Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Founder and CEO of the Glock Store, Lenny Magill in studio to outline his curious adventure towards a career in Radio, TV, and ultimately starting the Glock Store.
Leahy: We are in studio with our new friend from California, Lenny Magill, CEO and founder of the Glock Store. On the web at glockstore.com. Moving your operations here to Nashville. Now we’re going to learn the story of how the Glock Store got started in San Diego.
Magill: I got us to the point where I was an advertising salesman for a TV station. And I met one of my clients who was a gun range, and I did a commercial for him. Super successful. He introduced me to a gentleman named John Bianchi. John Bianchi was a manufacturer of holsters. He had a big company, literally was one of the big icons in the gun business back in the early 80s. And he had a pistol tournament out in Missouri, of all places in Columbia, Missouri.
Leahy: Capital of the state.
Magill: That’s right. And basically, he had an international pistol tournament. The guy who owns a gun range introduced me to John Bianchi says, hey, He’s thinking, but trying to put this on TV and you’re in the TV business, go talk to him. So I go up to John Bianchi’s office. It’s a massive place. It’s a 120,000 square foot building. He’s got 300 or 400 people working there. And I say, Oh, my gosh, this guy’s really something.
And so I do more research. And John Bianchi, of course, is this huge holster manufacturer supplying police departments and everybody around the world. And so I go into his office, palatial office, beautiful place and I say to him, I’ve got this pistol tournament out there. I said, Well, I can put it on TV for you. And he goes, well, I have no budget. (Chuckles) And I thought, well, here you are and it’s a huge office and you have no budget.
I said, Well, okay. Can you give me some money to get out there, pay my airfare and get my hotels, at least get me out there? He said, sure, I can. Now, I’ve never done a half-hour TV show before. But I figured I’ll figure it out. I’ll go ahead and do it. He went ahead and said, I’ll pay your airfare, pay your hotels. And I said, great. He said, but I’m going to do all the work on the back end. So I want to own the show.
Leahy: Okay. So he owns the show.
Magill: I own the show. That was a negotiation.
Leahy: You win that negotiation.
Magill: He said, fine. I said, in fact, I want to own it in perpetuity now. So not just the first year and he said fine. I shook our hand to the whole deal. And so he flew us out to Columbia, Missouri. I took two guys out there. We had these old clunky, three quarter inch cameras, ran around, did a whole bunch of interviews. And basically, people were saying, Well, what’s this for because they’d never seen cameras.
Now remember, this is before cell phones before, when people had video “cameras.” Not many even still cameras at that point. So there are some people taking stills, but we were the only guys taking video. And there were 300 people here competing, 300 competitors plus their families. So they’re about 7, 800 people floating around this event. And we’re running around with these big old clunky cameras. And they’re saying, hey, who’s this for?
And I say this for we’re ESPN. They said, what’s that? (Leahy laughs) And we’d have to explain what ESPN was. It’s going to be on TV and all that stuff. And they said okay good. Well, can I get a copy? This is back when there was VHS and Beta. So I started thinking, well, okay. Yeah. And so that happened a bunch. And so one day after the event, it was Thursday or Friday night and we’re driving around in Columbia. It’s kind of a small little town.
Leahy: It’s actually it’s the home of the University of Missouri. That’s the capital of Missouri. Jefferson City is nearby the capital.
Magill: The little town was closed and it was about 10 o’clock. And we’re driving around. There’s nothing to do. We just had dinner. And so it’s basically a dead little town. But at the end of the day, there was this one store open, and it was called Kinkos. And I remember seeing 24-hour copies. I said, 24 hours? I’ve never seen this door open 24 hours. But I thought you know what?
Let’s go in there and see if they can help me make a flyer to advertise this thing because I thought, well, maybe we’ll start handing out flyers and we can sell a VHS tape. So we go in and there’s this college guy, long hair, sitting there by himself he says how can I help you? And these are the early days of computer graphics. And he said, yeah, I can help you do that. So we made a little flyer that said the Bianchi Cup and did all the different things of what it was going to be pistol tournament and all this stuff.
And you have a chance to buy it in Beta or VHS checkbox. And you can send a check in to this address with a little order form. So we made those flyers, and we printed up 500 of them. And the next day, people would say, hey, well what’s this for? It’s for ESPN. And they’d say, what’s that? And so we’d hand them a flyer, and they’d say can I get a copy.
