Dick's Sporting Goods what are they thinking

[Crankin4Bass]

On 1/28/2020 at 10:22 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I did a case study on Walmart for my MBA.  I don't shop there under any circumstances.  It'd be interesting to see if a small M&P tackle shop could make it in MA.  Best of luck with it.

Interesting. What did you learn in your case study that makes you not want to shop there? Was it a HBS case?

[LadiMopar]

18 hours ago, schplurg said:

 

I feel sorry for the youth of today. We had beer, chicks, fishing, played football in the street, soccer, baseball, skateboards, bikes. Kids today have a phone loaded with games that let them pretend they're playing football, soccer, skateboarding and riding bikes while they get fat and stupid.

 

Oh the agony of it all...I'm of an age where we were expected to be outside the better part of the day, schools encouraged physical fitness (my grandsons are in middle school and have gym class only half the year, one day a week....ugh) and as mentioned, we had pick up games in our neighborhood.

My oldest grandson plays dek hockey, which I happily pay for, but the "rules" about how many minutes they can play makes me nuts. No player is allowed to be on the dek over 6 minutes. Poor things are tired, and must have a mandatory rest. Really?? Tired after 6 minutes? I can't ever remember feeling tired at 12-13 years old, except maybe by bedtime (another idea that appears to have faded into history) after being on the run all day out in the sun, rain, snow, heat, cold....you name it. 

Anyway, I have a rule when the kids come fishing with me...no devices of any kind are allowed once the rods come out of the truck and in the truck, they can only use their phone if it rings. 

 

As for the longevity of places like DSG, it's anybody's guess. I never find anything I want in their tiny in-store fishing department, their prices are a bit high (although they will price match, begrudgingly if you ask) and their staff (at least in my local DSG) are not very knowledgeable, nor are they very interested in helping folks. 

 

Okay, off my soapbox...sorry for the rant.

 

[PhishLI]

The DSG fishing departments in my area are OK. There's one F&S connected to DSG around here. The freshwater fishing department is great and huge. Lot's of good brands like Megabass, Jackall, and other upscale baits can be found there. New offbeat or exotic stuff pops up often. Great terminal tackle selection too. They even sell Mend-it there. Between coupons, DSG cash, flash sales, price matching, and the fact that I get bombarded with gift cards during times of giving it's a good option.

[GTN-NY]

My wife had to go return something to the mall so I took a walk through dicks just to see what was going on. Gun dept had 10 and 5 pistols left. All ammo gone. Nothing else hunting related. They have started moving a swimming dept into its place. 
Fishing dept is some what scarce. Only clearance I saw was one end cap that had “buy 5 get 5 free” but the prices were high. 

[NOC 1]

On 1/24/2020 at 8:55 AM, Crestliner2008 said:

Hard to believe, but you can all but say goodby to all the brick & mortar stores as far as fishing & hunting equipment goes.  When I use to attend the Sportsman's Show at the Eastern States Exposition grounds, we use to go to Dick's right after. They'd always have loads of gear on sale. No longer I guess.

This is sort of true.

 

I've found that there are still plenty of good private retail shops out there. There aren't any where I live and the closest decent places to me are a Cabala's and BPS about 35 miles away so I've had to buy online for quite a while now.

 

I realized a long time ago that the small shops doing good business are making it by doing business online. A large number of these smaller brick and mortar places are running stores on the Big Auction site, and there are as well as many small  non-brick and mortar shops that only exist online. Some others like Delaware here, and The Tackle Trap over at Tackle Tour attach themselves to forums like this one and provide excellent and personalized customer service this way.

 

No, it's not as good as being able to hold that Megabass rod before you buy it, but it is a whole lot better than being limited to Cheapo stuff at Wally World and once you develop a relationship with the on-line guys, you get a lot better advice and personalized service than you will get out the puddin' faced sales droids over at the BPS.

 

I'm an older guy and sure, I'd rather it like it was in 1970 when all the little shops were in high gear, but this is now and my advice is to stop looking to the accountants at the big corporations and find the fishing guys online who are just like the guys who used to run those little shops. After all, they still are the same kind of guys.

 

At least that is how I see it.

 

 

[DogBone_384]

14 hours ago, Crankin4Bass said:

What did you learn in your case study

I don't know what a HBS case is, but when Walmart expanded into Canada they bought the F.W. Woolworth Co.  They closed all the union stores and kept the non-union stores open.  They've also been convicted of not paying employees proper overtime and keeping them locked in stores after hours until their work is done.

 

Just personal preference.

[NOC 1]

46 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

I don't know what a HBS case is, but when Walmart expanded into Canada they bought the F.W. Woolworth Co.  They closed all the union stores and kept the non-union stores open.  They've also been convicted of not paying employees proper overtime and keeping them locked in stores after hours until their work is done.

 

Just personal preference.

I won't shop at Amazon if I can help it...You should take a look at their HR policies sometime if Wall-Mart bothers you..

[Crankin4Bass]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

I don't know what a HBS case is, but when Walmart expanded into Canada they bought the F.W. Woolworth Co.  They closed all the union stores and kept the non-union stores open.  They've also been convicted of not paying employees proper overtime and keeping them locked in stores after hours until their work is done.

 

Just personal preference.

HBS=Harvard Business School. They publish case write ups about companies and many MBA programs use them for students to analyze companies or industries.

 

I hear you on Walmart. Most companies and other forces are working hard to bust unions and keep wages down.

