I was always told when I first started snowboarding to stay away from stores like sports authority and dicks because they carried shit brands like lamar and others of the like.
But I have to stay, after stepping into a local sports authority for the first time in probably 5 years I was pretty surprised to see some of the brands they carried.
I seen some Rides, Rome, some pretty pricey K2's, Burtons Capitas, and even a GNU. (mostly park and all mountain)
Even their bindings were mid to high priced rides, burtons, and even a set of flows.
I'm curious if this is a new thing? Or if it varies by region, because it sure would have helped to know instead of ordering shit online and never knowing how it would feel. Especially since my area only has a couple shops that dedicated to snow and skate, and most of the time they are extremely partial to one or two brands. The only other place that has this varied of a collection in my town is zumiez...:thumbsdown:
It's not necessarily the quality of product in big chain stores, they generally have a decent range of product. The issue is the lack of quality salespeople to help you find the correct gear. The vast majority of "shop kids" working at REI, Any Mountain, Sports Chalet/Authority are clueless and the main reason to avoid stores like that in favor of smaller shops that pride themselves on customer service and being knowledgable.
support you're local shops, my local small chain place (they have 4 stores) had to close the shop closest to me, to many people buying stuff online... I was super sad to see they closed it!
The guys that work at this place know the shit their selling, they don't push you to buy something because the aren't commissioned to sell it.
What I'm saying is, shop local shops! You'll be supporting a local store and you won't be pressured into buying something you don't want.
I try to support local shops when I can but they always seem to carry one or two brands when it comes to bindings or boards, and they will always talk bad about every other brand other than the ones in their shop. At least the ones here. I will say that yes, they are loads more knowledgeable than your average salesmen at say sports authority but sometimes when they only carry one or two brands its hard not to question whether or not they believe what they are preaching. I do however buy my shades, goggles, jackets and such exclusively through local shops.:yahoo:
Oh and I second your REI comment. I remember going into REI a couple years back looking for some new pants, and I asked the gal who was trying to assist me, what the waterproof rating was of a certain pant, because it was missing a tag, and she looked at me and said. "I'm not sure. Wait, what do you mean by waterproof rating?" smh..
I try to support local shops when I can but they always seem to carry one or two brands when it comes to bindings or boards, and they will always talk bad about every other brand other than the ones in their shop. At least the ones here. I will say that yes, they are loads more knowledgeable than your average salesmen at say sports authority but sometimes when they only carry one or two brands its hard not to question whether or not they believe what they are preaching. I do however buy my shades, goggles, jackets and such exclusively through local shops.:yahoo:
You must not have a very good shop near you, my local shop has probably 50 bindings to pick from, ton's of board, a decent selection of boots, ton's of gloves and a good amount of jackets and pants to pick from
And yes, rei has a lot more stuff.... But i'd rather keep the dudes at my local shop employed than shop at a place that gets way more business.
Grand Junction. It's on the western slope of Colorado. Pop. is about 100,000 and still only one or two board shops. Our closest resort is shit so a lot of people end up making a 2 hour drive to Snowmass.
I try to shop local as much as I can, even more so with snow shops. I would much rather support a rider owned and rider employing business than throwing profits to some massive corporation. You'd be surprised what happens to the prices at your local shop when you become a regular customer too. Especially the tune prices.
Around here the high end stuff is generally not available from big boxes, corperate rei being fairly close...its rather sad that their inventory is rather limited...however they have stiff competition from some local core shops...and Z's is sad entertainment...but at least they shut up, hang their head and walk away when they realize you are an informed consumer.
Those big stores always have a few decent brands, but always the lowest end of product... A top of the line binding there is usually a Burton Custom. Sometimes they are good for buying kids gear.. I picked up a last years Burton Chopper for my daughter at half price this year... So they have their place
I think going to your local shop is always the best case scenario since they will be knowledgeable and will have high-quality gear. For that reason, I wouldn't send a new person alone into a big box place because newbies don't really know what they are looking for and wouldn't be able to tell a good board from shit.
But I will admit that I still do consider buying from the big box places from time to time. I usually pop in to see what they have for people that I'm helping get in to snowboarding and may want to invest in some gear, but don't have the money to buy new stuff. Since no-one shops at the big box places, you can get really lucky and find some amazing deals in their clearance items. When my GF first started, we found a pair of K2 bindings for her under a pile of other clearance stuff. They were from 2 seasons back, so there was a clearance discount on top of another clearance discount and they ended up being something like $30 brand new for a decent mid range binding. Since she saved a ton of dough on bindings, she was able to spend more on getting a better board.
It's kind of like going to a thrift store. You're not guaranteed to find good deals, but if you dig enough and pop in every once in a while you may find some hidden treasures.
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