gun shop

Most gun shops are born from a love for the industry, typically someone who started with home based federal firearms license. And as they grew their customer base, and volume of firearms and ammunition sales, they would start to get encouragement from those same customers to open an actual store. This love for an industry and encouragement from others is what typically develops into many of the firearms dealers you see around your community.

My story is like many of the others in this industry in that it was born from an at home idea. However I started with needing a holster that would fit inside my suit coat when I would go to do presentations or when I would visit job sites in the stormwater industry. I could not find one, so I turned to the power of the internet and YouTube. I started watching videos and learned how to work with a product known by so many as Kydex thermoplastics. I soon started making and listing my products on eBay. And holy cow they started selling.  I then invited my father to join my idea of starting a holster business selling online and making them in our basements. And born from this idea was Just Holster It LLC.

We soon grew from a basement business, to a rental space, and finally to buying a building and actually hiring staff. We not only sold online, we sold exclusively holsters in our own store, and supplied many dealers across the country. We chose a Alden, New York as our home base town for Just Holster It since the town sat in the middle of 5 correctional facilities. Of course thinking forward I was always trying to envision the next big move.

It was not until I had graduated from the University of Buffalo -Center For Entrepreneurial Leadership CORE Program and in the middle of Covid my business started to grow. In fact it grew 56% a year for two years. I went from 2 employees to 6  employees at the time. I then decided it was time for the next step and I joined the CEL Mastery Program and it was there my idea of moving my holsters to a bigger and better store that encompassed not only the largest selection of holsters, but also firearms, ammunition and accessories. This was the starting point of Just Holster It Firearms & Training Center now located in Elma, New York.

As I started to develop the idea of a gun store, I started using friends and family as a sounding board. I started exploring the things they did not like at other stores they had visited in Western New York. Soon people started asking me what is different from my Gun store compared to others in the Buffalo, New York area. Why is Just Holster It Firearm’s & Training Center so different? What makes your store special. Or what do you offer that other stores do not.

Unlike many other stores in the industry I started to develop the gun shop idea on the basis of sound business facts with a team of business owners from the CEL. We needed to build a business like no other in the area, from the building to the offerings. It was a lecture in one of my classes with CEL and what we uncovered in our early years as a Holster store that drove the vision. We needed to focus on the Disney experience and create a store that engages our senses much like Disney does when you visit the park.

Though we could not capture to the level of Disney we are focused on the touch feel, education, and visual experience. We designed a store that is not your traditional rustic shop focus, but more industrial open air feeling. From the moment you approach the door and you grab hold of a 45 long Colt for a door handle as you enter the store. You are then greeted much like Norm from Cheers finally we are taking the educational level of buying to a whole new level. You are given the opportunity to touch and try not only the largest holster selection in New York, you have a variety of products you can touch, feel, and try out. You can try out the latest gun lubricant, a magnet to hide your gun, range bags you can explore, or test out some of the latest lasers, lights or RMR optics we offer. Finally if it is a firearm you are looking for, then you have the opportunity to interact even more with the expert staff we put together to help guide you and maybe even educate you as you move through the buying experience whether you are a new gun owner or a seasoned veteran.

Of course the last step is training classes guiding you through the learning experience to get your NYS License, or giving you a class on Article 35 Use of Force Training. Or maybe you are looking to be prepared for something more serious and want to take our Class Stop the Bleed. We are building out a wide selection of training classes focused on helping to make you a more proficient and safe firearms owner.

Of course none of the current store or our future stores could be possible without the perfect ownership team.  I initially asked a very dear friend to consult for me on the FFL process, who later approached me and wanted to be a part of this business in a bigger way. Josh Hawkins is one of the most knowledgeable gun enthusiast I know, besides having 10 years’ experience managing and operating a Firearms Store and building it into a strong business.  Josh was the perfect person to be a owner and manager of the business. Next we knew we needed to focus on training and who better then James Emmick one of the only full time firearms instructors in Western New York. James is respected as a industry expert and source for many of the agencies in the area. Students leave his classes wanting more and more. For this reason James was brought in as an owner and the ideal person to oversee our instructors and classes offered. Finally as we move from one store to the next, and so on we needed someone focused on growth and keeping us on track.  Alan Pawlowski has years of experience in financial business management and  business acquisitions. The final piece of the puzzle that would keep us on track financially and ready to guide us to the next 5 stores when we are ready.