We’d say sure. Here you go. So we handed out a whole bunch of flyers in the parking lot. We did all that stuff. So I kind of forgot about that. We’re busy making this video. At the end of the event Sunday morning, we’re wrapping up all the gear, getting ready to go, and there is a big trailer and a big motor home.
John Bianchi has this motorhome air-conditioned. Of course, it’s Missouri. It’s May. It’s hot and steamy and Bianchi sticks his head out of the window. Hey, Magill, come on over here. I want you to tell these guys about ESPN. So I go into the trailer into the motorhome, and he’s got five guys sitting there. They’re all execs from the gun business, Colt, Taurus, Smith and Wesson, and all these guys sitting there. And he says, tell them about that TV show thing.
You know, that ESPN thing. So I pitched these guys on ESPN, and right there, in my mind, I make up this story. (Leahy chuckles) I say, look, guys, I’m going to go ahead and get you on TV, and we’re going to promote the event. And we’re going to promote shooting. It’s going to sell more products. People can get involved in competition shooting. I need each one of you guys to do a commercial on the show. And I said it’s $5,000 each.
And there’s six of them with John Bianchi. And Bianchi says, I’m in. Because it was the Bianchi Cup. And then the guy from Colt goes oh, I don’t know. And he goes, hey, you got that money in your pocket. You’re in, too Bianchi tells them. And so the one guy from Smith and Wesson, now they’re drinking Wild Turkey. Okay? And I’m from California. I don’t drink that much. And so the one guy he pours a shot, puts it on the table, says, have a shot.
I swear to God, this is like a movie. So of course, I’m in a sales game. Okay, I’ll take a shot. (Leahy laughs) Oh, my God. And they laugh. And I think, Okay, I’m into it. At the end of the day, six of them said, All right, we’re in for $5,000. So I did $30,000 right there. I walk out of the trail and I’m thinking, holy, God, I’ve got to make a TV show. (Laughter) But I had $30,000. So I went back and I had all this footage. I mean, hours of footage. We compressed it into 22 minutes. We did commercials around it. I knew from my days working at Cox Cable that ESPN at that time was hungry for programs.
Leahy: They didn’t have enough content.
Magill: And so I called up the ESPN guy says, Hey, can I buy a half-hour? Of course, you can. So I bought a half-hour for $10,000 for the entire network. And this is way back now, I spent 10,000. editing and I made $10,000. I thought, well, this is great. Okay, I’m in the video production, how cool. Here I am, 23 years old, and I’m a video production guy. I got a TV show on ESPN. So Meanwhile, as I was producing that show, checks started coming in the mail…
Leahy: For…
Magill: For the video from all around the world, too. It was crazy. I got 400 checks at 50 bucks each. And I’m thinking Oh, my gosh, this is a business. Then another guy calls me up and says, Hey, we’ve got a pistol tournament up here in Los Angeles can you come video it? I said, sure. So we ran up there and videoed it. And then at that point, I thought, I’m not even doing the ESPN thing.
I’m just gonna go ahead and sell the videos because there was this worldwide audience for competition shooting. And I became known as the gun video guy. And I literally, as I said earlier, did these pistol tournaments for all the major companies and did videos for all the major companies at the trade shows. And I started to do instructional programming on how to shoot as well as the tournament itself. And I became introduced to some of the best shooters in the world. And I went to their houses and did videos with all the top guys for the NRA out of Campari, the rifle, pistol, shotgun, everything.
I have 400 videos that I still sell on streaming as well as through Amazon, as well as just regular DVDs that spun me into one video I did on Glock. I did a video on Glock, disassembly, reassembly, adding parts and pieces to it. Very popular, sold thousands of copies. And I thought, wow, this is pretty cool. I like it. And I did another Glock video and more customization. And people started calling up and say, hey, can I buy that part?
Leahy: Ah ha!
Magill: And this is again before the Internet. This is on the phone with people saying, hey, I saw that part on the video. Can I buy that? Sure. (Leahy laughs) So one of the most popular items we sell is tungsten in guide rod. And tungsten in the guide rod replaces the Glock factory plastic guide rod. And because it’s tungsten in, it’s heavier in weight. And because it’s heavier in weight, it helps reduce recoil and it makes the gun a lot easier to shoot and it makes it more accurate because it is shot to shot because the gun is not jumping around as much. So that said, we started making tungsten and guide rods with an outside machine shop.