[NOC 1]

11 minutes ago, Crankin4Bass said:

 

 

I hear you on Walmart. Most companies and other forces are working hard to bust unions and keep wages down.

No one more so than Amazon.

[jimmyjoe]

2 hours ago, NOC 1 said:

stop looking to the accountants at the big corporations

   Exactly. That's what drives large chains; accounting.  They don't care what we want, they care what they can sell. If used toilet paper became the next overnight sensation, they would have no qualms about clearing out sporting goods (or anything else) and putting in several aisles of ...... well, y'know.

   And what you or I buy isn't of any importance to them. It's what millions of people across the country buy that they look at. We used to say, "Can't see the forest for the trees."  For these guys, we should say, "Can't see the trees for the forest."  

   Legality enters into it, too, but only obliquely. If it wasn't illegal to sell nuclear weapons, they'd have them in stock and on sale.

 

   Yes, I'm an old grouch.    ?       jj

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, Crankin4Bass said:

HBS=Harvard Business School.

YEAH RIGHT .... ?

[haggard]

On 1/22/2020 at 12:43 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I hope that doesn't happen here in MA.  If DSG stops selling fishing gear I'll be stuck with Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas, both of which don't have great selections and are 45 minutes, or more, away from me.

 

One local DSG was closing out their .40 S&W bulk ammo last week when I was there.  Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come.

 

There aren't any good mom & pop fishing stores near me.

 

About 1:15 away from you but there's KTP here in Kittery, Maine. Ammo shelves are usually well stocked and they have a big fishing dept (salt and fresh). I can do a reconn mission for you if there's anything specific you're wondering about before making the trip. Good selection of everyday stuff but don't carry too much higher end anymore, but usually they can special order it.

 

 

[DogBone_384]

1 minute ago, haggard said:

About 1:15 away from you but there's KTP here in Kittery, Maine.

I'm very familiar with KTP.  Love the place.  Problem is it's about $30 in gas, round trip, for me, without heavy traffic.  I can ride my M/C if I'm looking for small items I can fit in my bags.

[LadiMopar]

4 hours ago, NOC 1 said:

I'm an older guy and sure, I'd rather it like it was in 1970 when all the little shops were in high gear, but this is now and my advice is to stop looking to the accountants at the big corporations and find the fishing guys online who are just like the guys who used to run those little shops. After all, they still are the same kind of guys.

 

As one of those who managed a few of those little shops...I say thank you for remembering us. 

 

I have found a few smaller, more personal online shops and give them as  much of my business as I can. There are also a few small tackle manufacturers here in New England who get my business...but to be truthful, it's just not the same as getting a coffee, pulling up a stool and swapping stories...I sure miss that.

[collinfiske_RFC]

Dicks Sporting Goods in Burlington VT, (Williston) is still stocked with all sorts of goodies. Lake Champlain will probably keep us safe from that one. 

[haggard]

On 2/2/2020 at 6:52 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I'm very familiar with KTP.  Love the place.  Problem is it's about $30 in gas, round trip, for me, without heavy traffic.  I can ride my M/C if I'm looking for small items I can fit in my bags.

I'm under 3 miles from them so if I can ever help facilitate a purchase for you (say take advantage of an online sale and pick up in store) just let me know.

[LadiMopar]

On 2/2/2020 at 6:52 PM, DogBone_384 said:

I'm very familiar with KTP.  Love the place.  Problem is it's about $30 in gas, round trip, for me, without heavy traffic.  I can ride my M/C if I'm looking for small items I can fit in my bags.

 

You should install a couple of rod holders on the M/C, carry a couple orange flags to fly from the rods...safety first!  And maybe bolt a kayak to it like a sidecar.    

[Michigander]

I have two DSG stores near me, they both have a medium sized fishing section. It's a weird mix of higher end tackle, cheap garbage, and iCast overstock which could fit into either of the other categories depending on the particular item.

[NOC 1]

On 2/2/2020 at 7:33 PM, LadiMopar said:

 

As one of those who managed a few of those little shops...I say thank you for remembering us. 

 

I have found a few smaller, more personal online shops and give them as  much of my business as I can. There are also a few small tackle manufacturers here in New England who get my business...but to be truthful, it's just not the same as getting a coffee, pulling up a stool and swapping stories...I sure miss that.

Yep, If the weather was too bad to go fishing you could always drop by the tackle shop and argue about stuff with the regulars. Those shops would order just about anything you wanted and you got to check out the stuff that other people had ordered too. That's the way you got to check out a lot of gear that the shop might not be able to stock all the time.

 

One shop by me is still open, but the guy who ran it for 40 or so years passed away and his daughter is running it now, but not very well. I try to buy stuff there when I can, but there is never really anything there to buy. Some of the stuff hanging on the racks are left from 15-20 years ago. Sad.

[DogBone_384]

10 hours ago, LadiMopar said:

And maybe bolt a kayak to it like a sidecar.

I’ve thought of it. Problem is, I ride a BMW sport bike. It’d slow me down too much... ?

[GTN-NY]

Had some time to kill so I stopped into another dicks in Rochester (we have 3). Lots of guns ammo and fishing tackle. No sales on tackle though

[J Francho]

Which one?

[GTN-NY]

15 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Which one?

Webster

[J Francho]

I'll be out there this evening, might stop in to see what is what.  

[GTN-NY]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

I'll be out there this evening, might stop in to see what is what.  

Salesman said they had a clearance sale on lots of tackle up to 50% off and it ended this past Sun. Figures!