Gun Room, Shrewsbury, MA

Stopped in last week. They were actually pretty good based on my last visits. Picked up a Dillon 550 conversion for $35.00. There are some NOS things that were priced years ago that are a deal because they have been sitting there while prices have increased.
There was a younger guy who was getting trained who cashed me out Nice kid.
Prices on guns are still too high. They out to have a sale and drop prices to "broom" out some of the guns that have been sitting there for 10 years.
 
BAD news for some..I don't care! One of the guys that works there ...i'm friends with. I get treated like a normal human...
 
I was hoping this place might have improved in the four years since I started this thread. I went there again today and here's my review that you can also read if you Google this shop:

I fail to understand how this shop stays in business. Decent selection, highish prices, but customer service is incredibly bad. Example - I'm looking for a Ruger 10/22 rifle to teach my kids to shoot. I called and was told they have "lots of .22 rifles," although the guy on the phone refused to be more specific. So I took the 20-minute drive there, walked in to a store filled with cigar smoke (the sign says no smoking but that apparently doesn't apply to the owner who was smoking a nasty stogie and chewing the fat with one of his regulars in an easy chair). There were a few customer, about as many staff if not more, and I spent 15 minutes looking around. I finally got someone to help me and he showed me the ONE Ruger 10/22 they had, new-in-box, at a price that is about 25% higher than I could find at gunbroker.com. At least I was able to show my kids what one looked like.

I'll buy a 10/22 elsewhere and avoid this place.
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Two weekend employees walked out some weeks back so he as closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday but I recently heard he reopened Saturdays. Maybe Derek should stop by for a field visit. Yeah right!
 
I went in there to purchase some ear protection; they were very rude and treated me like I was an alien. Will not spend another dime in there.
 
I went in last week just to check out inventory. I asked the guy working how business has been and he said it was "slow" and didn't know where people were getting the idea that gun sales were "up"

I guess when every gun in inventory is overpriced, and years of poor treatment of customers, even a "boom" in sales doesn't help you. . .

The guy seemed decent enough, and friendly. the asshat owner was sitting in the corner eating his lunch (which I guess is why he wasn't telling me war stories)
 
wf217 said:
I went in there to purchase some ear protection; they were very rude and treated me like I was an alien. Will not spend another dime in there.
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I can't stand those scumbags at The Gun Room. I've been not spending another dime there for more than 5 years. . . .
 
I bought a lot of guns there years ago, but that was back when Phil Rogers was working there. Phil always treated the customers with dignity, and patiently answered my then newbie questions, (Has it really been ten years?). I spent a LOT of money there then, and got good guns and supplies. Since then? Hah!

When he left, the place went downhill. The customer service is terrible, and everybody behind the counter is some kind of former SPECOPS operator or a space shuttle door gunner, with oak leaf clusters. It's like being at a bad gun show. The only things missing there are Kettle Korn and Beanie Babies.

I only go in there if I have to. Maybe about once every six months. Every time I go in, it's apparent I am not welcomed. Question is- who is?

It's the kind of place that would turn off a new person to firearms. Indeed, it would probably turn them into antigunners, simply because the management look, talk and act like something out of a Hollywood media expose on ultra-rightwing conspiracy gun nut wackjobs. Michael Moore would have a field day with those clowns.
 
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JoeT said:
the asshat owner was sitting in the corner eating his lunch (which I guess is why he wasn't telling me war stories)
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You are lucky. I've heard some whoppers come out his mouth over the years. His shaggy dog stories contradict themselves repeatedly. (If you are going to lie, then develop a good memory.....)

Sometimes I would just stand there and listen to them, and just marvel how much bullshit could come out of one person's mouth. Then I'd regret the several minutes of my life I had wasted listening to this drivel, that I'd never get back again...

And he wonders where his business went. To paraphrase Malcolm X, the chickens have come home to roost....
 
houdini said:
I would not wast my time to go there Ilive 15 min away from them, I would drive to maine before I give them my money.
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As I am in Maine quite a bit for work and play, lately I do just that: shop at Kittery Trading Post, rather than at a shop ten minutes away from my home in MA....
 
