Queensland’s flourishing enterprise Hall’s Firearms has expanded its horizons by purchasing an outlet in Melbourne. Hall’s, which has twin stores in Townsville and Rockhampton, has taken over Abela’s Gun Shop in High Street, Thornbury. The sale will see Hall’s trading under the name of O’Reilly’s Firearms. This is the former moniker of the Victorian business, which was known as Frank O’Reilly Firearms before its previous takeover.
The Hall’s venture is run by Miranda and David Kelly, who have overseen the development in Victoria. Miranda looks after accounts and marketing, while David is the director.
“I reckon this would have to make us the largest regional firearms retailer in the whole of Australia,” said Miranda. “We have been a little bit busy,” she added with wry understatement. “But it’s all going well.”
Miranda then outlined the firm’s business strategy. “We very much place the emphasis on service, not slashing prices,” she said. “A lot of people will come into places and want to be the cheapest – but we are not like that. We want to offer the best, and we can. We have great buying power.
“We are also heavily involved in the social media/Facebook side of things to deliver great service to our customers.”
The Kellys have a proven track record on the firearms circuit, which should hold them in good stead for the Melbourne undertaking.
“We started in Townsville in 1996 when we took over Hall’s Firearms. Then in 2013, we bought the Rockhampton store,” said Miranda.
“Most of the staff stayed on at the Melbourne store and will be trading under the O’Reilly name. There has been a fair bit of travel for us initially, but the team is coming together. We are introducing modern stock control and retail systems, which will streamline the day-to-day operations. In fact, David is down there at the moment and our Rockhampton manager Peter Cassidy has stepped up into a general manager role working with the Melbourne store manager.
“I have been dealing with all the accounts from Queensland, but in this day and age that works out okay with internet resources and the rest.”
For Abela’s, it means the second changeover in the space of a few months. In April, Abela’s Gun Shop in Campbelltown merged with another of Sydney’s largest sellers, Horsley Park Gun Shop.