The Airgun Centre, Raleigh , Essex

Since the ban on airguns my mail order, good gun shops are more important now than they’ve ever been, and I’ve recently visited one of the best in the business. The Airgun Centre at Raleigh, Essex, has been trading for 30 years, so I thought I’d drop in to see what makes this shop the success story it undoubtedly is. Within minutes I’d found the answer and it couldn’t have been more simple.The Airgun Centre owes its reputation to a number of factors, but these combine to form possibly the most valuable asset any outlet can have; customer service.

The Airgun Centre was founded by John Stevens, who for some time became the ‘agony aunt’ of Airgun World, answering readers’ questions and helping to solve all manner of airgun-related problems. John Stevens was a great personality and his enthusiasm for what he did set the standard for his business. The real key to the long-term success of the Airgun Centre, is that this standard has been maintained and developed to meet the needs of the customer.

Enter Peter Zamit, who began working at the shop when he left school ‘several’ years ago, and took over the business when John Stevens retired in 2002. Peter runs the Airgun Centre, along with Steven ‘Eddie’ Harper – Peter got his name wrong when he started at the shop and he’s been ‘Eddie’ ever since Keith Channon, and possibly the most essential employee of all, Peter’s wife Jackie, who makes the finest tea and coffee in the gun trade. Don’t underestimate Jackie’s role in the shop’s reputation for a minute; this lady has a fan-club of her own and it’s fully deserved.

Sometimes, when space in the shop becomes a bit tight due to the number of customers visiting, Jackie runs a free beverage delivery service to punters, taking cuppas to them as they wait outside in their cars. As I say, this level of customer service does much to maintain the Airgun Centre’s enviable reputation.

That reputation was, of course, built on taking care of customers’ airgun needs, and the foundation of this is the shop’s lifetime guarantee. That translates to a rock-solid promise to put right any fault with your rifle for as long as you own it. There’s more; the Airgun Centre will also give your airgun a test and service when required, and the only charge you’ll get is postage. You won’t even pay that if the airgun can be repaired at the shop’s workshop and you deliver and collect it yourself.You’ll get one of Jackie’s cuppa’s, too, so it’s the deal of a lifetime – quite literally.

“It’s all about giving the customer confidence”, says Peter Zamit.“We want them to know that the Airgun Centre is much, much more than somewhere to exchange All customers benefitmoney for airgun gear. When someone buys from a free advice offer.from us they invest in the whole Airgun Centre promise of being taken care of, and that promise has been proven to be good for by to see what was new and to catch up on 30 years now.”

Peter Zamit is entirely correct in his statement and his attitude.The Airgun Centre isn’t just a place to buy an airgun, it’s a one-stop shop where customers and their needs are guaranteed to be taken care of.While I was visiting the shop, I saw novices ably assisted, customer queries patiently dealt with on the phone and long-term customers just dropping the Airgun Centre gossip. This shop is a good place to be. So good, in fact, that airgunners come from hundreds of miles away to be there. Business is good, too, and that has to be the ultimate endorsement of the Airgun Centre’s commitment to keeping the customer satisfied.

Well done to Peter and his team – and here’s to the next 30 years!