If you had direct access to each of the following retailers - POLL! PLEASE ANSWER!!

[scooter]

If you had direct access to each of the following retailers, which ONE store would you prefer to shop at?

[WOOKIE]

I say Independant Shops. Support the small guys so they will be around for a long time.

[Grunter]

I'd be all for independant retailers if they were competitive with their inventory and prices but usually they don't have the ability to do both.

I've been to SIR (IMO they're better as a catalog sales company than their actual site in Winnipeg)

I've also been to Bass Pro Shops in Texas and Cabelas in South Dakota - both were fantastic but BPS was better suited to my needs - I like to have the ability to try on, check-out and compare as much of any one type of product as possible and prefer the larger stores.

Canadian Tire, WalMart and Home Hardware are getting better and likely a great alternative for those far away from a large city centre.

To date I've personally purchased 90% of my gear and clothing from wholesale sports but they've taken a downhill turn in customer service and expertise and I've been anticipating making a change to support another business when I can.

Can't really comment on the others.

[Taxman]

After a really disappointing trip to Bass Pro, I just picked independant because although the price may be more, you will get what you want without having to drive for 2 hours to go to Bass Pro.

Have never seen Cabela's or SIR.

Mike

[Mikey]

I chose the Indys ..... Reason being is far superior service in comparison to larger "box" stores in my exp. ..... That being said ... Wholesale is the only retailer around that stock ammo for my rifle it seems anymore ..... CT is where I buy alot of generic items .... But Independant shops is where I go when I want something real special ..... Eg: My Bow String and Cables Came from a small Independant guy (Worlds Best) And they are the best I have ever used, I purchased my last set of Target Arrows from a small archery Shop(Archery Unlimited) and got the best service and advice I could ever hope for, I bought my last set of hunting arrows from another shop (Calgary Archery center) and got equally as good service ...... I made the mistake of buying a rest from a Box store once and got crappy service ....never will I make that mistake again ....

Independant stores may not have the buying power of big stores ....they might be a few more dollars for the same item .... but you will never ...ever ...in yer wildest wettest dreams will you get the same service from a box store that you would from an independant retailer ...... IMO

[leblanc822]

cabelas

[Torsten]

Hello All,

thank you for contacting me. Cabelas is one favorite of me.

Torsten

[LeGrand]

Apart from some big stores to far away for regular consideration of specialized products, sometimes not always available locally, I try to help the local independant. Our CT in my community is not well stocked, but some others are (but travel). Some big stores are also available, but sometimes lack the competitiveness, client services or knowledge of the sport of hunting.

The small independant are knowledgeable and try hard to provide the best service to their customers needs, and I believe that's important for my sense of confort as a client, even if they can't stock everything in their stores.

[Mikey]

the Thing I hate about big stores is that one week the "Optics Expert" is triing to sell ya a pair of binos ...... the next week he is the "fishing Expert" triing to tell ya what lures work work on Rainbow trout while trolling (ford fender or willow leaf in my Exp.)....and next week he in the Tent Dept. selling you a Condo on the mountain ..................

[HURYBRO3]

I would go with the local retailer :neutral:

[Tazhunter]

The big name stores (Cabela's, Bass Pro) all have bigger selections so comparison shopping is much easier there.

Being a small business owner with my own Archery shop, I would like to support more Indy's as I really find their prices competitive with the BPS's and Cab's. But again selection is usually not as big.

If I HAD to choose one I would have to say BPS as there is one near me in Auburn Hills, MI. Cabela's is priced much higher, however I do a lot of shopping in the "bargain/discontinued" area for much of my clothing. Gear-wise, it's BPS, K-mart/Wal-Mart/Meijers etc.

Often I will shop around at stores, find what I want and then hit the on-line stores. Sometimes shipping doesn't warrant the savings on-line so I will go back to the cheapest store, but whenever I can get something on-line, the cost is usually much lower and delivered directly to my house.

[russ]

I don't even consider the US shops to be in the running. I buy from Canadian stores since the savings by buying from the US are miniscule if they even exist at all.

[alpo]

saving money sometimes "lures" me into them big box stores, but their lack of personal touch & and zero commitment to patrons has always left me wishing i had stayed with the local, independant, understanding guy, who deserves a bit more cash just for listening to me.

[gaetoune]

I Guess i'm the only one that would like to deal with Le Baron... :wink:

[Kirby]

While I chose Cabelas, typically I deal with local retailers, and I do prefer them, problem being Kamloops has no archery shop, and no major outdoor stores, so I typically find myself going to the big name shops, and ordering enmase. Also, not overly familar with SIR or Lebarrons.

Kirby

[Dano]

I would have to say Cabelas! They have pretty good prices and usually very high quality products that have worked well for me in the past! I bought a great Gortex/Wool Whitetail series coat from them years ago and it stood up pretty well. In fact all the items I bought from them stand up well.

