Problem at Half price books

Hey all, figured I would report in on my first bad experience open carrying. I have been open carrying almost everyday for just under a year now, I have my CHL, (not that that matters for OC) but I hate concealing, so I almost always OC.
Anyways, me and my wife decided to go to Half Priced Books in North Olmsted on Saturday (APR 19) to look for some books (probably would have spent at least $100 as we really love our books!)
So we get there, and on the way In I saw no gun buster sign so I didn't give it anymore thought as over the past year the worst treatment I have received was being asked if I was a swat team officer at Home Depo (don't ask, I was confused too) we headed into fiction and fantasy, where I split with my wife to look for an author in a different row, I had noticed an employee sort of following me, but that sometimes happens so I ignored it, after a minute or two I was about to go ask an employee for help in finding an author when I hear a voice behind me say "that's gotta go" I sort of turned my head the way you do to check if someone is talking to you, or just near you, and lo and behold it's the employee who was following me, now standing less than a foot away. The conversation went as follows I smiled and said "what?" He says"that's gotta go, you've gotta go" to which I said "really?" (I was so surprised by his aggressive tone that it took me a moment to figure out his issue) he responded with "that's gotta be concealed, it's gotta go" I say "it needs to be concealed?" He says "yes" so I with my eyebrow raised, probably looking at him like he is insane very slowly lift my t-shirt and drop it over the gun, maintaining eye contact and not one actually touching the gun, I fully expected it to end there, but it didn't, he said "that's not gonna cut it, you gotta go" I looked at him in amazement and said "really?" He says "yea it's gotta go" I said "alright then, let me get my wife" he says alright and follows me, wen I tell her what's going on she gets annoyed and gives the employee dirty looks, puts her books down and says "fine then, we won't come back!" We walk out of the store with the employee following close behind, we get to the car, and I leave my wife and the gun in the car, walk back in with the "no guns = money card, and ask to see a manager, unfortunately she was running the only open register, so instead of making a scene I wait patiently in line, quickly tell her what happened, and recomended that if she is going to kick out customers for carrying she should probably post a sign, she tells me that it's fine as long as it is concealed. I explained that with what I am wearing that is not really an option, and told her I had driven from medina with my wife to purchase books here, but that now I was
Going to have to leave. She said alright (she was at least polite and friendly) and she took the card, and I left. Now I know I could have handled it much more smoothly, but I have meet been given any trouble so I had stopped worrying about it (foolish I know) so now I am planning on contacting corporate, and attempting to find out if the is an official policy or not, I would love some advice on how to go about this, and any other advice that you all would like? And I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes I have made, using my phone.

Here is the info for the store (what I could find)
North Olmsted, Ohio
Half price books
4687 Great Northern Blvd.
North Olmsted, Ohio 44070
440-777-6807



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As soon as concealed carry became legal in Ohio in 2004, Half Price Books posted "no guns" signs in all their stores. Both the North Olmsted store and the Rocky River store (recently closed) had clear decals on the right hand door about thigh high.

I complained to corporate back then and received an email reply from the corporate attorney telling me that was their policy, so I haven't been in a Half Price Books since 2004. But any time I went past one of their stores, I would check to see if the decals was still there.

I haven't been by the North Olmsted store in at least a year, so I have no idea if the decal is still there or not.

What do bet that employee felt he saved the store that day?
Those no guns=no money cards have the most effect on days where their sales are poor.
On slow days that $100 can really show up on the bottom line.

Out of curiosity what were you wearing that day?

I carefully checked for the sign (a in I stopped and looked for a few seconds before walking in. There was no sign, or if there was it was covered by something else. The manager said concealed was fine. I was wearing khaki colored cargo shorts, a black t-shirt and sandels. I have a buzz cut, and a bit of facial hair, not quite a beard. The most shocking part of my appearance is I have pierced ears and an eyebrow piercing. Honestly the employee who confronted me looked "worse" sleeve tattoos. Torn jeans. The like, I'm a young guy, early twenties. But I've been dressed far more "creepy" while carrying than that. (Leather vest, boots, motorcycle gear)


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I wouldn't be surprised if he did. My wife said she heard him talking about "going home early" and such. Probably expected me to just open up when I found thy were out of trudi canavan or something there were a few other people there. But we actually had a list of books we wanted. I was wen eyeballing their old and rare books which cost over $100 each. Any advice on how to go about contacting corporate?