Leahy: So how did you make some? Did you have a vendor?
Magill: Well, we had an outside machine shop. And one time I looked at one point, I looked at the amount of money I was selling and not only spending with a machine shop, and I thought, you know what? I can buy those machines. And so I bought machines.
Leahy: And so you got in the business of making parts.
Magill: We are now manufactured. We have 18 CNC machines. I’ve got seven here in Nashville, and I’ve got 13 in San Diego. So we got 20.
Listen to the full third hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed glockstore.com’s CEO and Founder Lenny Magill in studio to discuss his background and what led him to become the top Glock manufacturer.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome to our microphones in studio, Lenny Magill, the CEO and founder of the Glock Store. Welcome, Lenny.
Magill: Well, thank you, Michael Patrick Leahy. What a great pleasure and honor it is to be here with you.
Leahy: Well, let’s start off with Magill. Now, is this Irish or Scottish?
Magill: Scottish.
Leahy: Scottish!
Magill: Yes, it is.
Leahy: Okay, so tell us a little bit about the background.
Magill: Well, I was born in Pennsylvania.
Leahy: Where in Pennsylvania?
Leahy: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I know Harrisburg. On the Susquehanna.
Magill: Absolutely. I went to Susquehanna High School.
Leahy: It’s a beautiful, beautiful area.
Magill: Yes. It’s the rolling hills, lots of trees, and lots of water. Really a great place to grow up. I had a great childhood.
Leahy: I have a recollection of being in Harrisburg as a kid. I grew up in upstate New York. And in the summer my dad would get the trailer and attach it to the car and we would travel around the country. We went to Gettysburg one summer.
Magill: Just outside of Harrisburg.
Leahy: But there was a trailer camp that you come in, you stop, you hook up. It was in Harrisburg. They had a beautiful sort of above ground pool. We had the greatest time in Harrisburg. I have very fond memories of Harrisburg.
Magill: And I do too. It was a great childhood. I loved being outdoors a little bit. A very outdoor area, lots of things to do outdoors as far as fishing and hiking and camping and all that.
Leahy: Yeah, exactly. They talk about Pennsylvania kind of being three states. The area around Philadelphia. You got the area around Pittsburgh, and then all in between. And they say it’s like Alabama moved to the North. Have you heard that before?
Magill: Well, central Pennsylvania is very conservative, and it’s a great little spot to grow up. And that’s where Harrisburg is really more central. It’s Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, all those towns right around there. And that’s where I grew up. And it was really a great place to grow up. I was in Boy Scouts. I had a lot of fun.
Leahy: The Cub Scouts Webalo. The whole thing.
Magill: Cub Scouts. And I got to a Life Scout. One of the biggest, I guess disappointment in my life is that I didn’t stick around for the Eagle Scout. I had all the stuff in and lined up. My parents got divorced. I was 15, started interested in girls. I got my driver’s license. I was 16. All of a sudden, I kinda copped out and didn’t finish the Eagle Scout.
Leahy: So where did go from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania?
Magill: Well, I went a year at Temple.
Leahy: Temple? A Temple Owl.
Magill: Yes I was.
Leahy: In Philadelphia.
Magill: Temple University. And like I said, my parents had divorced. And I went down. And my dad’s a doctor, and he went to a Temple. And so I went to Temple and was disillusioned with college. I just didn’t like it. Big school.
Leahy: Temple is a big big school.
Magill: And it was in a pretty bad neighborhood. (Chuckles)
Leahy: It’s a bad part of Philadelphia. A football coach in the 1980s just won the Super Bowl.
Magill: Oh, really? How about that?
Leahy: The Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians.
Magill: I was there for a year. I did a year at Temple. And I just didn’t like college. I didn’t like the big classes, didn’t like the whole environment. And I had a girlfriend who moved to California.
Leahy: Ah ha!
Magill: And so I went home and told my dad, mom, I’m moving to California. And my dad was like, you’re crazy. And so my mom was like, oh, be careful. And so I moved to California when I was 18 years old.
Leahy: Southern California?