[crazymoose]

To purchase my bows and accessories in southern ontario I strongly recommend Village Archery in Pefferlaw. Doug Grimes will give you the best service and help so I vote independant. :thumbsup:

[foster13]

I enjoy the service and knowledge found at independant dealers, and if you need technical assistance it is in real time, in the flesh! nothing beats that!! ;-) ;-)

[dreggo]

I find the service & assistance provided by an independent retailer the Best.

For my one stop shopping I deal with Allan Mitchell of Battleford Bait & Tackle.

His prices are great with fast friendly service.

[Mini Moose]

I'm all for the little guy. I think the service you get at Wholesale has a lot to be desired. I have never been to Cabella's or SIR. Hope to get to the new Bass Pro Shop in Toronto sometime in the spring.

[artfulldodger62]

I would prefer to shop at Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops.

[winterwolf]

i will go to both but if im pressed for time there is a better chance cabelas will have an item in stock because of their stocking capabilities(larger) but im all for the indys as they do usually have better service

[Andy_T]

SIR has a great catalog and has been in business for over 75 years. The internet has made pricing items a joy. Now I can price the same item at Cabela's and then go to SIR and buy it for the same price but in Canadian dollars with no shipping cost. Too cool. I think Free Trade has affected sporting goods in a positive way. We don't have to pay the specialty tax that is applied to all their sporting goods and I'm finding more and more that I can buy the same items from Wholesale Sports or SIR for the exact amount they charge but in our money. I recently purchased a meat mixer at SIR. Cabela's is currently selling the exact model for $149 US plus S/H. SIR's was $147 Cdn plus GST and PST. I have found the same thing will broadheads and other archery accessories like tree stands and climbing sticks.

The one thing most Canadian stores don't have are the sales that the big stores have. Also there is a significant difference in the hunting mentality between the US and Canada. I have been to the Wal-Mart in Ottawa and the hunting selection bears no resemblance to the Wal-Mart in Ogdensburg NY only an hours drive south. If there is a 1/4 of a row devoted to hunting in Ottawa there are at least 3 full rows in the Ogdensburg store. And sales!!! Man let's not go there. Muzzy broadheads at prices no one can touch!!

A J

[Grunter]

I don't even consider the US shops to be in the running. I buy from Canadian stores since the savings by buying from the US are miniscule if they even exist at all.

Good point Russ. I actually have been using Canadian Camo for a lot of my misc. gear purchases this year and have been really happy with them.

I've also been using the local pro shop Calgary Archery Centre exclusively for my archery gear and supplies - the customer service there has been amazing and their prices are more than fair.

I don't live in Calgary so convenience is the challenge for me...

[alwayshunting]

When I purchase hunting gear its from an independent store just because of the quality and service

[Dano]

I agree both is better, the large mail order and the Ma and Pa shop. If I were to buy a bow I would go to a local pro shop due to the draw length etc... being exact measurements. On the other hand I have run into shops that sold me bows that did not fit! Never hit the sweet spot on these bows! Usually lost a bit of money there! I would have to agree with you on selection. Many times I am left to do without because I waited until a week before the season to purchase an item and the local shops are sold out.

[foster13]

sorry fella my previous thread never included the independant retailer i use is located in Liverpool , n.s. Atlantic Archery supply, he is registered as chamingca, on ebay, his bow deals are unbelievable, matthews lx for 650-675.00can. range for example

[Captainkip]

I am from a small town in northern sask, so I have to say the independent retailer. The local bow guy that I deal with is a fountian of knowledge and always willing to help. I like the one on one that I get with him and the help he will give me even when I am not buying something. He knows that if he helps me I will inturn (hopefully) buy from him. And I will everytime unless he can not provide what I want. I will always give him a chance to get what I need before going else where. I find the smaller guys will get the specialty stuff for you and share their knowledge on it because they are not limited to the "wholesale" stuff that gets sent to them that someone else in an boardroom somewhere decides that the store should sell. Its also a chance to share knowledge and experiences with them so we both learn.

I do like the walmart and canadian tire for the little things like gloves, and other cheap items when I happen to get there.

[genehuntfish]

Cabelas for sure...Great company!

[Dillershortbow]

I like the indies its more personal and i buy from 3 of them just to try and keep them in business so i have a choice lately i have been ordering from national archery in winnipeg.

