Business & Tech

Veteran-Owned Modern Tactical Sells Security in Lansdale

Modern Tactical celebrates its grand opening Friday. The retailer, owned by Lansdale residents and veterans, sells firearms, tactical gear and more at its 3 W. Main St. location.

You can guarantee that a store like veteran-owned Modern Tactical, which deals in security, has the best security around.

"Wait and see," said co-owner Joe Junguzza about those in the general community trepidatious of Modern Tactical opening in Lansdale.

"We live here," he said, "and if we felt like opening a store would be a detriment to the town, we wouldn't have opened one in our backyard. It was difficult finding a location and one in a business-friendly town. Lansdale had both." 

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Before talk of gun rights and similar headlines inundated the press and politics, military veterans Junguzza and Kevin Messmer, both of Lansdale, and Ross Lieberman, of Philadelphia, had a plan two years in the making to open a tactical gear and firearms store in the region. By December 2012, a lease was signed at 3 W. Main St. in Lansdale.

Now, Modern Tactical officially opens its doors for business at a 3 p.m. Friday grand opening.

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"One thing we are going to make our mission is to be an asset to the community," said Junguzza. "We served our country, and now we serve our community."

The store specializes in security for the home—but satisfaction for the military and law enforcement types is also a major tenet in Modern Tactical's mission.

"Our two major customer groups are home defense and sport shooting," Junguzza said. "The only thing we don't have—no hunting. There's no orange here."

There's no gaudy pawn shop neon lights either. No large yellow advertisement placards. No bars on the windows.

At Modern Tactical, there is a welcoming decor of refinished hardwood, gunmetal walls and aluminum diamond tread plate borders. There are clean, secured displays of semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, AR-15s and M4s, knives, holsters and the like. The windows greet W. Main Street travelers with backpacks and clothing, not guns.

The interior of the store greets shoppers with Magpul brand accessories for military gear and sport shooting, like magazines, slings and sights. There's a rack of Maxpedition brand outdoors gear like dual-purpose backpacks for deployment or hiking. One owner even uses one as a diaper bag.

"When you deploy, you are issued standard gear: weapon, helmet and protective chestplate. There's no left-handed holster, for instance. Law enforcement and military need that extra equipment to be comfortable out there to keep us safe," Junguzza said. "The best stuff out there is privately made. A lot are deployed all the time. They can come here and equip themselves."

Modern Tactical carries Taclite pants and 5.11 sport shooting apparel. Another rack boasts nanovaults for guns, pepper spray gel, flashlights and concealed carry holsters.

Next to that, a rack of Blackhawk! brand tactical gear, like gloves, rigger belts, grips, stocks and shemaghs. On the other side of that rack are various Troy brand and Ergogrip brand goodies.

"There's an entire community out there that subscribes to the everyday carry theory to keep safe: flashlight, knife and gun," Junguzza said.

In addition to Wilson's Hardware and Locksmiths up the block, Modern Tactical is the second retailer on West Main Street to sell firearms. Modern Tactical operates under a Class Three Federal Firearms License.

This means it is a dealer of National Firearms Act weapons: machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, destructive devices, handguns, pistols, semi-automatic pistols, carbines and assault rifles.

Modern Tactical can also custom order weapons for customers. 

"No firearm leaves our store without a background check," Junguzza said.

"No one can just walk in and buy a machine gun. That's the common misconception," Junguzza said. "Plus, you're talking $30,000. The only ones paying that are serious collectors."

He said each firearm purchase constitutes a Pennsylvania Instant Check System via a customer's driver's license.

"There are three results: good, unresolved or call the police," he said.

It can also refuse to sell a firearm to an individual, even if he or she passes the background check. No one under 18 is allowed in the store either without parental supervision.

"If we get a bad feeling, or something raises the hairs on our neck, we will deny them the right to purchase," Junguzza said.

"Establishing a Reputation"

A glass display case in the back of the store illuminates just a sampling of the weapons sold by Modern Tactical: Glock 9mm, .38 Special, .45, Smith & Wessons, Berettas, revolvers, and M92 PAP pistols as AK-47 variants. On the wall behind the counter hang various AR-15s and M4s. 

