What's the Deal with Sporting Goods Stores These Days

There have been several threads recently, but mostly store specific. Just wondering what everyone’s take on the industry is?

I stopped in Gander Outdoors (Forest Lake) this morning. Half the store (indoors) is now RVs. Went the the hunting section way in the back. All I wanted was a long sleeve camo shirt, preferrably wetland camo. Only found one, that was only partially camo. Very small selection and it was all in the back corner. Walked out empty handed (again).

Was at Fleet Farm 2 days ago. Normally they have a huge shotgun shell selection of steel at this time of year. Waterfowl opener is days away. Nope.. they had a very modest selection and was very, very picked over.

And with all the stuff about Cabelas I feel it’s very hard to find the gear I want. Some of the stuff I can order online, but some of the stuff you want in your hands before making a decision. Just frustrating.

Online retailers are killing the brick and mortar companies that don’t have the right management keeping a pulse of what’s good in the sporting goods world. Scheels is an example of a company that “gets it.”

Fleet Farm in Alexandria was well stocked with steel shot when I was in there on Saturday. Prices were meh…but I buy cases at a time, not boxes.

I forgot we hated Dicks Sporting Goods and went there yesterday because a website locating Benelli still thinks they are a dealer. They have NO guns. Luckily Cabelas is across the street and they had what I was looking for which was shocking as well.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Walked out empty handed (again)

Aint that the truth. Its a damn shame they dont have atleast a few Scheels in the area. I dont even bother stopping at the Woodbury Cabelas anymore. Joes is nice, with some good deals, but its just so small with the majority of it being clothes. I had never really gotten into the ordering outdoor equip. online game until this summer. Was sick of driving in and around traffic for each store to disappoint!

tornadochaser wrote:

Scheels is an example of a company that “gets it.”

Beat me to it. They have the business plan of only building a few locations nationwide each year. Sounds like its to avoid of getting to big too fast like some of the other sport retailers out there (dicks, sports authority, etc). Nice to see them expand to states outside of just the midwest- like TX, CO, and MT but not nice I’ve got to drive to Rochester to get to one! They’d KILL it if they had a few locations just outside of the metro up here. The newer, bigger one in Eden Prairie is a nice start..

Is the scheels in eden prairie open now?

Personally I spent a lot of money for a span of about 3 years not long ago and pretty much ended up buying everything I need and now I dont need to shop for too much more. Most of what’s left on my list are big ticket items like a new truck, quad, fish house…. of course I do need ammo every now and then.

To the original post I agree with others I think it’s a combination of online retailers squeezing the brick and mortar guys and mismanagement

One thing Scheels doesn’t get is live bait. I have to go in the store, go up the escalators to the back and get a scoop of minnows, then go back down and pay. Aweful design but it’s the only place in Rochester to get minnows.
Solution would have been to put the fishing section on main floor with a back door that we can get in and out if all we want is bait. Otherwise a great store.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Was at Fleet Farm 2 days ago. Normally they have a huge shotgun shell selection of steel at this time of year. Waterfowl opener is days away. Nope.. they had a very modest selection and was very, very picked over.

It was slim and picked over in early August…re-stock wasn’t much in Early September, either…Ended up finding my seasons ammo at GO across the street. Bought every single box of 2 and 3 shot Federal they had…and at a better price than FF…my bad.

I pretty much stopped going to Cabela’s and Fleet Farm for tackle. Joes sporting goods and Thorne bros usually have everything I need for fishing tackle and are well stocked. I do like Cabela’s selection of clothing but finding something in your size is a pain in the butt.

eyeguy507 wrote:

One thing Scheels doesn’t get is live bait. I have to go in the store, go up the escalators to the back and get a scoop of minnows, then go back down and pay. Aweful design but it’s the only place in Rochester to get minnows.
Solution would have been to put the fishing section on main floor with a back door that we can get in and out if all we want is bait. Otherwise a great store.

sounds like that was by design to get folks like you looking for bait to walk through the store and make an impulse buy

eyeguy507 wrote:

One thing Scheels doesn’t get is live bait. I have to go in the store, go up the escalators to the back and get a scoop of minnows, then go back down and pay. Aweful design but it’s the only place in Rochester to get minnows.

They do get it and it is a great design for them. Think of all the product you walk by to get to the bait. They are hoping you will pick up something else on your way thru.