Magill: Yeah. I went to San Diego.
Leahy: By the way, in terms of physical beauty, is there any place in the world that’s physically more beautiful than San Diego, California?
Magill: Well, I would say the weather is great in San Diego, but I like the trees here in Nashville to be honest. That’s the one thing that’s missing. And the water is missing in California too. They have to import water here. There’s water everywhere here. And I just think the beauty of the forest and the trees themselves are fascinating.
Leahy: You grew up in that environment. So in San Diego, you arrive, you finished a year of college. What do you do?
Magill: Well, you know what? I had no money. My dad, like I said, he’s a doctor, but he’s old school. He said, Well, good luck. He didn’t give me any money. He gave me a credit card to buy gas to drive a car out there. But that was it. Then he killed the credit card. And so I was basically on my own in California. And I ended up working at a restaurant. I worked at Bob’s Big Boy.
Leahy: Bob’s Big Boy. I remember that well.
Magill: And I was a cook.
Leahy: You’re a cook?
Magill: I was bad news. And what’s interesting is that I noticed that the waiters and the waitresses, they didn’t have waiters, but all the waitresses were making all this money in tips. And I said, well, that’s pretty interesting. I’d like to get a part of that. They said, well, we don’t have men here. And then one day, I was taking the bus to work and I saw there was a job offer for you in this place called Farrell’s Ice Cream which was just an ice cream place. So I walked in and said, hey, I want to be a waiter. He says we can’t hire you as a waiter. You have to be a busboy first or a cook first. And I said I’m tired of being a cook. I want to be a waiter.
Listen to the full third hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed glockstore.com Founder and CEO Lenny Magill in studio to continue his personal story from restaurant cook to CEO.
Leahy: We’re talking with the founder and CEO of the Glock Store, Lenny Magill. So we’re following your personal story. There you are. You’ve moved from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You had your first job as a cook at Bob’s Big Boy in San Diego, and you’re about to change jobs. Tell us about that.
Magill: Well, I saw, like I said, all the waitresses were making all the money in tips, and I thought, hey, I’d like to be a waiter. I just need to make more money. And I was taking a bus to work one day and there was a sign in this little ice cream shop called Farrell’s Ice Cream that said, we’re hiring. And I went in and I said, I want to be a waiter. And the guy says, oh, wait, we typically don’t hire people as waiters.
We’d like you to be a busboy or a cook and then we’ll move in the waiter position. I said, look, dude, I’m already a cook and I hate it. I want to be a waiter, and I can see that there’s more money on the table. He was from the East Coast and I was from the East Coast, and we kinda hit it off a little bit.
And he kind of liked me. And the one thing I said, well, what’s your problem? What do you need? He said, well, we got a lot of college kids here and they don’t want to work both Friday night and Saturday night. I said, look, I’m not going to college. I’ll work both Friday and Saturday night.
Leahy: And you sold him. So you identified his problem and you solved it.
Magill: That’s exactly right.
Leahy: And you provided a solution to his problem. You were willing to do it.
Magill: That’s exactly right. And you know what? It was interesting because a lot of the kids, they just want to go out and party. And I said, Hey, I need to make some money. I have to make money. So what happened is I went in and I became a waiter, and it was really a good opportunity for me because I met a lot of people. And it was one of those restaurants where the waiters would sing, Happy Birthday. Remember those?
Leahy: I do.
Magill: It was an ice cream place, but also a regulars place. They had restaurants like burgers and fries. So but it’s really about the ice cream. They had the big ice cream Sundays and all the crazy stuff. And they’d run around and play music. And then we’d sing, Happy Birthday, get all the waiters together. And so people would come in.
Leahy: It was an event.
Magill: And they would come in and I made a big deal out of it. And I was really successful.
Leahy: A little theatrical presentation of the birthday.
Magill: Exactly. So I started to get regulars. People would come in and say, hey, I want him. They’d wait for my table.
Leahy: They want Lenny’s table.
Magill: So one year, okay. I did this for, like, two and a half years. And I met a lot of girls at this thing, too. (Leahy laughs) I got a lot of phone numbers and all this fun. But one year this guy shows up and he’d been there several years. He had three or four kids. And he’d always bring his kids in for these parties.
