Jason

How much more are you willing spend? I like shopping locally but sometimes they make it hard. I bought a pair of Electric eg2s online for $8x shipped. A local store wanted $140 for the same goggles. I'm looking to get a new helmet, online $60 shipped, locally $100.

Those are two different shops I go to and other local places are pretty much the same.

killclimbz

I use local shops every time for boots. Without a doubt. Boards, it will depend, but more often than not it's a shop purchase. Outwear, I am 50/50. Goggles and gloves I mostly buy online, because the deals are just too good for the most part.

Helmets, are another 50/50 purchase.

You might try going to your local guys and let them know the deals you have found and ask if they will match, meet you half way or something. I prefer to buy from my local shops, but with huge price differences, sometimes it just doesn't make sense. I also find that a lot of them will discount a fair amount to get your business. It doesn't hurt to ask.

BurtonAvenger

Local guy all the way keeps my money in the local economy, supports my friends, supports grass roots events, if I break some shit on the hill I know I can ride down to the shop have it fixed and be back on the mountain in no time. Online doesn't remember me as a person just an order number.

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Angry Snowboarder Because someone has to call it how they see it!

backstop13

local shop for sure.

Any savings you gain by buying online are lost in customer service and ease of repair/replacement. Plus, as previously mentioned, there's nothing better than supporting your local guy running a shop and supporting his family.

As a bonus, I've become good friends with some of the shop workers and have gone riding with them on their off days just due to hanging out in the shops and spending my money there.

03SVTCobra

I always buy online. Usually wherever the sales are. There is no decent local shop in the area. The shops around her suck and are usually way overpriced.

ThunderChunky

Don't by from the shop very often. It's filled with douchebags. I don't see why people stress local shops and then flame people for buying Mervin for the same reasons they buy locally.

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Argo

QFT....I look around locally first and can usually find what I want or have it ordered by one of the locals. When you stick local, on a regular basis, most will give you some sort of hook up. if for some reason I can't find it in a shop between Edwards and breckenridge I will look online for the best deal. Over the years I have made Friends with a few company owners and they just give me pro form discount codes since between my wife, son and I we go through some gear..... Plus we all love shopping and buying.


The key is not to get all bent out of shape because the won't come off their price by $20 to match an online store. Get over it and buy local, it works out for the better in the end. When my son is riding on his own and something happens to his gear, he can walk in to 3-4 different shops and they will help him fix it or give him a new one that I can settle up with later...... For a good deal. This rolls into summer sports now too like mountain biking and long boarding.....

henry06x

Unforunately not everyone has this opportunity to "just suck it up and buy local", or the means to do so. Snowboarding can be an expensive hobby and if you overspend $20 on this, $10 on that, $50+ on that new deck a site just dropped the price on the extra cash will add up super quick! And that shop owner that is hooking you up because he likes you isn't going to hook up everyone that shops his place for everything. That's bad for his buisness if he does. Also if you break something and your local shop is a licensed dealer of that particular brand they will still usually help you out and I know that with first hand experiance.
Dont get me wrong, I'm all for trying to shop local if I can afford to do so and the pay difference isn't outrageous. It's no different than shopping at Walmart vrs a local store, or a Walgreens vrs a local drug store. Witch I would be willing to bet most of you do.

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2011 Academy Propaganda Rev - 2012 Rome 390 Boss
2012 Never Summer SL 2012 - Ride Capo

snowklinger

Sorry but your argument is bullshit for the simple fact that this is a first world sport. If you can afford to do it at all, you can afford to support local business, period.

The long term benefits of shopping local not only support the sport and your community, but will add up to actual savings in your pocketbook through shipping, bro deals, insider trading, etc, everyone has already explained this to you in the thread.

Walmart is not niche adventure sport retail, comparing the two is silly at best.

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is it late october yet?

henry06x

I think the manner that you wrote this reply really needs to be fallowed up with a rant...
Enjoy!

And again I will state that I am not against supporting local shop, but if you cant afford to there is no reason you have to.