I understand what most sporting goods stores are doing. They are packing in more items that have higher profit margins like cloths. But they are forgetting what got them where they are today. They might not make much profit on lures but I won’t be coming back into your store to look around if you don’t have a good selection of them.

@Rodwork

I understand your sentiment but what made them profitable in the past doesn’t work anymore. Stores are shrinking so retailers don’t sit on inventory and they are only carrying the highest margin, quickest turning items. They are focused on their online presence and that is where the resources and dollars are going to.

The cost to carry lures is extremely expensive. Small footprint, high dollar items that are seasonal. These are perfect for online because they can dropship from the vendor and shipping costs are low. Supply chain costs are negligible and they sell online for less discounts than in store.

I love shopping in store but that experience will continue to change as the target demographic for most sporting goods stores aren’t sportsmen from 40-60 years old.

Scheels usually has the best selection of ammo I see in person. The problem is that the closest one is an hour away in St Cloud. Hopefully the EP megastore will open pretty soon…

You guys with the time should be doing it online. Best prices and you can get what you want. I have been doing it that way for years. If you wait until the last minute you get what there is. I know it sucks and believe me I fought it for years but I got tired of compromising.

I 100% agree Matt

eyeguy507 wrote:

One thing Scheels doesn’t get is live bait. I have to go in the store, go up the escalators to the back and get a scoop of minnows, then go back down and pay. Aweful design but it’s the only place in Rochester to get minnows.
Solution would have been to put the fishing section on main floor with a back door that we can get in and out if all we want is bait. Otherwise a great store.

In Rochester, Wild Goose Sports on North Broadway, across from McDonald’s is still open and last I knew they had live bait.

Scheel’s and reeds are now my go to stores. L&M and FF can also be good but I check scheels in store and reeds online before anything else.

No one has even mentioned that they have all become clothing stores over actual sports equipment.

Maybe I got into the actual purchasing of fishing stuff late in the game but when were these so called “glory years” of outdoors retail?

I’m use to the Cabela’s, gander mountain etc. worlds of once was. I don’t hunt so no experience there but I walk the aisles on most everything and it seems there is enough options for most stuff. Is it realistic that we think a store will have absolutely everything? Idk, seems like expectations for some stuff nowadays to compete with internet is not realistic.

2 cents.

Agree with everything said on this forum. Cabelas usually has what I’m looking for around 1 ever 4 trips. Fleet Farm is usually pretty good because I know what to expect and they almost always have it in stock.

Now, I went into Capra’s the other day and I have to say they will be getting my business from now on. It’s a longer drive for me than other stores but man do they have some great selections on lures, plastics and rods especially. Now being the nasty bass fisherman that I am it was a pleasant surprise to see how much bass gear they had in stock. But an awful lot of walleye and panfish tackle as well. A lot of things you don’t find in other big brand stores.

I buy everything online.
I can sit at home click on an IDO thread about some new fangled trolling motor, ice reel, helix, marcum, rod, life jacket, kill switch, jig, crank bait, line, beer, spam then google it.
BAMM!!! it’s at the door.

Oh it definitely was better than it is now, no question. Heck, several of the guns I own were bought (long ago) at Target. Imagine walking into a Target store and finding Weaver rings and a decent scope for your Deer rifle. Or Rapalas, Berkley XL, decent Graphite rods. OK now imagine how much better Holiday or Burger Brothers or Cabela’s was. It was awesome. It was like Christmas morning every time you walked in there. The last really good store around here was Sportsman’s Warehouse (Woodbury). It was common to find what I needed in that store.

I understand the effect the Internet has had on retail. Even worse in my mind is what the brick-and-mortar stores do to themselves with the Internet. Go to store X’s web page and they have a ton of stuff, and then you go to the store and they don’t have it and never will. “We can order that for you”. Duh, I can order for myself too. Why drive over to a store to hear that? It’s ridiculous and irritating.

There are too many items I would never buy on line. Fly tying stuff, especially natural materials, needs to be seen and felt as the quality varies wildly. Clothes and boots need to be tried on. Heck, a few weeks ago we went to the new Orvis store for their grand opening. I looked at a $500 fly rod, and the wraps had giant air bubbles under the epoxy, absolutely unacceptable. I wasn’t going to cough up $500 for a fishing pole, but still if I hadn’t had a chance to look it over….

