Recent reports show that select grocery stores in Alabama and Oklahoma, two conservative states known for friendly legislation toward gun owners, are set to roll out vending machines from the company American Rounds. The kiosks would allow customers to purchase ammunition alongside groceries, eliminating the need for a separate trip to a gun-related or outdoor sporting goods store.
American Rounds recently shared a video on YouTube in which its CEO, Grant Magers, detailed the installation of the ammo kiosk at a Fresh Value grocery store in Pell City, Alabama. Reportedly, the citizens of Pell City enjoy their outdoor, firearm-related activities, creating a sufficient demand for easily accessible ammunition purchases on the go.
“Here’s some CEO of American rounds. We are in Pell City, Alabama, at Fresh Value grocery store installing the first-ever automated retail machine for ammunition. The stores were really the inspiration for it. I mean, they knew their customer base, and they came to us and thought this would be a really good opportunity for their customer base. There’s a lot of hunting community here in Pell City and up that their customers would love an opportunity to be able to buy ammunition here at the store,” Magers said.
Fresh Value COO Terry Stanley expressed his excitement about the grocery store offering what is likely the first ammunition vending machine of its kind. Stanely noted that Fresh Value has received immediate positive feedback from its customer base regarding the kiosk, where the grocery store seeks to meet consumer preferences and enhance the shopping experience.
“We’re super excited to offer you know what we think’s the first ammo kiosk. We’re always looking for ways to give our customer another reason to come visit our stores, anything that we can do to help them make their shopping trips easier based on the feedback that we’ve gotten just from customers today, they are so excited about us having the ammo kiosk,” the executive stated.
Mager further commented on how the innovative technology at American Rounds is fundamentally changing the consumer landscape when it comes to buying ammo. “One of the ways we’re changing the landscape of ammunition sales is to make it more available. Being able to move into a place like a grocery store, supermarket makes a lot more available to the public about we’re taking a different approach to it,” he said.
The American Rounds CEO highlighted other benefits and safety features of the kiosks. “Traditionally, ammunition is sold at outdoor type stores, you know, you’re supporting good stores, and it just sits on a shelf. It’s very accessible. Because of that, there’s a high rate of theft. But with our machines, as you can see here, we have, you know, a very secure, automated retail machine. We’re able to age verify. We scan a driver’s license and then takes 360 facial recognition for the purchase and matches it to the ID. So the machines really provide an opportunity for safe, affordable and available ammunition,” he said. Watch the video about “automated ammo retail” below:
According to reports, there are currently six locations that have the ammo kiosks in operation. Magers highlighted that American Rounds plans on expanding the artificial intelligence-powered vending machines throughout the southern United States in other states like Texas and Louisiana. “We’re really excited about where we’re going. We are going to continue to expand here in Alabama. We have a machine slated to go into Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas. So over the next year, you know, we’re looking forward to, you know, seeing these roll out from all throughout the South and the Southeast,” he said.
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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