And he says, hey, you know, you’ve got a pretty good voice. He said I work at the radio station. And he said, why don’t you come down and just hang out and see, maybe you can do some intern work. And I said, fine. So I actually went to this radio station, KCBQ in San Diego. And he introduced me to some of the disc jockeys. And they helped me put together a tape. I put together an audition tape.
Leahy: So you did an audition tape to be a singer?
Magill: No, to actually be a disc jockey to be a disc jockey. Dean Goss was the guy. Dean Goss. He was a big hit. In those days KCBQ was a big AM radio station at that time before FM really kicked in. Even before talk radio, it was really just music. And the disc jockeys would be playing actually, Wolfman Jack was actually on that station two years before that. So it’s a big deal, big place. And I was just running around.
And so I made the tape and I sent it out. I actually got some offers from these little towns to be a disc jockey. Like in Walla Walla, Washington, and Belmont, Texas. And I was like oh, I’m not going to move out of San Diego to go there. But meanwhile, I’m still waiting tables, making some money. And I’m kind of playing at the radio station. And then I thought, well, you know what? Maybe I should explore this a little bit more.
And I went to a college class and I took some radio or media classes, that kind of thing. And one day some kid stands up in the class and he says, hey, I work at a radio station and it’s a real small station. It’s broadcast out of Mexico, but we’re looking for someone to come down and help us do some intern stuff. And I said, well, I help out. And no one else did. And it was actually a soul station. They played soul music.
Leahy: Was it in Tijuana?
Magill: It was in Tijuana broadcasting out of Mexico.
Leahy: Right across. It had like an X something?
Magill: Yes it was XHRM. 93 Star five. And so I went there and it was a soul station. And it was very small. And it was owned by a guy who owned a radio or a record store. And he was basically interested in selling records. And this is before the Internet and all the other stuff and before digital.
Leahy: When there were record stores. When Tower was starting to get started.
Magill: He had a small little record store in the section of town where they are playing soul music. And he controlled that. He had a small little thing. So one day there and I was doing news. I was cutting news.
Leahy: So you are in Tijuana?
Magill: No, we would actually record it on tape.
Leahy: And you recorded it on tape and shipped it and they’d broadcast it.
Magill: It was pretty old school, but at the end of the day, I learned a whole lot about production. I learned a whole lot about the radio business. And then one day, I went to the owner and I said, hey, well, how does anybody make any money around here? Because I wasn’t getting paid. He goes, well, son, you’ll sell advertising. And I thought, well, okay. So here’s what happened.
I swear to God. The first day he gave me this little rate card, he said, go out and sell some ads. So the first day he says, I’ll give you a 30 percent commission, which is a lot, as you know in the radio business. But it’s a small station. So the first day I went out and sold $1,000. I had a contract for $1,000. Came back. He says, where’s the check? And I said, well, I got a contract. He goes, it doesn’t mean anything. You need a check. So I went back and got a check, and he was like, oh, okay. Hey, wow. You’re the real deal. So I made 300 bucks.
Leahy: 300 bucks?
Magill: And it was incredible. That was like, 1977.
Leahy: And what are you thinking?
Magill: I’m thinking oh my gosh.
Leahy: He gave you 300 bucks.
Magill: When it cleared he gave me 300 bucks.
Leahy: When it cleared.
Magill: So I said this is something. So I actually got into the advertising business, and I started selling advertising. And what happened is I became Super successful selling advertising as I was the number one sales guy. He loved me. I got a new car.
Leahy: You are thinking, alright. This is great!
Magill: So now listen, one of my top advertisers was Coca-Cola. and I used to go to Coke, and we had no numbers, okay? No arbitrary numbers, nothing to justify a buy.
But the guy liked me. The guy at Coca-Cola was named Steve Horowitz and he was from the East Coast. And he and I got along. He was a sports fan. I played sports in high school, and so we kind of had a good thing going. So he said, one day to me says, hey, I want to meet with you and tell you, I’ve got a job offer for you. I said, well, okay. He was one of my big guys because he would give me the leftover money when he would buy ABC and CBS. But at the end of the month, he’d have the $3,000.
Leahy: A little extra he’d just give it to you.
Magill: And he says, I’m going to go ahead and be the general manager of this new television station and it’s on Cox Cable. It’s Channel Two. He said it’s a brand new thing. We’re selling cable TV. We’re going to make a station, and we’re going to sell ads around it. And I want you to come work for me. And anybody in the radio business wants to sell TV advertising. So I said ok, I’ll come with you. So I quit my radio job.
