Rob has it right. I had a succesful retail career twice...

by John Meeker, Friday, December 28, 2012, 08:30 (4350 days ago) @ D Sikes

..as employee and management. Had departmental FFL responsibilities for goods and staff. Also, high-end diamond jewelry at another time. And each time I ran out of patience with 'the public'. When you're on your game, handling the obvious mental cases, A-hats, ignorant, just plain dumb, lonely, time-wasters, window-shoppers, and on and on and on -- is no real problem. But we live in an increasingly rude and poorly informed world. At some point, the urge to physically inform...,well. It's best not to get there.

I will say that many times I've been at a gun-counter or in a store, when they were busy and understaffed. There is still impulse to jump behind the counter, and give them a hand just for the fun of it. Or while listening to the employee or customer ramble on in the thicket of illusions, to deliver some enlightenment. But I don't -- to quote someone or another --"There's no money in it." ;~`)

If you do really, really, reallly reallllly want to run your own store front, I could arrange a phone interview with a crusty testy old coot friend of mine that has a small shop with limited hours...and does business in FFL transfers.

I have to say, tho, that sometimes when dreams come true, you may wish that the situation was still a dream. But that applies to lots of things, so not to say 'don't do it' but to do it in way that gives you a fair chance at enjoying the process and goals.