Where To Buy One's Hunting Needs - Sport Shop - Big Name Super Store?

Nico77 said:
I find Al Flaherty's Outdoor Store in Toronto consistently has the lowest online prices for the guns and ammo that I'm looking for (9 mm, 5.56 NATO, .223 Rem, .308 Win, 12 gauge). I buy at the store, so don't have to factor in shipping costs.

In my experience, the staff's knowledge and quality of service is "generally" good. Occasional exceptions.
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I do 75% of my shopping at Al's because of the prices but find at least half of the staff will lie to your face just to make a sale. One or two guys have been great but they aren't always around. Bullseye London is worse. That said I just do better research before I head out to buy anything. When I catch a guy lying to me I say thanks and go buy my item at another store.

Cabelas in Barrie is pretty bad as well. Last time I bought a rifle there, and it will be the last time due to this, the rifle sales manager took my license and made a copy of it when I bought an SKS. When I asked about this he told me he had to check to see if it was real?!? Back-door registration much?

At least at CT and WM I know they guy behind the counter probably doesn't know anything, and I usually only pick up sale ammo, but once in a while they surprise me. That is of course if I can find the kid with the key to begin with...

L8r,
Zen
 
Zen_Seeker said:
I do 75% of my shopping at Al's because of the prices but find at least half of the staff will lie to your face just to make a sale. One or two guys have been great but they aren't always around. Bullseye London is worse. That said I just do better research before I head out to buy anything. When I catch a guy lying to me I say thanks and go buy my item at another store.
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L8r,
Zen
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I spend a lot of time buried in the back, so I sometimes miss what happens at the counter, but if you ever have an issue with that please send us an email with some specifics so we can bring it up with the staff. My policy on things has always been not to make anything up, if I don't know something I'll tell you to your face. Please send us a PM or email about the issue so we can address it.

- token_irish
 
The city of 100,000 people that I recently moved from, has never been able to keep a firearms specialty store open long term, because the same people that will spend thousands of dollars on chrome or wheels for their jacked up $80,000 truck, won't spend an extra $1 for a box of centerfire ammunition, or a pound of powder. The result is, there is no store selling firearms or reloading components in the city, and the only places to purchase ammunition are Walmart and Canadian Tire. So for the people that reload, we are stuck paying shipping for components, or driving 270km to buy them, which in the end costs a lot more than paying a bit extra to by these things locally.
 
Al Flaherty's said:
I spend a lot of time buried in the back, so I sometimes miss what happens at the counter, but if you ever have an issue with that please send us an email with some specifics so we can bring it up with the staff. My policy on things has always been not to make anything up, if I don't know something I'll tell you to your face. Please send us a PM or email about the issue so we can address it.

- token_irish
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As I'm not sure who you are send me a PM with your first name and description and well go from there. Not including the owner and his wife I've spoken with 5 or 6 other counter people over the last year alone. (Sorry, I'm good with faces not names.)
 
I usually only go somewhere to buy something if I already know what I want. So honestly, the service I receive is about the same from store to store.

Sure supporting a small business is nice, but larger businesses have better prices and selection.
 
ronecol said:
Shopping at a local sporting goods retailer the other day and purchased 2 boxes Win .30.30 170 gr Power-Points @ 23.99ea + tx and a Plano Pistol Case @ 14.99 + tx. Total expenditure: $71.15. Later the same day I'm at Big Name Super Store on another matter but I take a walk into the sporting goods area. So there's the same ammo @ 19.97 per box and the Plano pistol case @ 9.95. A quick calculation and if I had made my purchase at Big Name Super Store it would have been 56.35 or a savings of $14.80 which is over %20.

So the dilemma... There's lots to be said for supporting the sports shop and they are far better stocked with a greater variety. However, to pay %20 more for the exact same stuff doesn't sit well. I think another time I'll check at Big Name Super Store first.
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It shouldn't sit well - overpaying to a local store isn't "helping" them out. I am a loyal customer to WSS (despite how reviled they seem to be here on CGN). There is a LGS in town but his prices are unbelievable so I generally don't buy much at the store and spend my dollars at WSS. My philosophy is that if you want to get into business than you should be prepared to run it properly, if you are bringing in stock at non-competitive prices than you should be prepared to sit on the stock until demand warrants those prices. For me loyalty means that all things being equal (i.e. price and service) I will give my business to the LGS. I think the time and gas to go out of your way to support an LGS is all you owe them DEFINITELY not more money for the same good.
 
Glock4ever said:
It shouldn't sit well - overpaying to a local store isn't "helping" them out. I am a loyal customer to WSS (despite how reviled they seem to be here on CGN). There is a LGS in town but his prices are unbelievable so I generally don't buy much at the store and spend my dollars at WSS. My philosophy is that if you want to get into business than you should be prepared to run it properly, if you are bringing in stock at non-competitive prices than you should be prepared to sit on the stock until demand warrants those prices. For me loyalty means that all things being equal (i.e. price and service) I will give my business to the LGS. I think the time and gas to go out of your way to support an LGS is all you owe them DEFINITELY not more money for the same good.
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What if that LGS is the only store that sells firearms and reloading supplies for 400km? Would you pay a bit more just to have it available locally?
 
stubblejumper said:
What if that LGS is the only store that sells firearms and reloading supplies for 400km? Would you pay a bit more just to have it available locally?
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Price is not the primary factor for how I shop but it is a factor I consider. I am a big supporter of small business and wherever possible I will support small business over big business. That being said this doesn't give a small business owner a license to not properly business plan and sell things locally at competitive prices. In my city there are three big business companies that sell firearms related stuff - Walmart, Canadian Tire and Wholesale Sports. If a small business can't bring items that these three are stocking at the same price as these three, they obviously didn't do their market study correctly and will likely go out of business whether I throw money at them or not. So why would I waste my money on them? They are a business not a charity. Despite what people will say about LGS - actions speak louder than words. A good example is the recent thread in the hunting rifles forum. There is over 35 pages of posts regarding the $399.99 Weatherby Vanguard at WSS. Guaranteed that a few people on there that bought a vanguard who probably slagged WSS at some point or "vowed" they would never go there again because of the crappy service and would "only" support their LGS.

To answer your question, my answer would be "yes" but I would caveat it with "as long as they are also somewhat competitive with the I-Net pricing". I will generally be more ambivalent to a brick and mortar store because I realize they have overhead costs that a warehouse/i-net business may not so I put a lot of value in the "somewhat" portion. The problem with some of the LGS that I have encountered is the "bit more" part. There is a world of difference between say paying $38/lb of powder and $60/lb of powder. I also find that while some LGS are loyal to their customer base, others are not. When we had a 22LR shortage here, I know that the prices went astronomically high with the local LGS vice the big business that sold at same prices to gouge a few extra bucks. Doesn't seem like much a relationship to me.
 
Al Flaherty's said:
Will do
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Today I was at Al Flaherty's to return some defective Sightmark items. One of which was handled poorly months back buy a young counter person. They didn't know I'd be coming, or who I was, but this time I spoke with Sam whom I've come to see as one of the more helpful and understanding staff. Within minutes he reviewed the two items, confirmed my issues, and refunded my money. That simple. Just as it should be. No shrugging me off or telling me to go back to the vendor again.

As it turns out they got to keep my money, and another $100 on top of that, as I bought a gong with stand and a Benelli Tri-Rail.

This combination of lower prices AND proper customer service is what I look for in a store and Al's have done that. The change of staff they just had should also improve things for other who had issues with some staff in the past.

Thanks for doing the right thing even though you didn't know who I was at the time!

Zen
 
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