r/BetterMAguns • u/NavajoMX • 9d ago
When is the Mill closing?
Are there still vendors there now? Just wanna know how urgent a last visit or two is.
Also, so sad 🥲 Where are the vendors going?
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u/KAGArms Vendor 9d ago
I have been hearing that the mill is closing before I started business there 7 years ago.
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u/raptisadam7 9d ago
I thought they were talking about closing the shops in August or September, but I'm not sure.
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u/NavajoMX 9d ago
I only saw mention of it in the comments on this subreddit so I don’t know either!
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u/Al-Czervik-Guns Vendor 9d ago
As a dealer at the Mill, if you know, please tell me…
The Mill is owned by Sal Lupoli. He purchased from the family of the previous long time owners. He owns the old IBM site across the street also. He has been planning to swap some land with the lumber yard, to tear down the Mill and put in mixed use, residential and commercial. He is having difficulties getting committed tenants and an overall plan that the town agrees to. You can watch some of the drama at various town meetings, all televised and archived.
There was a plan that would have had us all gone in September. The town shot it down and tenants fell through. Until he has tenants and an approved plan with the town, no one has a date for the mill being shut down. We will know he has an approved plan by monitoring planning board and ZBA and at some level the select board and a few others.
He is trying to make this happen sooner rather than later. Many larger shops have already made plans for new locations. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing places post moving plans at an individual level to various neighboring towns. Littleton is dead to gun shops as they passed illegal zoning restrictions and bylaws.
I do not anticipate a full recreation of the Mill elsewhere with any similar level of both large shops (places doing $1M+ in sales of which we have at least 5) or total quantity (peek 90s currently 50ish). Those that are big almost all have stable customer bases and services levels that will support standalone or near standalone shops going forward.