[Trav]

I currently live in Grande Prairie, and I have to say the small indy shops here are, well, to be polite about it, sub par. The biggest shop here (Bartons), seems to have a smaller selection of archery products each time I go in there, and they don't seem to interested in dealing with bowhunters. The other shop (Whitetail Ridge), is defenately more stocked as far as archery products go, and Donny is very knowledgeable when it comes to bow setup and repair. However, there is a certain attitude that he seems to carry, and each time I go there I feel like I'm ignored. Several times I have gone in there wanting to purchase numerous items, willing to drop a few hundred dollars to get what I want, and because of his lack of service, I have walked out with only a few dollars worth of products. I choose Cabela's, as recently I made a fairly large purchase from them, and there was no hassles, everything I wanted was in stock, and on most of the purchases, I was able to compare a couple of different products. Not the hands on comparison I would like to have, but I was still able to get an idea of the different products availible to me. And as far as price goes, I think prices double as soon as you go north of Edmonton, so anything you get online will be cheeper, or the same price. I have also found that dealing direct with the manufacturer is a great way to go, and any that I have delt with have been very friendly, and have gone out of their way to help me get the products I wanted. A couple worth mentioning are The Heater Body Suit, Kifaru Tipi's, and Bull Pacs Pack Frames, and I highly recommend all these products. :D

[russ]

Trav, just curious did you show up at one of those shops you mentioned with a brand new bow bought from Cabela's?

[calgarychef1]

I go to wal-mart and Canadian tire a lot it seems. The can tire on mc.leaod trail is pretty good. The owner is a big time hunter type...so I think there's more emphasis on this kind of stuff. Unfortunately they have squat for bowhunting. Wal mart has tree stands for 89 bucks ...can't go wrong with that . I went to a certain bowshop last fall early in the morning I thought I'd give them the opportunity to compete on price. My thought is I'd be willing to pay maybe a hundred bucks instead of the 89 at wal mart, just to give a local guy some business. I got there and they were just arriving, I guess I was half an hour early but didnt realize it. The words out of the ladies mouth were "you're not going into the store now we're not open" I had two kids under 5 years old with me so I couldn't wait a half hour in the parking lot. Point is I drove 10 miles across town-20 miles round trip to try and let them have the business and I was treated rudely and turned away. I went back to wal-mart. I bought 3 treestands from them last year, the "little guy" lost out on 300 bucks of sales. And walmart's where I spend my bow hunting money now.

the chef

[russ]

Funny, first pro-shop I have is 100 miles away.

[Trav]

Trav, just curious did you show up at one of those shops you mentioned with a brand new bow bought from Cabela's?

Never bought my bow at Cabela's, it was purchased from one of the above mentioned pro shops. The one I bought it at doesn't really have anyone to do setups, and I was pretty much told by the owner that he doesn't have the time to be setting up everyone's bows. The other shop is where I take my bow to get work done on it, and I am very confident in the work that he does, he just fails in the customer relations department, and as such has probably lost close to $2000 in sales from me. Also because of this, I have really started to do alot of my own work on my bow, and I try to read everything I can get my hands on about fixing bows. If anything I should be thanking these guys for helping me to learn more about bows and how they work... :mrgreen:

[Travski]

Trav

IMHO when a dealer sells you the bow they should be willing to take the time to set it up proper and explain things to you about it. They should be willing to listen and talk and answer most questions for you and you should not be feeling like you are being ignored.

When I set up someones bow that they have bought from me I will set it up and try keep my customer happy. Like you said you left and it cost him money when you walked out the door. I beleive a happy customer is a customer for life, go out of the way to make them happy and they will keep coming back


Most of the smaller shops seem to be more hospitiable towards the customers. I have been in a couple of the bigger Sports shops in Edmonton and they treat you like they just want your money and nothing else. So far every archery dealer i have dealt with in Calgary, Edmonton, medicine hat, bow island etc, most are really nice to you and treat you very well.


hope your luck changes

Travis

[grizzly]

Go with the local independent dealer whenever possible. I've lived in too many small communities that lost their small businesses because everybody takes their money to the city. When that happens you have no choice, you have to travel to the larger centers to get what you need. That gets REAL inconvenient! :stop_nono

Now, if you have both in your immediate trading area, go with the the best deal. If you have a Wholesale Sports, etc. already operating and somebody wants to compete with them for the business then they have to be competitive, not just in pricing but also in service.

[crazymoose]

I live in Oshawa and when I need any archery accessories I shop at our local sports retailer,Gagnon Sports.
Their pricing is fair and the best part is they have staff that know what their talking about.
I've bought a couple of bows and more accessories that I'd tell my wife about.
I'm trying to support my local shop than the big chains like BassPro shops.
The atmosphere is friendly.

[kbowie]

I have a great experience dealing with a shop locally. He does a great job and you can try equipment before you buy and the after sales service is great. By far the best Archery shop here. Thats Big timber archery Gord does a great job !!!!!!!!
kb

[curteck]

I too would choose indy for the simple reason that to keep my money local is of gret benifit to everybody just my 2 cents

[Inconnu]

I picked indepenent, but though it is my first choice I will not deal where there is bad service
and would switch to one of the others if needs be.

