We're getting our ball-bearings together! We promise!

Glad to hear of the vast changes going on as I to have to echo peacefrog's and bfile's experiences there. A place that looked soo cool yet failed to deliver on soo many things related to the consumer experience.

I will give it another go and hope the new changes are working out.
 
I use to go there a lot and spent a lot of money there. Had a membership to the grange, had a few months off from shooting and went one day. Found out my membership had expired and I asked a simple question of why no one let me know I got nothing in the mail to renew and not even a phone call. The gentleman there who was obviously much smarter then me told me that If I have a rpal I should be responsible enough to know when to renew my membership and the CFO will not remind me when my license is up. I decided I wasn't responsible enough to renew my membership and left. About a year later I was passing by as my accountant is in Stoufville. I stopped by and was helped by a friendly young man, I bought a shotgun and a few boxes of the less lethal rounds they had on display. When I got home I realized there was a shell missing from one of the boxes, he must have given me the box the sample was taken out of, I figured no worries I'll call and let them know their mistake next time I'm near there I'll stop by spend more money and pick up the missing shell. I called after getting no where with the guy who picked up the phone who practically called me a liar, I was put through to the managers voice mail left him a message and never heard from him. It wasn't a big deal to me as it was only a couple bucks but it echoed why I stopped going there in the first place and I haven't been back since. If things really have changed I look forward to it and will probably renew my membership(providing I don't have to go through the initiation phase again).
 
The previous manager Frank was a total joke, spent more time driving around in his Hummer then actually working or caring about the success of the business.
It will be very interesting to see how things are now with all the changes JR is making.

I was in last week to buy a few things, it was not busy and someone helped me out right away.
 
crashcollins said:
Glad to hear of the vast changes going on as I to have to echo peacefrog's and bfile's experiences there. A place that looked soo cool yet failed to deliver on soo many things related to the consumer experience.

I will give it another go and hope the new changes are working out.
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^my sentiments exactly. I'm an active reloader/hunter/clay shooter/rimfire-plinker...I quite literally shoot every week. I also drive down Woodbine to/from work every day...yet I don't buy a single thing from Target Sports. Instead, I drive WAY out of the way to Cabela's, Bass Pro, and a few other smaller..independent shops~all of whom seem to keep better stock, have more competitive pricing, friendlier staff who make an effort to offer good customer service. Well...maybe not Bass Pro so much... :)

Having said all of that, I do stop-in to Target Sports once a year to see if anything has changed and to be quite honest (with one exception) I've found the attitudes of the staff to be really off-putting. The one exception being an RSO who took my teenage son onto the range to try shooting handguns for the first time. She was excellent, friendly, patient, etc. Otherwise, when I got the attention of a staff member, they went from indifferent to disinterested when my inquiry was about something other than tactical guns/ammo/equipment.

I sure don't mean to be unfair to Target Sports, just the opposite. Reading their posts in this thread has inspired me to give them another try, and soon. I do hope they'll improve service, pricing, selection, website..AND..let us know whether or not their focus will remain tactical/black guns...or if they'll expand at all to sporting guns/reloading etc. I have NO problem giving all my business to them because of location alone.
 
TSE JR said:
As I am not part of the Grange club, I cannot speak publicly yet. Joining procedures need to be fast and efficient. Much more to follow on this.
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Thanks for the information, JR. As I'm sure you know, providing your clients ongoing updates like this goes a long way to retaining loyal customers as well as bringing in new faces.

I quoted the part on the Grange club because, although I know you and they are separate entities, to people who hand over the premium membership fees to Target Sports staff, you are the only faces we get to see and deal with. Both Target Sports and Grange reflect on one another (for good or bad), and the levels of communication from the Grange have been nothing short of terrible over the last few months (perhaps longer, I'm new to the club and still awaiting my CLSC after ten weeks).

I did reach out to Michael Hawke as recommended, and did finally hear back from BJ (two weeks ago), stating they would hopefully get back within one or two weeks with a course date (that time has now passed). I'm not holding my breath on that as there are others on this forum that paid a month before I did and still have not had their CLSC either. I do understand they had technical difficulties with email and their database, but even their website has not been updated since March, which is ridiculous.

Again, I do understand that the Grange club is not Target Sports and is not under your control, but it's not like there's another competing club available at Target Sports to turn to either. If there's work being done with them to get their new member processing fixed, then hopefully we can see those results soon.

As far as staff goes at Target Sports, I can say that I've never had a negative experience there with any of them, and with the renovations you have undertaken I think it will be a really superb indoor facility, so kudos on that front.
 
One option would be for JR to kick Grange Club out of their building and have a Target Sports Club (TS Club) which TS now is in control of and can take responsibility for the issues. I don't understand why it is setup like this, where TSC takes the money but then passes all the issues and responsibility over to Grange saying they are separate.

Every receipt I ever got said Target Sport Canada on it, I have no receipts with The Grange

I really think if you kick The Grange out of your building, have them take their club elsewhere and you start fresh with a new club is the best option.
 
I was in target sports last weekend (previous time was about 2 years ago) and I have to say that the changes were noticeable right away. Staff were very helpful and friendly. It was a much better shopping experience than in years past.
 
Been a member for two years and I noticed the improvements already. That being said, I didn't take issue with the attitude of the couple of guys who worked behind the counter. You see guys like that almost everywhere including on the customer side of the counterandon this forum.