[laugh]

yep... class 1 retards over yonder. i did a transfer in their parking lot and figured to take a peek around....

it reminded me of the pawn shop from pulp fiction....... [rolleyes]
 
95thFoot said:
I bought a lot of guns there years ago, but that was back when Phil Rogers was working there. Phil always treated the customers with dignity, and patiently answered my then newbie questions, (Has it really been ten years?). I spent a LOT of money there then, and got good guns and supplies. Since then? Hah!

When he left, the place went downhill. The customer service is terrible, and everybody behind the counter is some kind of former SPECOPS operator or a space shuttle door gunner, with oak leaf clusters. It's like being at a bad gun show. The only things missing there are Kettle Korn and Beanie Babies.

I only go in there if I have to. Maybe about once every six months. Every time I go in, it's apparent I am not welcomed. Question is- who is?

It's the kind of place that would turn off a new person to firearms. Indeed, it would probably turn them into antigunners, simply because the management look, talk and act like something out of a Hollywood media expose on ultra-rightwing conspiracy gun nut wackjobs. Michael Moore would have a field day with those clowns.
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Was Phil Rogers, the older gentleman? I do remember a nice guy that used to work there back in the 80's. I liked him. O'leary on the other hand, is piece of work however.
 
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I admit, I stopped in last weekend. It happened that I was driving by while running a few errands. The plusses: I found CCI Green Tag, which I had been told (not by the Gun Room) was no longer being made, and I was helped by a friendly guy behind the counter. The minuses: Overpriced - both guns and ammo, some wet behind the ears kid was giving his expert advice to a customer on what carry gun he should buy his wife, and I had to listen to a 5 min story about cowboy action shooting from an old guy in a lounge chair with a cigar. To be honest I didn't have to listen, but I did rather than be rude. All in all an ambivalent experience. Will I go back? Probably, but I'm not chomping at the bit to do so. FS is still my store of choice, followed by Blue Northern.
 
Plural of Mongoose said:
I havent been in that place since they were across the street, on the same side as Spags.
How long ago was that?
Or am I thinking of a different shop?
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Good Grief!!

That was a ton of years ago when Peter Dowd still ran the place. IIRC, he moved across the street and later sold the business with a "no compete" clause for 10 years. After that was up, he opened up in Northboro (The Village Gun Shop). To give you some idea, I bought my Ruger 10/22 in 1988 from the Gun Room on the other side of the street.
 
LenS said:
Good Grief!!

That was a ton of years ago when Peter Dowd still ran the place. IIRC, he moved across the street and later sold the business with a "no compete" clause for 10 years. After that was up, he opened up in Northboro (The Village Gun Shop). To give you some idea, I bought my Ruger 10/22 in 1988 from the Gun Room on the other side of the street.
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I bought my first real shot gun, a Winchester model 12, from the old location about 10 years before that... don't recall any unusual behavior from store staff back then,,
 
heron163 said:
I bought my first real shot gun, a Winchester model 12, from the old location about 10 years before that... don't recall any unusual behavior from store staff back then,,
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No, you're referring to the days of Peter Dowd running the place. No strangeness back then . . . other than that huge black bear in the window.

I don't recall who the owner was when I bought the 10/22 back in 1988. I think it might have been Peter Dowd.
 
Remember the ratty looking bear (IIRC) that was in the window?
I used to go in there whenever we went to Spags.
They always had .284 Win. ammo in stock, which was hard to find anywhere else, so I went there to buy it.
I killed a lot of woodchucks with that M.99C in .284 when I was a teenager.
Wish I still had that gun.
It was a good gun chambered in a great cartridge.
 
Gun Room visit

I stopped in just before the holiday. I had just completed a deal with a member here about 5 miles away. I have read so many horror stories here, that I had to see for myself. The store was fairly busy with buyers and shoppers, such as myself. The seem to have a decent inventory of guns and equipment. There were a couple of gentlemen at the counter doing a very large and complicated set of transfers and sales to the shop.
They were being given very good service, and the rest of the staff made sure to check with me and other customers to see if we needed assistance. Maybe I caught them on a good day? The prices seem to be inline with all the other shops I've been to lately. It is a sellers market now. I felt I should at least write what my experience was. There seem to be many who have gone there and had a terrible time, but I can't claim to be one of them.
I did make some inquiries about a couple of things I would like to find. All the answers were professional. I will plan on stopping by again when in the area. I guess time will tell.
Maybe they got wind of all the bad revues here and turned over a new leaf!
 

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