One prized weapon in the case is a Smith & Wesson 686 revolver. 

Prices range from $1,275 for a Tac M4 to $420 for an SR22 Ruger. Modern Tactical also prices each weapon with its price and an "Out the Door" price, which is the final price plus taxes and fees, including the $20 background check fee and transfer fee.

"Inventory is more difficult to get than normal," Junguzza said. "We seem to be one of the few places that isn't gouging customers."

Amy Junguzza, vice president of marketing for Modern Tactical, said a lot of product is sold in a razor-thin market, making it more expensive from wholesalers.

"We'd rather sell in a razor-thin market and have it in inventory than wait until it comes in and make a big profit," she said. "We are establishing a reputation."

For instance, a PMAG costs $21 at Modern Tactical. Online it goes upwards of $45. Joe Junguzza said ammunition is hard to get, but Modern Tactical is making pennies a box for the profit margin. At Modern Tactical, one brand of ammo sells for $17.95 a box versus $66 online, he said.

"Inflated prices aren't passed on to the customer," he said.

Modern Tactical also deals in consignment. Right now, there is a consignment Beretta 21A for $225 at Modern Tactical.

"You even have to pass a background check to get the consigned gun back," Junguzza said.

Junguzza and Messmer are experts in their business—both have served military time overseas. Junguzza is a 1997 West Point graduate, and was commissioned as a lieutenant upon entering the Army. He did six years active duty stateside.

After being out of the Army for two years, a chance viewing on TV of the war in Iraq turned up Junguzza's former roommate from West Point.

"I signed up for the National Guard that day," he said. "A year later, I was in Afghanistan."

Junguzza, who is at present in the Army Reserves, was embedded as a team trainer with the Afghan army.

"Instead of living and doing operations with the Army, I lived with the Afghanis and was their teacher and mentor," Junguzza said.

Messmer, he said, served five years active duty with the Army, exiting as a captain. Messmer was stationed overseas in Iraq from 2007 to 2008.

This week, Modern Tactical owners had their fingers crossed during some soft openings to test the system. Things went smoothly, except for the seldom debit transaction holdup.

"It's like any soft open, where it identifies glitches in the system," Junguzza said. "We found a lot of things that, if we did a grand opening, would have been problematic."

In July, Modern Tactical will have a new website integrated with the store inventory and vice versa. Customers will be able to order online, and immediately informed if the quantity of a product in the store and if it is on backorder, for instance.

"We will have a system that dynamically updates inventory online and offline," said Junguzza. 

A Friendly Business in a Business-Friendly Town

Junguzza said the public will be "pleasantly surprised" with Modern Tactical. He said the public will see and recognize there is no concern for safety with the business. After all, a thriving business, he said, is preferred for the economy over an empty storefront.

"We will be repainting the whole corner," he added. "Before we came in, the landlord (Joe McQuillin) got a deal with signs. So, he updated the signs. This corner looks newer. We will repaint the front of our store, McQuillin Studio and Shell.Fish.Sue so it will look better."

Junguzza said he and his partners tried opening up in Norristown, but the process was too tedious and mismanaged.

"A lot of towns around here are not business friendly," he said. "Lansdale has turned a corner in encouraging new business. It's like night and day, in terms of the bureaucracy."

Lansdale, he said, showed that it cares about developing a business center in the downtown.

"This is all irrespective of us being a firearm business," Junguzza said. "Plus, we're vets. We have hands-on experience."

Modern Tactical also prides itself on customer service. Junguzza said the number one complaint with potential competitors is bad customer service.

"They come in, and they don't feel like they are welcomed. The one thing we want the customer to feel when they come in here is welcomed," Junguzza said, "whether they never touched a gun or they want to get a backpack. We're a friendly group."

The main thing Junguzza and his partners want to emphasize is the robust security and safety that comes with opening such a sporting goods business. In addition to inspections by the ATF, Lansdale Police and Lansdale Codes Department had its walkthroughs of the site.

"The police came through, and we wanted them to, and gave suggestions on how to tighten up security," he said. "If you think about it, we sell security. If we ourselves are not secure, we'd be defeating the purpose."

Modern Tactical is open Wednesday to Friday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Find Modern Tactical Inc. on Facebook.


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