Gun Shop Opens on Micron Avenue

With gun sales on the rise in California and the Sacramento area seeing more shops opening that cater to such demands, it would only make sense that Rosemont got a piece of the action.

Its newest gun shop, Shooters Warehouse on Micron Avenue, opened its doors July 26 and has been welcomed by the community, said owner Tom McDearmid. But he didn't open shop because of the gun boom, as he put it, but because it's been his passion since he was a kid.

"This has been what I've wanted to do since I was 12," he said recently. McDearmid, who grew up in Elk Grove, started working at gun stores in 1997, while balancing college classes at night. His dad's passion for hunting, fishing and shooting naturally passed onto him, and it's been part of his life ever since.

"It's the only thing I want to do," McDearmid said. "You do what you love, I couldn't imagine working somewhere else."

Already with a shop in Citrus Heights, the Micron Avenue Shooters Warehouse marks his second gun shop. And he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon – McDearmid's goal is to have multiple stores, somewhere between five and 10, he said.

But he didn't start out with such specific, niche stores. McDearmid previously owned a Great Outdoors store on Auburn Boulevard and Watt Avenue, which later relocated to Redding, Calif. This shop was more all purpose – hunting, fishing and shooting – and McDearmid soon realized that a successful business could only go one of two ways: big or unique.

He choose the specific route and dropped the seasonal stuff. "Guns sell all the time," McDearmid said. "We kind of filled a void that was here."

The newest shop is visible from Highway 50 – a free advertising goldmine – and is "far enough away from other stores to not have crossover customers," he said.

"I wanted to strategically place stores so customers wouldn't have to travel far, so it's near or within their ZIP code," McDearmid said.

For now, McDearmid said he loves his job – working between 12 to 16 hours a day doesn't faze him in the slightest and while he loves guns, he also loves the business side of the job.

"You find your niche, you fine tune it, become an expert at it and go with it," he said. The business will celebrate its grand opening on September 7.