sporting goods stores

[trout whisperer]

Joe’s sporting goods
I don’t go to too many major sporting events, I’m not usually seen at the opera house and I can promise you I’ve never attended a high tea. I have been in quite a few bait stores, tackle shops and the like. And the kind I like the best, is like the little girls porridge, it has to be just right.
So what makes one right for me, well first of all, when I park, I want to be at the minnow tanks or gun racks in less then a block walk, from my car.  If I pass a dog lying on the floor next to the owner or the cash register that feels good too.
I like walking past ice fishing jigs, and wool socks each and every one of the twelve months I shop, not that I buy them in July but I like knowing if I did want to purchase them, they be there. I don’t like the stores that rush the seasons on or off the shelves. So the stores better have a lot of shelves’ and not so high I can’t see what’s on the top shelf that hasn’t sold in ten years, or hasn’t been dusted in twenty.   
I like stores where the faces of the owners or employees no matter how unshaven, don’t change. I especially like some of the workers who know what there talking about, and they work there because it’s in there blood, not just that there working there way through college, at my expense.
I don’t like stores that are to big, I don’t buy my minnows where I shop for a forty foot long RV, but I like being able to wander around the kayaks and canoes. I don’t like the perfect outdoor store to close to me either; it’s just easier on my wallet. But when I finally get there, I like being able to find all those little lost on a snag lures, my next visit im getting a few bass-o-reno’s or the lusty wench duck call I dropped in a northern bog and I like when there in stock, not back ordered or will order it for you. I go to the store because I want it now.

So I’ve decided my favorite is, and by a wide margin,  Joes Sporting Goods in St Paul, its nice to be all grown up with a wallet and a credit card, I can buy what I want, but when I walk in there doors I feel like a kid again, cuz they got it all, my second choice goes to Fisherman’s Corner just a titch north west of Duluth, the hunting-fishing chat is as thick as molasses, and I’d be real interested to know all yours. The trout whisperer

[deadeye]

I won't say anything one way or the other about Joe's, but, I do agree with all the other things you say!  Thanks for your perspective.

[sticksnstrings]

Great point!!!! bigger and betterdoes not make me want to keep coming back!! I also love the smaller "ma and pa" outfits like you said they usually know what they have and why they have it!!

Your story reminds me of when i was a pup and my dad would take me to Lac a parle refuge goose hunting  i can still remember the early mornings where they would over crowd this little garage with hunters, now this building probably would not be trusted by half the people in there to park their pickups in if it were there own.  but we would crowd in there butt to nut and wait for our numbers to be picked so we could pick out our blind for the day. I can still  almost smell the air as it would reek of beer breath, cigarettes and bacon and egg farts!! Well in recent years the DNR has built this new state of the art building (they now have indoor bathrooms) it has adaquate room to roam and you wonder if you should take off your boots upon entering. It has bright lighting and all the features one would find in their own homes.  I have not been back to often as it feels to commericialized for me. Each to his own i gues

[Onin24Eagle]

My two favorites are Glen's Army-Navy in Grand Rapids and Reed's Sporting Goods in Walker.

[stevejedlenski]

i too like reeds. it was great in brainerd until gander mtn bought it out after 3 or so years!! i now shop at fleet farm because of this. i only go to gander if i HAVE to.

[lentz]

arachery specialists
gander for ice and hunting

all but i would like a nice ice fishing store but untell then i have to use gander

i dont like cabelas very much even though its a 10 min drive

[beeker]

if I could add another "turn off" ... I hate when I walk into a store looking for something and I have to walk through 3 isles of their branded product just to find something that doesn't say "guidegear". I refuse to market for these big chain stores.

 

[Onin24Eagle]

It's an awful long drive but sometimes I have to visit the Polaris plant in Spirit Lake, Iowa for work related reasons.  When I do, I always stop in to the Berkeley outlet store when I'm there. (Berkeley's headquarters are in Spirit Lake)  Pretty much just fishing stuff but sometimes you can get some super deals.  I once bought ten lightning rods for ice fishing in one stop.  They wouldn't let me buy more than that as you were limited to 10 per day.  They were $2 a piece and retailed for about $20 up here.

[Go Big Red!]

I think we have become a society where convenience is more of a factor than anything else.  For example, I work 2 minutes from Cabelas' in Rogers and the prices are higher than other retailers.  Yet, why drive 40 min round trip to Fleet Farm, where I know they have better prices on similar items.

Pretty sad, but that the choice I make at times....