I actually quit my waiter job a couple of months before that and dove into this TV thing. And what happened after that was pretty interesting because we had this brand new station. And Cox Cable owned it. Now Cox is a huge corporation but they had this little thing they wanted to start in San Diego back in 1981. And so what happened is we were selling ads around, like, Leave It to Beaver and Mr. Ed and all these old TV shows. And then they brought on this new thing. It was called Cable News Network. And they would have this other new thing called ESPN.
Leahy: ESPN. I wonder what that is?
Magill: So I would walk into a car dealer and I’d say, hey, look, I’ve got this new network. It’s all sports all day, 24 hours called Entertainment Sports Programming Network. And I want to sell you some advertising. The guys look at me and go, no one’s gonna watch that. (Laughter) And I’ve got this other station. It’s all news, 24 hours. Cable News Network. He says, no one’s gonna watch that.
Leahy: So it was the hardest sell in the world.
Magill: It was the hard sell because no one understood what it was. There are no numbers, nothing. So it was a good start. And that’s what got me into the TV business. And then one of my customers was in the gun business. And that’s how I got into the gun business.
Leahy: That’s how you got in the gun business.
Magill: Yes. So what he owned is an indoor range and I did some commercials for him. And that’s how I got into production, too. So I’ve got a big YouTube presence, as you may know. And I did some commercials for him. And the commercials were super successful. And he and I became buddies. And I did a whole bunch of other work for him. A lot of video work. And I got into the gun business. And all of a sudden, I was the gun video guy. And I did videos for Colt, Smith and Wesson, and all these other people in the gun business. And then I did a TV show for ESPN.
Listen to the full third hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Founder and CEO of the Glockstore.com Lenny Magill in studio to continue the story of how he came to be the leading manufacturer of Glock parts, pieces, and accessories.
Leahy: We are in studio with our Guest Lenny Magill, the founder, and CEO of the Glock Store. On the web at glockstore.com. So you’ve been very successful with your gun videos. You decide to open up a facility in San Diego, and that does well.
Magill: Well, yes. We were starting to sell and manufacture Glock parts, pieces, and accessories. And we had so much traction, really once the Internet started to happen. And we started doing a catalog of lock pieces and parts. People started walking into the facility. And we weren’t really set up as a retailer, but they wanted to buy pieces and parts.
So we opened up a little retail store, and it became very popular in San Diego. We bought a bigger building, opened up a bigger store, and it was a big hit. And so obviously, the business got larger, larger, and larger. And the larger you are in California, the more they penalize you. (Laughs)
Leahy: Exactly. They penalize success.
Magill: The more successful you are, the more they penalize you. It’s brutal to do business in California. And we saw the writing on the wall that it’s just not going to scale out. We cannot grow a business in California without just being attacked by these legislators and lawyers out there who are looking to pounce on any misdoing. And my wife does a lot of the HR work, and she says that it’s impossible to stay compliant in California.
Leahy: When did you just decide I’m going to leave California?
Magill: About three years ago we decided we’re going to expand outside of California. And we wanted to move the corporate headquarters out of California. So we looked at Texas. Looked at Nevada. Looked at Arizona. Looked at Florida. And looked at Nashville.
Leahy: And how did Nashville come on your radar?
Magill: Well, my wife’s from Dalton, Georgia.
Leahy: Ah ha!
Magill: And I’m from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Leahy: So sort of in-between.
Magill: No trees, no water. Nevada, no trees, no water. I mean, relatively speaking, Texas, no water. Flat, boring. It’s an island. Texas is really if you think about it’s a great state in many ways but it sits out there by itself. So we wanted to be able to attract people to come to the Glock Store. And Nashville is a perfect location. In fact, the statistics I read, I guess Nissan put this out, that 70 or 80 percent of the population in the United States can drive to Nashville within a day.
Leahy: Exactly.
Magill: Which is amazing.
Leahy: That’s why we’re sort of a distribution center as well.
Magill: And plus, there’s water, there are rolling hills, there are trees, there are animals. It’s just a beautiful place. And there are no taxes. (Laughter) I mean, California is punitive in taxing. I like I said, it’s not only the taxes but the fees and fines and other things that they pile on top of businesses that people don’t even see.
