on Academy in opinion. Bass Pro has never had favorable pricing, so while I think we should thank them for continuing to take care of their customers, I don't thik they are that important of a player in the economic landscape as Academy, who is now the default low cost, high volume company in the marketplace.
Whether you entirely agree with my summary of the situation or not, you should still spend time making sure national chains like Academy know that we appreciate them, as well as making sure places like Dick's and Walmart knows they lost a lot of consumers.
