Driving to NFA is quite the ordeal for me as it is over 40 minutes away from where I live - which is near Summerlin. The buzz on this store couldn't have been any better and I finally decided to brave the traffic and make the trek. In order to get there, I had to take the I-215 to the I-15, then drive across several surface streets in a very unfamiliar part of town. Luckily I had my trusty Garmin helping me navigate so I didn't get lost. From the outside, NFA looks like any other business in the standard Vegas strip mall - well, any other business with an AR as its logo.
I got there rather late in the afternoon - around 4PM on a Saturday. NFA was _busy_ - there were at least 8 sales people helping customers. All of them were extremely busy as the customers easily outnumbered the sales people. Even so we were kindly greeted by a friendly woman behind the counter just after walking in.
The layout of the store was a bit confusing, most probably due to the ongoing expansion. The sales floor consists of a small area filled with gear and partitioned off by a large L-shaped display case. Behind the sales floor is a large, empty room - which appeared to be much bigger than the store front itself. On the floor in the store front were several large boxes of what appeared to be ammo. It was a little tricky navigating around the ammo to see what was in the display cases (we couldn't get close to the display cases due to the number of customers gathered around). Hanging on the far walls were a number of rifles and shotguns - many of which looked very interesting. Sadly it was hard to see them due to the distances involved.
After a few minutes one of the sales people (Ivan) became available to assist me in the purchase of a couple of pistols I've had my eyes on for some time. Ivan was very patient and knowledgeable about the pistols and even recommended similar pistols in the same category. I ended up deciding to get a different pistol than what I originally wanted (this is _very_ unusual for me - I don't do that very often). Throughout it all Ivan was patient, friendly, and didn't mind stopping filling out paperwork to show me different firearms that caught my eye.
The big downside was that many of the firearms I was interested in looking at weren't in stock - although the two I was most interested in were. This is probably a good thing, as I ended up spending more than I had originally intended, but less than I would have had the firearms been available. Another minor quibble - the boxes for the firearms were dusty due to construction going on in the back of the store.
The transaction went smoothly and I ended up spending a bit more than I had originally intended. I can't complain though - with prices that rival online competitors and friendly sales people, it was actually fun to go to the gun store for once. I really had a positive experience and am looking forward to going there again (and again).
Positives:
1. Friendly, knowledgeable sales staff.
2. Prices - wow, the prices are competitive with online - which is phenomenal for a local gun store.
3. Selection - even though a lot of weapons weren't in stock, many of the most popular models were - which is a huge improvement over most gun stores in town.
Recommendations:
1. Answer the phone.
2. Hire someone reputable to do the website (not your nephew who "knows a lot about computers"). Real time inventory would be _awesome_ and no other gun store has it. Another possible feature - charge a fee (10%?) to hold a firearm for 24 hours - giving the customer time to get so the store.
3. Expand the store - the business justifies expansion.
4. Reconsider layout - crowded and cluttered is not good.
5. Open another location on the opposite side of town as soon as is practical.
6. Add 2% to the prices of the firearms, but offer a cash discount of 2%.
I got there rather late in the afternoon - around 4PM on a Saturday. NFA was _busy_ - there were at least 8 sales people helping customers. All of them were extremely busy as the customers easily outnumbered the sales people. Even so we were kindly greeted by a friendly woman behind the counter just after walking in.
The layout of the store was a bit confusing, most probably due to the ongoing expansion. The sales floor consists of a small area filled with gear and partitioned off by a large L-shaped display case. Behind the sales floor is a large, empty room - which appeared to be much bigger than the store front itself. On the floor in the store front were several large boxes of what appeared to be ammo. It was a little tricky navigating around the ammo to see what was in the display cases (we couldn't get close to the display cases due to the number of customers gathered around). Hanging on the far walls were a number of rifles and shotguns - many of which looked very interesting. Sadly it was hard to see them due to the distances involved.
After a few minutes one of the sales people (Ivan) became available to assist me in the purchase of a couple of pistols I've had my eyes on for some time. Ivan was very patient and knowledgeable about the pistols and even recommended similar pistols in the same category. I ended up deciding to get a different pistol than what I originally wanted (this is _very_ unusual for me - I don't do that very often). Throughout it all Ivan was patient, friendly, and didn't mind stopping filling out paperwork to show me different firearms that caught my eye.
The big downside was that many of the firearms I was interested in looking at weren't in stock - although the two I was most interested in were. This is probably a good thing, as I ended up spending more than I had originally intended, but less than I would have had the firearms been available. Another minor quibble - the boxes for the firearms were dusty due to construction going on in the back of the store.
The transaction went smoothly and I ended up spending a bit more than I had originally intended. I can't complain though - with prices that rival online competitors and friendly sales people, it was actually fun to go to the gun store for once. I really had a positive experience and am looking forward to going there again (and again).
Positives:
1. Friendly, knowledgeable sales staff.
2. Prices - wow, the prices are competitive with online - which is phenomenal for a local gun store.
3. Selection - even though a lot of weapons weren't in stock, many of the most popular models were - which is a huge improvement over most gun stores in town.
Recommendations:
1. Answer the phone.
2. Hire someone reputable to do the website (not your nephew who "knows a lot about computers"). Real time inventory would be _awesome_ and no other gun store has it. Another possible feature - charge a fee (10%?) to hold a firearm for 24 hours - giving the customer time to get so the store.
3. Expand the store - the business justifies expansion.
4. Reconsider layout - crowded and cluttered is not good.
5. Open another location on the opposite side of town as soon as is practical.
6. Add 2% to the prices of the firearms, but offer a cash discount of 2%.