It’s kind of under the radar money that they just collect and they’ll throw anything, they’ll throw some supplemental taxes sometimes because they need money. I mean, they did this little scheme the other day where it’s called CalSAVE. And basically, they said, we’re going to start taking money out of your check to save for you.
Leahy: Oh, how nice of them.
Magill: Now listen to this. It was automatic unless you opted out. You had to say, no.
Leahy: The old opt-out ploy.
Magill: Yeah. Now here’s what they’re doing. They’re collecting this money and some people say, Oh, Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I don’t know that this state will ever be able to give it back. So it’s pretty crazy. Nashville was such a great choice in so many ways. And we’re so happy to be here. We’ve opened up a 75,000 square foot building right there at 1930 Air Lane Drive.
Leahy: 1930 Air Lane Drive. A little birdie told me you might be having a soft opening today.
Magill: We are. It’s perfect timing to get here. It’s April first and it’s no fooling. (Leahy chuckles) We are soft opening. The Grand opening will be May 15. I’m hiring people. So I’m looking to hire.
Leahy: You are hiring people?
Magill: I am.
Leahy: If people want to apply for a job, just go to glockstore.com.
Magill: Yes, they can do that. We have a careers button there. Click on that and send a resume. And you can always call us.
Leahy: So what are you looking for? What kind of people are you looking for?
Magill: Well, I’m looking for some high-level managers, to be honest. I’m also looking for shipping, handling, receiving people, and assembly people. We manufacture pieces in parts, so we have to assemble them to package them and get them ready for shipping. And then, of course, people for the retail store. Firearm trainers were always looking for.
Leahy: How many people you looking to hire?
Magill: Well, we have 100 people in California. We’ve got about 25 here right now, so I need to hire another 75 people.
Leahy: glockstore.com if you’re listing and you need a job.
Magill: Yes.
Leahy: Go right now to glockstore.com Don’t wait. Apply. And then they’ll go in. They’ll go to the HR Department, which is run by a very nice person, I hear.
Magill: Well, my wife is in charge of it. She doesn’t run it. She likes to say, he’s higher up on that level. (Laughter) But we certainly have an HR Department. We are looking. Like I said, one of my immediate needs is some facility managers. Whether they be shipping managers or overall managers of the facility itself. So we are hiring and it’s a great opportunity. The business is booming and it’s going to continue to grow. We’ve got some great opportunities here not only in Nashville but nationwide because we are a website and we ship orders. We’re shipping up to 2,000 orders a day.
Leahy: My head is spinning. That’s a lot.
Magill: It is a lot. It’s crazy.
Leahy: And it’s all because you didn’t want to be a cook anymore. (Laughter)
Magill: Well, it’s interesting how the world works. My take is really it’s about the people. Remember, every time you meet someone, do something good for them, and the world will open up to you. And be kind and be considerate and just always be aware of that.
Leahy: So if you want to get a job, go to Glockstore.com/Nashvillejobs. That’s glockstore.com/Nashvillejobs.
Magill: That’s exactly right. Thank you. Yes.
Leahy: And there are a lot of people here. We’ve been hit hard in Nashville by all of these rules and regulations that have been put out in Davidson County I’m sorry to say by our Democratic Mayor, John Cooper. We have another description for him but I won’t use it right now. But it’s not a kind description. But I think he deserves it. But he’s been shutting down a lot of restaurants and making it hard for them to make a living. If you’ve been a waiter or a waitress or a cook and you’re looking for a job, Glockstore.com/Nashvillejobs.
Magill: Absolutely. And we don’t encourage people to wear a mask in our place. So how about that?
Leahy: I like that even better!
Magill: In fact, I encourage them not to wear a mask.
Leahy: I like that even better.
Magill: I like to see people’s faces.
Leahy: Lenny Magill, I’m so glad you are now a Tennesseean.
Magill: Michael Patrick Leahy, thank you so much. I am so glad to be here as well. Thank you very much. Thank you to the people of Tennessee and Nashville in particular. They really embraced us. It’s been wonderful.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Lenny Magill” by Lenny Magill. Background Photo “Gun Show” by M&R Glasgow. CC BY 2.0.