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My hunck is that you can have a bigger impact with local managers than at corperate.
The reason is they see the daily numbers where as corperate only cares about the monthly numbers.
Local managers get the heat when the numbers drop.
If they start seeing no gun=no money cards it will stick in their minds when they tally for the day. They in turn have the ear of corperate.
Corperate likely doesn't see the cards. Their secrataries intercept them.

But then again this is just my opinion.

Corporate office is here in Dallas - 5803 E Northwest Hwy, Dallas, TX 75231
(214) 379-8000

They probably don't care. Old HPB died when the owner did. Used t/b lots of hippies and dopers - enjoyed it back in Austin in the 70s when just down the street from Capitol Sadlery and Oat Willies. Now would term them passive/aggressive leftist, vegan, manmade global warming, regardless of science or logic.

Alright, so calling the store up and asking to speak to a manger is my best bet? Alright, I'll mention that if their policy is no guns then neither me, nor any of my friends or family will continue to shop there (I'm from a large, homeschooling family and am connected to a group of them, us discontinuing buying there could actually hurt them)

I am perfectly fine with never going back, I can easily switch to ebay and amazon for books, it's honestly cheaper, there is just something nice about actually holding the item before buying it ya know?

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These stores' employees have half a brain. Conceal it? So what, I would still have it. Leave? I can still stand right outside with clear line of sights to shoot if I so choose.

Duh.

if you dis arm the honest man then you leave only the dishonest one.

they don't care if you don't come back. what you should really do is hold a protest out side their un-American store

Grengore said:

Hey all, figured I would report in on my first bad experience open carrying. I have been open carrying almost everyday for just under a year now, I have my CHL, (not that that matters for OC) but I hate concealing, so I almost always OC.
SNIP...
ask to see a manager, unfortunately she was running the only open register, so instead of making a scene I wait patiently in line, quickly tell her what happened, and recomended that if she is going to kick out customers for carrying she should probably post a sign
SNIP...
I would love some advice on how to go about this, and any other advice that you all would like? And I apologize for any spelling or grammar mistakes I have made, using my phone.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but it seems you handled yourself well (for the most part; see below).

My first bit of advice: paragraphs are your friend, since they make reading posts easier and funner.

Second bit of advice:
There are a few unspoken, but generally understood, rules on OCDO regarding anti-gun establishments:

1) Never suggest gunbuster signs.
2) Never let them know their gunbuster signs do not adhere to the format specified by local anti-gun ordinances.
3) Never call ahead of time to ask about their gun policy, since that might encourage them to form an anti-gun policy.

We want to make management have to throw out every single armed LAC so at the very least they understand their criminal empowerment policy is causing them to lose business (if all goes well, they'll also realize they are making themselves prime targets). They will likely ignore or not even notice people simply coming up and driving away.

I had a bunch of comic books that I was selling to HPB for my son. You can't sell more than a handful at a time to get a good price, so I planned on hitting each of the 5 or 6 central Ohio stores several times over a 2 or 3 week period.

At that time (early last year) HPB still had their CPZ signs up.

I decided to call each store I stopped at and asked if they could send someone out to my car to escort me in, because I couldn't carry my firearm inside.

"We don't do that"

After going in anyway and selling some books, I would ask the manager if they could escort me back out to my car, because I was unarmed and the neighborhood is not very safe.

"We don't do that"

And I would ask them to let corporate know that they should.

After doing that for several weeks, I ran out of books to sell.

Late in the summer, the signs came down. I have NO proof that I had anything to do with their change of policy, but I hope I did.


I would suggest calling their corporate office, thanking them for changing their policy against guns, and asking why their Ohio stores don't allow open carry when Ohio has been an open carry state since 1803.

MyWifeSaidYes said:

Late in the summer, the signs came down. I have NO proof that I had anything to do with their change of policy, but I hope I did.


I would suggest calling their corporate office, thanking them for changing their policy against guns, and asking why their Ohio stores don't allow open carry when Ohio has been an open carry state since 1803.

Click to expand...

Hmm. Half Price Books is a crusty old oyster. MyWifeSaidYes is the irritant. The resulting pearl is the signs coming down.

Maybe I should cut back on the seafood...