Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed GlockStore owner Lenny Magill in the studio to talk about the company’s enormous growth and doing business in the state of Tennessee.
Leahy: In the studio, our very good friend Lenny Magill with the GlockStore. The great American entrepreneur who saw the light and brought the GlockStore from California here to Nashville, Tennessee. Good morning, Lenny.
Magill: Yes, thank you, Michael Patrick Leahy. I love that radio name, by the way. (Chuckles) Michael Patrick Leahy.
Leahy: (Irish accent) Michael Patrick Lahey.
Magill: Yes. We escaped from California and are here now in Tennessee with the retail store as well as our manufacturing. And it’s really interesting, a lot of people don’t know that we actually manufacture parts right in our facility. And we manufacture them and we sell them nationwide. So we’re bringing money back into Tennessee.
Leahy: You have, like, half a dozen big CNC machines. I’ve seen them there.
Magill: Well, I think we have 13.
Leahy: Thirteen! See, progress. When I was there, you had half a dozen.
Magill: That’s right. We’ve loaded up the building. Now I’ve got about 100 employees. And the business is doing very well, extremely well here in Tennessee. Tennessee is a great town. Nashville is a great town. Tennessee is a great state.
We’re so happy to be here. And really, what’s interesting, I just read that California has noticed that their tax revenues are down because all these companies are leaving. (Chuckles) Who would imagine that?
Leahy: Imagine that, Lenny. (Laughter)
Magill: The politics in California – and that’s where we really got to segue into this whole voting concept. The voting is, what, two weeks away? I guess early voting has actually started.
So it’s really important that people understand that you got to get out and vote. You got to take your time to invest in this country and make sure you vote the right way.
Leahy: It must be interesting now that you – compare what it felt like walking into the voting booth in California, when basically, whatever conservative you vote for probably doesn’t have much of a chance, and here in Tennessee, where your vote actually matters. That’s a different feeling, isn’t it?
Magill: Yes, it’s interesting. In California, people don’t realize that it is relatively a conservative state except for the major cities. You got San Francisco and Los Angeles. And really, that’s about it. Those two cities are driving the whole state. The rest of the state is very conservative.
San Diego County was pretty conservative. Orange County, pretty conservative. But those two big cities really drive it. And then you have the governor, who’s absolutely crazy. And I just think that we’re so lucky to get out of there because it’s so oppressive in California to try to run a business.
Leahy: Yes, exactly. And running a business is something at which you excel. We’ve talked about your outstanding story. Somebody’s got to write a book about your life story. (Magill chuckles) It’s just fascinating how you started out. You were a singing waiter, right?
Magill: I was a singing waiter at Farrell’s Ice Cream. Exactly. And I got very lucky that I met someone. It’s all about the people. And that’s what I think the message is. As you go through life, you’ll run into people.
And I don’t believe there are really any circumstances, or should I say coincidences, it’s really about your driving force. What do you want to do, where do you want to go?
Keeping your mind active as to what you want to be. And the people show up. And now you’ve got to take advantage of that in the sense that you got to help them accomplish why they showed up and they’ll help you go to where you want to go.
And that really was my life story. I just went, one step, one step, one step. And all of a sudden I was in the video business. I was producing a TV show for ESPN. I got into the gun business.
And now we run a pretty big and pretty rocking company. Very happy with the glockstore.com website. It’s huge. We have over two million visitors a month. It’s a big website.
Leahy: Wow! It is a rocking business, I’ll tell you. I’ve been out there, done the training there, and it’s fantastic.
Magill: You did pretty good this year. Your really first time.
Leahy: Well, it was really my first time ever.
Magill: I know.
Leahy: And I have to say that when I go there, it is so exciting to have somebody who’s really, really skilled to help show you the basics of how to shoot. And it was the first time that I’d ever shot in my life and it was really impressive.
Magill: Our ranges are different. They are rooms. They’re not lanes. We don’t shoot down lanes. They don’t have people you don’t know on either side, you’re in the room by yourself or with your partner or your friend or your wife. You can make a date out of it, actually.
But we usually will always have a trainer with you. And the concept, it’s really more like a Pilates studio versus a family fitness center. We want to make sure that you get the most out of the hour that you book. We usually book it for a half-hour or four hours. Most people do an hour.
And you come in and we challenge you. Hey, what do you want to learn? Do you want to be in self-defense or conceal carry, competition?
What do you want to do? It’s just brand new. Do you want to learn how to be comfortable with guns? We’ll take you through steps A-B-C and right up to be an expert.
Leahy: And that is exactly my experience, as the first time I ever shot a gun. I’m glad I did it at the GlockStore because now I feel much more confident in my ability to do it.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Lenny Magill” by GlockStore. Background Photo “GlockStore” by GlockStore.
Welcome to the great free state of Tennessee