B & M question

Gazes

I had someone very knowledgeable tell me that a B & M store near me really didn't care one way or another about selling coins (they have a nice display of coins, books and supplies). I was told the real function of the store was to buy gold, silver and coins and then pass them along. Is this common or is this particular store the exception? Thanks

Bochiman

I've seen it be pretty common for some around me.

TomB

I would imagine that precious few B&Ms could survive if they had to make a living by selling collector coins directly to collectors. The vast majority of income for many of these establishments is to act as a middleman where the local population sells gold, silver or bulk common coins and then these are sold up the chain to larger wholesalers.

TigersFan2

About 6 months ago I did a Google search for coin shops and saw that there was one a few miles from my house. So I got in the car and drove over to see what they had. What I found was the display cases were 100% jewelry with signs in the window that they buy gold and silver. I went inside for about 30 seconds before leaving.

291fifth

It seems to be quite common today. It was much less common in the past.

TheDukeK

Some do.
Some don't.

MorganMan94

It seems like about every B&M store specializes in buying and selling gold and silver. I was in a local shop just last week and the owner had two people come in to buy 90% and I was only in there 20 minutes. It seems like 25-35% of his shop was just coins he picked out of junk silver lots.

IwasAgentjim007

Not just today. I worked in a shop in the early 90's. Boss always said you don't make money selling coins you make money buying. That means if you buy right the selling takes care of itself.

Baley

Originally posted by: TomB

I would imagine that precious few B&Ms could survive if they had to make a living by selling collector coins directly to collectors. The vast majority of income for many of these establishments is to act as a middleman where the local population sells gold, silver or bulk common coins and then these are sold up the chain to larger wholesalers...

...Who sell them to retailers, who sell them to "stackers", who later die and leave them to their heirs, who then sell them to the local coin shop....

keets

coin sales have been slow lately, but so has bullion and just about everything else. the real action as of late tends to be shows where we might do more during the 5-6 hours on a Sunday than we do all week. the notion that a B&M is in business to buy and survives by doing that alone is ludicrous.

PaleElf

Originally posted by: keets

coin sales have been slow lately, but so has bullion and just about everything else. the real action as of late tends to be shows where we might do more during the 5-6 hours on a Sunday than we do all week. the notion that a B&M is in business to buy and survives by doing that alone is ludicrous.

The sole B&M in my town just went out of business. Now I have to travel or stick with the internet.

ricko

There are no coin shops in my town. However, the jewelry stores and antique shops do have

signs stating they buy gold and silver...Cheers, RickO

TopographicOceans

B & M exist only for to buy what walks into the store.

coindeuce

Originally posted by: TopographicOceans

B & M exist only for to buy what walks into the store.

Pretty broad brush you're painting with. You obviously have never been to the shop that I manage. But that being stated, I rarely have someone walk out without having accepted an offer.

The price of convenience appears to escape your world.

drwstr123

Coin Store is today's colloquialism for hockshop.