Tina's Range Gear, which operated for 24 years on Airport Road and sold guns, archery equipment, ammunition and other firearm accessories, has officially closed its doors. But Tina Buchen says she doesn't plan to retire just yet.
The close of the Southside storefront means that Santa Fe no longer has an indoor firing range. Buchen's new business model, however, is more indoors than ever: She tells SFR that she plans to operate a gun dealership headquartered in Santa Fe that will ship weapons and other gear after customers make purchases online. Federal law requires that guns purchased over the internet be delivered to licensed dealerships.
"I feel really, really happy," Buchen says of the change. Her store shuttered nearly six weeks ago, on Nov. 18. "I don't have the pressure, the worry, the stress, the overhead. I don't have the mental and physical problems of dealing with that."
Buchen says the distributors who've worked with her over the years have committed to continuing their relationship at her new business, T's Just Guns.
Despite the name, she says, the dealership will also feature archery equipment transfers.
"Anything I was selling in the past, I can still sell, and I will still sell; I just won't have an actual store like I did," Buchen says.
The future of the Tina's Range Gear property, meanwhile, is a mystery: Although Buchen says she is no longer paying rent for the building, records from the county assessor's office still lists "Tina's Range Gear" as the owner of the property.
An employee from Outdoorsman of Santa Fe, located in the DeVargas Center, says the closure of Tina's Range Gear hasn't had a significant impact on that store's sales.
"We didn't really compete with her as far as sales go," says the employee, who gave his name as Lee S. "We might have picked up a little extra here and there, but it's not making a big impact."
T's Just Guns will be located at 5364 Agua Fria St. But because it will only operate as a point of transfer for stuff bought on the internet, there's not really much of a point in visiting it.
"There's not going to be any storefronts left in this world," Buchen forecasts. "You can sit at home in your underwear and buy whatever you want. It's going to be all internet."
