Dive Brief:

• Sportsman’s Warehouse, an outdoor retailer that went public in April, reported an 18.1% Q1 drop in same-store sales that it says was largely driven by weak demand for guns and ammunition. Overall sales dropped 3% to $132 million.

• The company says it expects same-store sales to drop another 7% to 8% further in Q2.

• The retailer said it would address the drop in demand in guns and ammunition by emphasizing its availability of other merchandise, including clothing and shoes. 

Dive Insight:

After a few years of surging firearms sales, several retailers in that category are seeing sales plunge quarter after quarter. At a time when many retailers are being forced to address demonstrations of open-carry laws and other contentious firearms issues, it may be old-fashioned supply-and-demand economics that drives some retailers to stock fewer guns.