No "Trump Slump" This Black Friday

American consumers continue to complain about high prices, with inflation remaining a significant concern for many households. Yet, that didn’t stop sales on Black Friday, as Americans were truly in the holiday mood, spending a record $11.8 billion online, an increase of 9.1% from 2024. Electronics and home goods remained strong categories. However, retailers noted that in-store traffic was slightly down from previous years.

In the firearms industry, Black Friday has remained an important day for retailers, but it also marks the end of the fall hunting season. That point was noted by Joshua D’Agnese, owner and president of Village Gun Store in Whitefield, New Hampshire, who told Shooting Industry that this year’s Black Friday was far better than what he had seen in the last three to four years.

“Hunting season has been a lot better this year as well,” said D’Agnese. “And it wasn’t just Black Friday, as ‘Small Business Saturday’ was also really good for us.”

D’Agnese said that just last year, people still seemed to be tighter with their spending in advance of the holidays, but that wasn’t true this year. Sales picked up during hunting season in 2025 and heated up as the weather cooled.

“Our sales were really dominated by long guns for hunting this year,” D’Agnese added. “Rifles and shotguns were the strong sellers, and handgun sales were much slower. It seems like the firearms take turns in what is popular. Right now the AR market is dead! It was all about getting out in the woods and hunting.”

Slower Than Normal in the Old Dominion State

It was a different story for New American Arms in Richmond, Virginia. The shop had seen a strong first half of the year and was doing very well with the high-end market, but by Thanksgiving, sales had fallen like the leaves from the trees.

“There was a good amount of traffic in the store, and people were looking, but sales were a little less than last year,” Tony Martin of New American Arms explained. “We saw increased sales all through the year, right until October and November. It slowed down quite a bit quite suddenly and I’m not sure what is driving it.”

For Martin, handguns were outpaced by long guns this fall by a ratio of three out of every four firearms sold. He also noted a new trend that he sees coming. Martin told Shooting Industry that the shop had an uptick in customers selling back their firearms. As a retailer that sells used firearms, sales have been stronger than usual.

“We buy estates and collections, as well as walk-ins, and gun sales to us have gone up monthly,” Martin continued. “That really doesn’t fit with what we are seeing politically.”

Virginia elected a Democratic governor in November, with Abigail Spanberger defeating Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears in the largest margin of victory for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in the state since 1961. Spanberger’s views are clear. She supports gun control measures, including bans on “assault-style weapons” and high-capacity magazines, universal background checks, and the implementation of red flag laws.

The election didn’t drive consumers to make new firearms purchases, at least not at New American Arms. Instead, it has been the opposite.

“Most of the guys in the know are predicting doom and gloom, so that doesn’t seem to fit with what we normally see,” suggested Martin. “Usually, election outcomes like this drive sales. Customers may not have put things together, as this is an increase across the counter when you’d expect it to go the other way!”

Limited Editions Also Strong

For some specialty retailers, November was a month of strong sales capped off by Black Friday. That was the case with SK Guns, which creates and sells limited-edition, custom, and collectible firearms.

“We sell limited edition historical pieces of art which resonate with all levels of gun collectors,” said Simon Khiabani, founder and owner of SK Guns. He told Shooting Industry that the SK Customs has never been affected by the market cycle. “SK Exclusive models, this is where we’ve seen exponential growth in upward sales, as with the other divisions under the SK Studios umbrella. We are not a company that stocks 100+ SKUs; we are a company that knows our clientele and what they expect when dealing with us.”