OK, I'm going to chime in here because I'm a marketing guy and over the last 27 years I've operated (successfully) on both ends of the big/small company continuum. This is going to be a long post.
You make some interesting points, but let's think this through. On your 2nd point "knowingly selling firearms I cannot" - If I was a competing small local retailer with a brain, I'd realize that there were huge benefits that
I could realize by letting this practice go on as long as possible.
Let's say the big box store (BBS) is allowed to continue for a few more weeks, sells a whole bunch more non-EOPS firearms, and then gets whacked with huge fines. There are there are three possible results:
- The BBS pays the huge fines and probably does what every other BBS in Mass has done: Stops selling handguns. If they decide to keep selling EOPS handguns, they've been hurt financially. I win either way.
- The BBS fights the AG and spends a bundle of money on legal fees, and wins. Now I'll be able to sell the same guns. I know that I can compete with them on price. (This is true - I've looked at their prices)
- The BBS fights the AG, spends big money on legal fees, and loses. If this happens, they almost certainly will decide to stop selling handguns in Mass. Even if they decide to continue selling EOPS handguns, my competitor has been hurt financially, and I know I can compete on price.
While all of this is going on, I call the BBS patriotic, pretend that I like what they're doing, and put up an end cap full of Glock and XD mags and KKM replacement barrels right in front of my door.
To your second point - "potentially undercutting my prices and offering things I can't" - I'll need to find a way to continue to be competitive anyway - regardless of the "non-EOPS guns thing".
One of the big advantages a small place has over a BBS is "agility".
If 5 people walk into a BBS and ask for an item that they don't stock, the corporate office is not going to begin buying it. I can, and I'll be sure to feature it in my next ad and on my website.
Speaking of websites - I'll update mine often, and make sure that my used gun inventory is updated daily. Who here doesn't check Four Seasons or Collectors regularly? A BBS can't do this.
Every night when I close my shop, I'll stop in at the BBS for a half hour or so and check things out. I'll watch what they have, and stock what they don't carry. I'll provide services that they can't (training classes, custom ordering, etc).
I'd keep an eye out for good deals on small wholesale lots from a variety of suppliers (closeouts, gov't auction lots of brass, ammo cans, etc). The BBS won't do this. When I find them, they'll be featured prominently on my website.
I'd hit this board every night to watch the pulse of my customer base, and be ready to adapt quickly.
I'd belong to every local gun club and sponsor/host as many events as I could. If I got together with my S&W rep to host "The Eddie's Gun Shop and NortheastShooters.com Smith & Wesson Day" at the Shirley Rod and Gun Club during the tax free weekend, where you could try out a bunch of S&W stuff and get special deals, how many people would show up? 100? 200? Shit, maybe I can get together with my local dealer and make this happen.
The bottom line is that he was in a no-lose situation and he screwed it up. As my cousin Fat Paulie told me years ago, "Jimmy, nobody ever got in trouble by keeping their f**king mouth shut."