[Bearcat]

I like to support the small operator because I enjoy the personal service that "Most" of them offer. When I walk into a shop to fork over large quantities of my hard earned dollars I want to feel like the person recieving it appreciates it and it's not just going to some faceless corporation who would care less if I was there or not.

[Bearcat]

I like to support the small operator because I enjoy the personal service that "Most" of them offer. When I walk into a shop to fork over large quantities of my hard earned dollars I want to feel like the person recieving it appreciates it and it's not just going to some faceless corporation who would care less if I was there or not.

I also would like to say that I do enjoy dealing with Cabelas as a mail-order shop. I find their customer service to be second-to-none and they carry the "Plus" sizes that us larger framed individual have a hard time finding.:beer_chee

[Inconnu]

Large sizes have always been a challenge for me to find as well, mostly so my shirt doesn't look like something Shania Twain would wear (I think I just made myself ill there....). This sort of confuses me as there are many larger framed guys around who hunt, yet it is hard to find clothes to fit at most outdoor stores?

[jimhenderson]

Small biz is the back bone of the north! I support it.The truth is when one needs service after the sale they cant be beat. In my opinion that is worth a couple extra dollars on the cost of the items I buy.:tongue_na

[Inconnu]

I agree with your view on small business, but as far as service goes I have to say that there are many I will not deal with anymore (not just sporting goods) due to crappy attitudes and poor after sales service and the list goes on. Canada is well known for poor customer service country wide. Those that give good service and have good customer attitude I deal with exclusively. I have been in the retail business, I know what retailers have to go through, but on this side of the counter a firendly smile, some help that doesn't include chatting with someone else on the cell phone and knowing your product, is what gets my money.:)

[Bearcat]

I think that the problem with this is that a lot of stuff as we all know is made in China now and a large framed asian man is about the same size as a 12-year old North American kid. (This is not a racist slam it is true)

[Tod Brick]

I would go to the little guys they treat you like family not a sale. The guys up in Whitecourt [Stoney Creek] don't mind if a guy just stop's for a little BS, and are more then happy to help with anything so I go independent.

[Badger]

I enjoy going someplace with plenty of selection.
Pass the word around, load up the wife's van with bowhunters and hit the road for a 3 day Cabela's road trip, and whatever other hunting type establishments we can find.

[camel]

Independant for as much as possible.all my archery equipment comes from local archery shop.If i had a cabelas close to home I would spend some money there for some things.our archery shop here doesn't have a big selection on hand but will order you what ever you need or want.just gotta wait to get it.

[mooseman]

I would have to say independent because they usually no what there talkin about but as basspro or something it could be any random pereson that just needed the job.

[Grayzer86]

gotta go with the indy guys, the shop i deal with (jo-brook in brandon manitoba) is amazing. Prices are as good or better than box store and the staff is extremely knowledgable. they all shoot and shoot well. every piece of gear i own is from there. that includes three fully decked out bows in the last two years

:D

[bearhunter09]

I would much rather shop at the little guys because you get that one on one and they want to make sure you get what you want and need as apose to large stores where you are just a number and a sale in there eyes. But one thing about the big stores they do have a huge selection of things to pick from if it be hunting, fishing or just gifts for the outdoor person who has it all, but for tech stuff you better know what you want because you can be sure the guy behind the counter selling you a bow was flipping burgers at Mc D's last week!!:stop_nono

[poil27]

yea ...the independent dealers are the best . Service wise my independent tuned my girl freind bow no question asked and she did not buyed it from his place (did not knew his shop existed at the time) , sold me exactly what i needed for my skill level and took lots of time to teach us tricks to hellp us in our quest to become bether archer. for that kind of service it's well worth the premium asked by independents.
for all of you around montreal go to l'arkteck archery on matt boulvard in brossard you will be please you did .

[cougarrr]

Indies service/knowledge is far superior to any box store.
Being new to the sport I was initially intimidated by the specialty shops but after 2 traumatizing experiences at box stores I'll never go back.
When someone who has only been shooting for 6 months & knows more than the guy behind the counter at Bass Pro is not good. (& I don't know alot!)
Wholesale only seems to want to sell you stuff you really don't need/want. Just cause I'm a girl doesn't mean I want pink camo!
Wasting time in a box store = less time hunting!

[Grayzer86]

I know three guys who bought from wholesale and all were told they are a 29 inch draw, likely so they dont have to adjust anything and just get you out the door. One guy needed a 30 inch, the other needed 28 and one guy was off a whole 1.5 inches needing a 27.5 draw. Now the guy with the 27.5 draw on his martin sabre has to fork out more cash because he never got any modules with it to change the length.

[HarryH]

I prefer local independent retailers most of the time.