S.R.

It just seems like there’s no product manager who is actually an outdoors person…it’s all AI…programs….LOL.

Camo clothing, has to be tried on. Waders, boots, need to be tried on.

In addition to the stores I mentioned above, I drove all over town today. Sportsman’s Warehouse in Coon Rapids and Dicks (ugh) found one long sleeve camo shirt I was looking for, but not a wetland pattern I was hoping for. Bought it anyway and ordered the wetland pattern online.

Decoys are another thing hard to tell quality from a magazine or website. Looked at the very small selection in Sportsman’s Warehouse and almost contemplated buying some, but not one decoy bag in the store so I said screw it.

I am glad to hear that Scheel’s is a good store. I drive by the one being built in EP all the time and it is truly massive. I feel like a little kid thinking of all the cool stuff that will be inside, lol.

They have a ton of camo in the Baxter store

mahtofire14 wrote:

Now, I went into Capra’s the other day and I have to say they will be getting my business from now on. It’s a longer drive for me than other stores but man do they have some great selections on lures, plastics and rods especially. Now being the nasty bass fisherman that I am it was a pleasant surprise to see how much <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass gear they had in stock. But an awful lot of walleye and panfish tackle as well. A lot of things you don’t find in other big brand stores.

Agree about Capra’s. Excellent selection of tackle. Thorne Brothers is also great. Two stores that are owned and managed by fishermen.

In the last month I have been to at least half a dozen outdoor retailers looking for a new pair of brush pants. It is like trying to find a unicorn.

muskie-tim wrote:

In Rochester, Wild Goose Sports on North Broadway, across from McDonald’s is still open and last I knew they had live bait.

I haven’t been in there for over a year or since Ralph sold out but the word is that the new owner is generous with the minnows. Not certain on the hours of operations though.

Scheels I was told purchases tackle based on local demand in each of their stores and may be why there is not a lot of over-lap in in their store locations. How that demand is determined I have no idea but the Rochester store has a dandy tackle department for this region. We don’t find a ton of North Shore and Muskie tackle which is how it should be for a Rochester store but there is enough to help someone seeking it to maybe find what will work.

I think a lot of people assume that some stores simply do not carry what they’re looking for with regard to some items, like shot shells. But if they’d actually dig into the offer of “we can order it for you”, they’d find that those places would be happy to show you what you can actually get there, but just not physically stocked in that store. Shotgun shells take up a lot of room if every brand and shot size in steel and lead and heavy-shot are on the floor, plus there’s a certain amount of liability having that much live ammunition in a busy store. Plus, in today’s atmosphere of mass killings and sporting goods stores and centers responding to the public’s outcry on control if a store appear to NOT be feeding into this problem by having tons of ammunition out in plain sight the focus on them can be greatly reduced. Chances are pretty good that, say, a Scheels, can get what you want for ammunition if you order it. They simply are cutting out the need for extra seasonal space to have it on hand and the handling it requires to have it on hand.

Steve Root brings out another down side of having to order stuff, in his case a high end rod with some bubbles in the epoxy coating. Having any product in hand is generally how I like buying things so I can see exactly what I am buying. Clothes especially since so many are made over-seas. I need a 2XL coat/jacket/bibs. I swear that the sizing in some of this asian-made outdoor clothing is determined by the size of who shows up for work on a given day to act as the sizing model.

I’m pretty content with Fleet Farm and Scheels locally and every now and again Joes gets a visit. But for those who are hearing “we can order that for you” and leave the store fumed maybe you’d be surprised at what “tell me about this” might get you.

Wish I had a Scheels near me

But for those who are hearing “we can order that for you” and leave the store fumed maybe you’d be surprised at what “tell me about this” might get you.

I understand that they can get it for me, however I walked into the store to get it for myself. I can go to Google right now and order anything I want and have it to my door in a couple days, not even leaving my couch. I physically made an effort to visit your store, if it’s not there I don’t want to come back 2 days later to pick it up! Stores want my business? Dtock a reasonable selection of varying quality items, simple. Oh….AND KEEP THEM STOCKED, if you run out of an item 2 weeks into the season reorder them, empty shelves don’t make you any money! How hard is that for a manager to understand?