Is Walmart not going to sale ammo anymore?

[battle_sight_zero]

Like many of you I hit the Walmarts for ammo quite a bit. My wife and friends keep and eye out for stuff for me when they are in a store. Today I hit the Walmart at Quebec and 470 and found some 223 pretty much all there was there except for a box 357 sig. My wife and a friend were in the area of Colfax and Wadsworth this morning and they checked that area store for me. When they inquired about the stocks of 223, 9mm, 40 etc they were told by the sales person that Walmart(all stores) is now getting out of the Ammo business. The sales person suggested that I contact the store manager before they phase out the ammo to get a special order in. I realize this sales person could be full of air, however I hope it is not true. The only thing Walmart is good for in my thoughts is for ammo and nightcrawlers. If they are caveing into political pressure I certainly wont buy a darn thing from them again. Anyone heard about this?

[ryanek9freak]

That salesman is full of shit. No way Walmart would get out of such a profitable business venture.

[battle_sight_zero]

I sure hope so. I checked on it with another clerk and he said the same thing in different terms, that is the urban stores will eliminate the ammo sales and the rural stores will still sale ammo. I am going to make some calls of inquiry. Just the fact that cashiers are talking this way makes me a bit nervous. It would not be first time that a retailer bent to politics despite profit.

[GunTroll]

Man, I'm surprised you could even have a conversation with the clerks there.

[Colorado Osprey]

After talking to a store manager, the way I understand it:
New stores will not sell guns, only ammo. Only 10-30% of all walmart stores that were top sellers of firearms will continue selling firearms- back when many stores quit selling guns.

But... big But here.... any store manager can discontinue selling firearms or ammo by their choice alone even if they were one of the few still selling firearms.
Meaning, any store manager at any time can quit selling ammo... their choice.

As far as profitability of it.... Walmart margins are very small. They rely on volume to make money. If a store manager is having trouble stocking a product they may discontinue stocking that item to make room for items that move and make them more profit.

[battle_sight_zero]

Thank you Colorado Osprey for the information and effort. That would make total sense of why these clerks are talking the way they are or as GunTroll would put it attempting to. I did some net searches last night and it appears other consumers as well are being told this in other parts of the country.What worries me is some of these store managers could have political agendas and stop out right selling ammo because of thier beliefs under the guise of it being underperforming. Perhaps the Wadsworth and Colfax manager is one of those persons and he/she could also be looking at the demographics of the stores location as someone pointed out to me do his/her part to keep the community safe in THIER mind. I do buy the majority of my pistol caliber plinking ammo at Walmart because I save about 5-10 dollars a box compared to say buying it a Green Mountain Guns. The savings is even more when compared to Gander Mountain who really gouges. In closing this is something to keep and eye out for. I wonder if there will be a day that will come that a metro area Walmart wont sale ammo anymore.

[theGinsue]

While this article does not specifically discuss anything about ammo or guns (or ANYTHING pertaining to sporting good for that matter), the following article comes from WalMarts home page under the "Facts and News" header and may help to explain what WalMart could be thinking about discontinuing their sales of ammo and firearms:

Wal-Mart remodeling to keep new shoppers

The recession steered a new type of customer to Wal-Mart - deeper in the pockets and suddenly looking for bargains. Now the world's largest retailer has to figure out how to keep that customer when the economy recovers.
So Wal-Mart is bringing in more brand names, ditching scores of other products and even redesigning hundreds of stores to give them wider aisles, better lighting and better sight lines.
It's more than just a cosmetic upgrade. That new breed of customer also spends about 40 percent more than the traditional Wal-Mart shopper, and the retailer senses an opportunity to accelerate its growth.
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Consultant Burt P. Flickinger III estimates the remodeled stores are carrying 10 to 15 percent less inventory, particularly getting rid of no-name labels.
** END OF QUOTED PORTION OF THE ARTICLE **

Source: http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=2708&topicId=100019774&docId=l:995832366