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Joined: Jan 2018
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Just got a couple texts that said Whitaker’s Guns in Ky is closed due to bankruptcy????
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 39,117 Likes: 23
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 39,117 Likes: 23 |
I got a couple of threads saying the same thing.
Me
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Campfire Outfitter
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,138 Likes: 1 |
Just got a couple texts that said Whitaker’s Guns in Ky is closed due to bankruptcy???? I thought they were expanding.... DF
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 8,908 Likes: 2
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2017
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I don't know but I'd sure hate to be in the gunshop business and looking for a commercial loan these days for any reason. Mb
" Cheapest velocity in the world comes from a long barrel and I sure do like them. MB "
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745 |
Hope ya didn't have anything on layaway.
Camp is where you make it.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,533
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Joined: Jul 2005
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They never really recovered after covid, couldn't get inventory, maybe expanded too much, too fast.
I really liked the old store, but it seemed to lack something with the huge expansion into the new building. Whittaker himself had contacts within the industry that were not kept up with, after his passing, and that hurt them, too. Damned shame, really, they had a nice thing going, and I loved going to the shop, even though it's a two-hour drive from here.
Looking back, though, the last few times I've been to Owensboro, I haven't even though about driving the last 15 miles to the shop, there wasn't any "interesting" stuff in the shop the last few times I made that drive. They used to have all kinds of neat long guns, but not the last few times.
Nowadays, the wife and I might drive down to O-boro for a big lunch at Moonlite, but that's about it.
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745 |
They never really recovered after covid, couldn't get inventory, maybe expanded too much, too fast. That is the downfall of many "service" business. The ideas are great, but when the get built, it's too big, too fast. That happens a lot in MN/WI resorts and bars on the water. A new owner buys it with big ideas. Spends a million on a remodel and the seasonal clientele can't pay the mortgage.
Camp is where you make it.
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,945
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,945 |
Was in the store back several years ago (before Darrel passed) on a week day, late morning, Darrel's wife, Becky, was running the store that morning. I commented that no way could I ever have a successful gun shop because I'd want to keep too many of the guns for myself. She said, 'a lot of folks think that's what Darrel does, but truth is he's really just the opposite'... You know how many guns Darrel really has of his very own -- TWO. Was only one for a long time but the kids and I bought him another gun he'd been wanting. Every time we got one in he liked and said he's going to keep it, put it under he counter but always wind up selling it. First and foremost Darrel was a business man by nature. Kuegel & Whittaker opening new...ence Messenger-Inquirer Feb 16, 2024 0Rod Kuegel’s family has farmed in Daviess County for generations.
But now, the family is branching out into retail businesses on the side.
“Most businesses have a higher return on investments than farming,” Kuegel said with a laugh.
He and his son, Clay, own Beef and Bacon Custom Processing in Beech Grove.
And now, his son, Luke Kuegel is getting ready to open Kuegel & Whittaker, a guns and outdoor store, at 1330 Worthington Road, beside Kuegel’s farm shop.
It’s near the intersection with Wyndcrest Drive.
The 7,200-square-foot store will carry an inventory of about $500,000 worth of merchandise, mostly guns, Rod Kuegel said.
Chris Whittaker, Luke Kuegel’s partner in the enterprise, is a member of the family that opened Whittaker Guns in West Louisville in 1988.
In 2017, they opened a new 24,000-square-foot Whittaker Guns superstore there.
It draws customers from all over the country.
People fly private planes into Owensboro so they can shop at Whittaker’s.
Kuegel said Chris Whittaker decided he wanted to go out on his own.
So, Kuegel & Whittaker is slated to open in May.
IBISWorld.com says there were 16,586 gun and ammunition stores in the United States last year.
That represented an increase of 3.2% from 2022.
In fact, the article said, the number of gun and ammunition businesses grew at that same rate every year from 2018 to 2023.
In 2022, 16.2 million firearms were sold in the U.S.
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Joined: Sep 2013
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 17,915 Likes: 7 |
Nice AI generated news article.
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Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 760
Campfire Regular
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OP
Campfire Regular
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The local news is saying that people who ordered firearms are now wanting their money back. The customers are getting stiffed.
I live about 30-40 minutes away. It’s sad but since they opened the new store it hasn’t been the same.
Then the new owner came in and pretty much killed the place.
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Ratsmacker as you mentioned you could smell the store dying a long time ago. The last few times I was in there the firearms was sparse.
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Joined: Aug 2003
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,945 |
The local news is saying that people who ordered firearms are now wanting their money back. The customers are getting stiffed.
I live about 30-40 minutes away. It’s sad but since they opened the new store it hasn’t been the same.
Then the new owner came in and pretty much killed the place. That local news video: Whittaker Guns ‘closed to the public’: Customers want answers about unfulfilled orders(FYI -- Derrik's dad is an active member and still posting here at the 24 Hour Campfire forums...)
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 28,095 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2010
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No flies on Darik. The man saw a business opportunity and he seized it. It obviously didn’t work out. I wish good things for both Darik and the next generation of Whitaker. America is built on small businesses.
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Joined: Feb 2017
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 3,287 Likes: 3 |
Hopefully those customers weren’t disciples of Dave Ramsey and used a CC to pay. They will be able to have the cc company reverse the charges. Those who didn’t are, unfortunately, SOL!
Yours in Liberty,
BL
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Joined: Dec 2011
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All the customers who recently placed unfilled orders wanting to know when they will get their money back, don't seem to realize that they are now creditors waiting in line for pennies on the dollar like all the other creditors leading up to the bankruptcy. Even if their gun comes in, paid for, it would be sold to somebody else and the proceeds distributed through bankruptcy.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,816 Likes: 1
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,816 Likes: 1 |
Good things always seem to come to an end.
I bought about 4 or 5 rifles via Whitakers... Each was a pleasant experience.
I wish the family well....
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Apr 2011
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Campfire Outfitter
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Nice AI generated news article. Exactly. Anyone familiar with the store knows that it did NOT generate a lot of “foot traffic” for surrounding businesses.
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Joined: Oct 2023
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Campfire Regular
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Stiffing lots of people is a miserable business model.
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