Fetlas: Gone, and now just about forgotten.
They have a tiny shop in Knox. A couple knockoff tantos and some camping gear. But the tail end of the Valpo store will be auctioned off thursday. Dumb bastards did it to themselves, dammit, but still. Sad to see it go.
Thanks for the (sniff) tip.
There may be another place like Fetla’s. Probably in Texas. I can’t imagine another one just like it.
I may go to bid on that boar’s head if I can stick around town that day.
Stopped at that place a time or two in years past. Very unique place.
I haven’t heard the story of their demise however. Would you post a little about what happened to them.
Balhincher, here’s the original post.
http://neanderpundit.com/?p=1863
The thing is, they did stuff like full auto conversions in the backroom for cash, etc. which were gonna get them in the end, and they did.
og,
Sorry, but your claim of full auto conversions doing in Fetla’s is completely false. I should know; I worked in the Gun Department for them from 1998 to the bitter end in December of 2007. I even helped Kenny move and set up his inventory at his new store in Knox until I left entirely about 6 months ago.
The issue was bad management, plain and simple, on the part of the people who bought it from long-time owner Burt Langer in 2000. Some of the people that he sold to managed to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars out of that place. It put the store into such a deep hole that they had to file bankruptcy back in 2003 or 2004, I can’t remember which. Eventually those people ended up being prosecuted and sued, but the damage was done. They put the store in such a deep hole that it was never able to climb out again.
Shame. THe stories I relate are true, though, I have- er- almost firsthand experience. The management may not have known about it, but it was taking place. I know two people who had it done around 1980. I saw them shoot the guns. Of course both those numbnuts are now doing time.
That far back I could believe. I’ve heard some really weird stories from people who worked there back in the 70’s and 80’s. As far as I could tell, though, everything was on the up and up when I worked there. I even swore so under oath to the ATF when they questioned all of us after that bullsh*t lawsuit by the city of Gary.
yeah, in the 90’s and 00’s I think that stuff was behind them. I’m talking about 70’s and 80’s. A lot of guys that worked there would also do deals outside “Want to trade that in? Let’s do that out by your car” in other words, off the books.
I just stumbled across this thread. Fetla’s was an absolutely amazing place. I worked there from the 1980s until it closed. There was absolutely none of the garbage OG described. There was no turning guns into autos or anything resembling it. Aside from being a ridiculous accusation, there was no financial incentive to make such a dumb risk for something so stupid. That store was run remarkably by the book. after the owner sold it, the new owner ran it into the ground immediately. I miss that place.
The store didn’t do anything of the sort, it was, as I have stated, something I have witnessed firsthand, but employees rather than the store. I miss the place too.