Nice to see that Target Sports recently hired sassy young women who know a thing or two about guns to work the counter and as range officers.
 
TSE JR said:
OTo all,

I am very happy with the current team at Target and their collective desire to improve.

Yes, I know fully that we are not the only gun store around and that is why so many changes were made in recent months. The newly promoted GM puts more hours in the place in a week than the last guy did in a month. Unfortunately, out of loyalty to the guy, nobody told me.

Also, Julie, the GM has a very strong retail background and understands business. If you have not been there in awhile, pop by.

Pricing was also ridculous. Some items that we bought together could be found 10-20% higher in Gormley than Calgary. The team is working through the entire store to get things repriced where appropriate. If you notice a big discrepancy, let Liam the retail manager have a look.

The new website is up and it is a giant leap forward. However the webstore database is messed up significantly and we have Colin in Calgary amd Morgan in Gormley working on the issues full time.

The bays are getting a complete make over, not just lipstick on a pig. The backstops are in both bays and have just passed CFO inspection. The HVAC gets installed in 2-3 weeks. Electrical is ongoing with lighting being addressed. It is terrible in range A.

With that being said; far more calibres and firearms will soon be allowed to be used in the facility.

Issues with the interaction between the members and the facility is also being looked at seriously amd some major changes are coming into effect very soon. As I am not part of the Grange club, I cannot speak publicly yet. Joining procedures need to be fast and efficient. Much more to follow on this.

Haters I know are going to hate. Thats fine. However, no one gets into the range operations business to get rich. We love the sport and the community. It is also easy to cast stones from the sidelines. My team works really hard. All constructive critcisms will be seriously considered and acted upon.

Warm Regards,

JR
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Sorry to requote such a long post, but really everything you say there is music to my ears.... now if you could only extend the back wall back another 25-75 meters so we can have a 50-100 yard indoor range..... LOL j/k.
 
You need to fix inventory on website ASAP. Two items I was trying to buy were instock on the website. When I called in to confirm one I was told was not available and the other I was told was available. A few hours later I get an email saying my order was cancelled due to the item not being in stock.

As you are in transition I wont put you on the no shop list, but I would take a day/weekend to do inventory and update systems
 
I'm not gonna quote your response, but I'm glad to hear that you're aggressively changing the vibe in there. I know running a range/club/store can't be easy, and I am going to stop by soon. I'm looking for a new home (and ATT) close to me, and TSC is the closest. I'd really hate to have to keep driving to Silverdale (which is a great range by the way). Hoping for good things from y'all. Cheers!
 
Not planning on any firearm purchases in the near future from anyone, but it sounds like you are trying to spearhead this correctly. I wish you guys good luck. I may try making a purchase through you guys if you are more cost effective than local
 
Clvland said:
I was in target sports last weekend (previous time was about 2 years ago) and I have to say that the changes were noticeable right away. Staff were very helpful and friendly. It was a much better shopping experience than in years past.
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We hope that others like you that have not seen us in a new light, do come out and give us another try. Glad you enjoyed your visit!

- Shervin
 
frenchie_84 said:
I'm not gonna quote your response, but I'm glad to hear that you're aggressively changing the vibe in there. I know running a range/club/store can't be easy, and I am going to stop by soon. I'm looking for a new home (and ATT) close to me, and TSC is the closest. I'd really hate to have to keep driving to Silverdale (which is a great range by the way). Hoping for good things from y'all. Cheers!
Click to expand...

Come by and tell one of the staff, or myself, that you're on CGN. I'll give you the rundown on everything that goes on our club and make you feel at home. Our aim is to foster our online presence so that we build our member base with individuals here on CGN. It's win, win, if we're keeping up with the latest problems or praise that is circulating on the grapevine.

- Shervin
 
matteblack said:
You need to fix inventory on website ASAP. Two items I was trying to buy were instock on the website. When I called in to confirm one I was told was not available and the other I was told was available. A few hours later I get an email saying my order was cancelled due to the item not being in stock.

As you are in transition I wont put you on the no shop list, but I would take a day/weekend to do inventory and update systems
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We're still getting all of the kinks worked out on the website, and specifically the online store. It does not reflect what we, Target Sports Canada, have in stock at our location, but rather our parent company, The Shooting Edge, and their stock.

- Shervin
 
I will take a spin by the place again. Having read the thread and Shervins responses, it looks like there are some positive changes taking place, not just lip service. It's great having a range like this promoting shooting in this country and for that I give you 100%! For me, at this point, I'll give Target Sports another try on the retail side, you do have some nice kit, and if the pricing and service are inline with my reasonable expectations, then great, I will spend my money there.
 
I'm a full member since Jan/2015 and was there today and yesterday. Experience has been great personally with the store staff. I brought an unlicensed guest over and we were shooting within 10 minutes. One of the staffers there, Annie is always a pleasure to deal with it. One request though, can your ammo pricing be a little more competitive for members?
 
roadcarver said:
I'm a full member since Jan/2015 and was there today and yesterday. Experience has been great personally with the store staff. I brought an unlicensed guest over and we were shooting within 10 minutes. One of the staffers there, Annie is always a pleasure to deal with it. One request though, can your ammo pricing be a little more competitive for members?
Click to expand...

We are working on it.

JR
 
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