Snowboarding can be found all over the world. I believe the stat I just looked up still holds china at 60% a third world country, yet they still had some competitors snowboarding in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Also most of your other third world countries are found in environments and regions that are unsuitable for winter sports in general. I find it hard to believe that a place such as Mexico would have a strong stable training facility for snowboarding.... I suppose it does reach down to as far as the 70's during the day during winter.

Even so saying that snowboarding is a "first world sport" in no way means that since you can afford to snowboard you can afford to support local shops. I can admit I am a bit of a gear whore but I do a lot of stuff to help me accomplish this and I will give examples for my savings to afford my obsession since I do not make an abundant amount of money. I own a house, 2 cars, and a dog.
First savings is for my season pass. I purchase this through a ski club for a high school that my sister works at. Savings aprox $85
Second savings is a snowboard. I like to try and buy a new board every year or two to replace one in my current collection. I have an all mountain board, more park oriented board that I keep tuned, and another park/jib oriented board I keep de-tuned and is slightly smaller. I have only ever bought a brand new board once while still living at home. I normally buy my board towards the end of the current season when sales hit, or beginning of the next season. I always find the sales hit the web before my local hills shop (they do not carry any brands I like anyways). When the sales do hit local I can never find the size or exact thing I am looking for and I can still usually save more online. Savings buying online are usually $50+
Third savings is outerwear and probably my biggest savings. I buy most of my outerwear on oakleyvault.com and save big. I never buy brand new outerwear and if I wait and look for it at my local shop (they do have a good selection), by time the prices drop I can still find it cheaper online. They are also almost always sold out of my size or color way I wanted. Last year I saved over $350 on the jacket, pants, and gloves that I ordered on oakley vault.
Bindings I usually use until I deem them warn out and buy last year model online. again at my local shop they have limited brands and are usually sold out of any of the good models by time the prices drop and still cost more than online. Last year however I did really want the new RIDE Capo binding and bought them brand new. I did not buy them at my local shop because they only carry Rome, Burton, and Solomon bindings or I would have.
Boots I wear until they fall apart and I always buy brand new because if I wait until the prices drop they are usually out of my size. I tend to try and go to a local place (and by local good shop I mean 2+ hours from me because I live in Ohio) so that I can try on different sizes to get my fit.
These are just starters. I rarely ever drive alone to ride so I can split gas. I put money in a separate account all year to save for my Colorado trip. Last year I took an 8 day trip. I flew with a buddy and rented a car that we split, stayed with people for free that I had never met before or talked to in my life for 4 days who also hooked us up with a half price passes one day. then the next 4 days I stayed with my uncle in the place they rented and was aloud to stay for free. This is just so I could afford to fly out, eat, ride, and enjoy the amazing mountains of Colorado even in the crap snow conditions of last year. This alone saved me who knows how much money.
If I did not do what I need to save and only bought local I would NEVER be able to afford what I have simply put. I have been working over time the past 7 weeks straight saving for a new pair of boots and if I can save $20 someplace else I probably will. If I had the money to spend then sure I have no problem supporting some place local.

As for your long term benefits that is in no way a guarantee. Simply because you shop at the same local shop does not mean they will grow to like you enough to give you kick backs and big savings. If they do however, how much extra money do you believe you have spent before this finally happens? How much gear do you think you really need to buy before the owner all the sudden says "WOW does he buy a lot of his shit at my store... Maybe I should give him a break on something."??

As for the walmart comparison maybe given scope of size it was not a perfect choice but they do share similarities. I hear this debate all the time around me. People proclaim "you should never shop at walmart you need to support your local grocery store! Support your local economy!" and people reply "I cant afford to pay the extra $x amount a week it costs not to.". You still will have your "walmarts" of the snowboarding world that people will buy from and save more than a local shop can afford to offer everyone. Your The-house.com, Proboardshop.com, Evo.com, Easternboarder.com, Eternalsnow.com... These places, like walmart, can push way more product than the smaller guys and can afford to take a little less profit per sale and still make more in the long run. Also most of these big name sites have a very low minimum you need to spend for free shipping.
end rant.

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2011 Academy Propaganda Rev - 2012 Rome 390 Boss
2012 Never Summer SL 2012 - Ride Capo