Jim’s Firearms has undergone a 30-year transformation from a small rental space to a modern firearms retailer showcase.
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Jim McClain, President and Founder of Jim’s Firearms
We started back in January of 1993 on a little 1,500 square foot rental building, basically on a wing and a prayer.
And now, some 30 plus years later, here we are.
One Stop for Every FFL Need a Customer Has
We really strive to be kind of that one-stop shop for everybody.
We make sure that they can get every single gun that they’re interested in in their hands and really know which one’s right for them before they leave the store.
Dillon McClain, Vice-President of Jim’s Firearms
We had a prior point of sale system that we had been using for 20 years and we were getting everything that we could get out of that computer system. It was just time to kind of shift.
One of the biggest reasons that we switched to Celerant was because we needed something that would help us transition from being 100% paper to being 100% electronic.
The Necessity of Retail Software with Flexibility for Expansion
I needed a system that would aid me so that we could expand further in the future.
So it was really important to find a system that handled the unique needs of a firearm retailer. We chose Celerant because it integrated up with Fastbound, Fastbound being the system that we really needed for A&D that was backed by our lawyers at FFL Guard.
Learn More: Staying Compliant Using FFLGuard
Retail Software with FFL Compliance Integrations
FFL Guard is basically an FFL protection company.
They really are there to help us out at the end of the day. They’re not telling us how to run our business, but they’re helping us run our business more effectively.
They give you a lot of good resource that otherwise you really wouldn’t have without just digging through an ATF rulebook.
Easy Record Keeping in Real-Time
Fastbound and 4473 Cloud have improved our real-time record keeping.
It is real-time 100% when things are happening. Whereas if you’re doing paper, it can have delays.
Before we had miles and miles of 4473s, paperwork, binders, you know, categorizing, stuff like this. Now that it’s digitalized, it’s a lot more efficient, it’s easier, it’s more cost effective.
Simplifying the Most Difficult Parts of Running an FFL Dealer
FFL compliance is probably the most complicated part of running a gun store.
One small error can completely derail the ship. I mean, you’re looking at possibly getting your license revoked for things as small as just regular old typos.
So having a system that really kind of double checks your work and even triple and quadruple checks it, it’s phenomenal.
Using eCommerce as an Extension of Your Retail Business
There’s a lot of POS systems out there. There’s a lot of inventory management systems out there.
Having Celerant be there so that we can tie in our eCommerce to our in-store inventory management allows us more freedom and more creativity with the way that we put products online.
So instead of it being an accessory to the store, it really is a store in itself.
The goal is always to expand, and Celerant is a really good system to expand with, and I feel that it is going to grow with us as we continue to get bigger and bigger and take up more of a market share.
Confidence to Pass the FFL Store onto the Next Generation
This is my passion. All my energy goes into this business, this heritage.
Watching Dylan take an active leadership role in bringing the store to a new direction, you know, that’s the ultimate goal.
That’s the ultimate endgame that you can hopefully have, is watching things evolve. I think he’s going to do a great job in leading us into the future.
Building a Legacy Never Thought Possible
At the end of the day, I just want to do good for my dad, and I want to make him proud.
And I want this store to be something that we can look back on and just continue to make his dream even more of a reality, and in ways that maybe he didn’t even know was possible.
