EvilPepe

What's most interesting to me is the difference in how CCM and Bauer seem to be treating the threat from Step. CCM will have a change in their top end steel in their new skates as well, but supposedly it is going to be a higher quality steel with a glossy polished finish...

I've heard the "Viper Skates" before as well as all the variations on Jofa. My favorite though was when we had a few Ballistik sticks (just prior to the total switch to the Combat branding). All sorts of fun with that one :p

Awesome. I'll have to go to Tampa to get them it looks like, but better than demanding relatives bring me a bag every time they come down from Jersey.

I'll play along. How do you account for the fact that a very significant population of people see a difference in how their edges feel? What about those of us who sharpen thousands of skates every year who will attest to the difference? Or that if you asked someone at Bauer about Step there is a good chance they might feign ignorance while glaring daggers at you (yes, seen this happen :p)?

I was sent two pairs of the Titanium Nitride blades to get into the hands (feet?) of some capable testers. Both are *claiming* a noticeable difference in terms of glide, but like most things I think it will take a bit more widespread use to really say. They sharpen up nice and smooth, but no surprise there given the steel that is underneath the coating. Come to think of it, the OP should be able to offer his opinion when I get him his pair next week...you reading this JJ?

Yeah, that's basically what I went with. His mom stopped just short of calling him dumb though, which was pretty funny. True, but at the very least it couldn't hurt to ask. Any time I've had the misfortune to have to go to Best Buy I usually find that I'm more knowledgeable than most of their staff, but if I have a question I still ask - once in awhile you find someone who knows something. And I don't think the kid was stupid necessarily - just pointing out a trend I've noticed more and more lately where the "random internet opinions" seem to hold more weight than a person selling the products or the experience of trying on and feeling the item for yourself.

So, I have a somewhat fitting anecdote from today... A kid comes in with his mom to look at the new Nexus stuff. I ask if they need help, he assures me that I can't help him. They've got the smartphone out, and are rifling through the various pieces of the line and checking prices against some online retailer or another. They seem shocked that the prices on the top-end stuff is the same in my store as it is online. Figuring they might be willing to buy a fair amount, I told them I'd give them a bit of a discount if they were looking at a set of the top end protective. So, they grab the sizes and models immediately (clearly homework was done). The mother asks if I would extend the discount to a new helmet. Why not. She gets this beaming look on her face like she won something... ...and the kid flips out. While standing against a backdrop of helmets that are stacked 8 feet high, he asks how he could possibly get a new helmet when he hasn't done any of the required "research" (while he gestures at me with his phone). I didn't know what I could say that wouldn't make me sound like an ass. It was then that I realized that the problem isn't that some people take the expertise of someone working in a shop (LHS or otherwise) for granted, but that maybe we've gotten to the point where it isn't even recognized to exist.

I guess that is the crux of it then - what levels of stock are sufficient to support something like that. We generally have pretty good inventory for a non-warehouse rink shop, but there is always a hole here or there at some size of some model at a certain price point. I do a lot of backpacking. In Florida, it is easier to find a good quality hockey stick than it is a quality backpack or tent (not Wally World or Sports Authority crap). There is one store within a two hour drive of me that carries a selection of such product, and they have a $30 fitting fee for backpacks (the fitting process takes just as long, if not longer, than skates typically do). I went in there recently to look at a certain pack, agreed to their fee, and ended up happy with a completely different pack (similar to you getting a completely different shoe). Another customer in there at the same time as me balked at the fee, but ultimately agreed to it, specifically pointing out that he needed it before a trip that was a week away. Turns out they didn't have anything that fit him properly (and couldn't/wouldn't get anything else in within a week), but insisted on keeping the $30. The guy walked out down $30, without a pack, and still not knowing which pack would fit him properly. I was surprised they didn't refund the guy his money, especially since they weren't comfortable telling him which pack they thought he would be best ordering. I think any kind of policy like that involves a good deal of proper judgement on the salesperson and the willingness of the owner/manager to allow for that kind of leeway.

A question for those charging a fitting fee: If you don't have the proper model/size in stock, and can't get it in a timely fashion, do you refund them money? I don't charge a fitting fee (but I rarely have problems with tire kickers), but if I did this would be something that would concern me. Also, do you have a sizable amount of people (thinking recreational skaters and beginners in particular) who walk out after having it explained to them? I don't necessarily have a point to make, only curious. We are in a rink that has a lot of "learn to" classes that happen on a rolling basis - always new people coming in looking at skates. I'd be afraid that the prospect of a $20 or $30 fee (realistically 1/4 - 1/2 the amount they wanted to spend out of the gate) would scare some people off before we could properly explain the importance of a well-fit pair of skates.

Got a good one from the past couple days... A lady comes in with her kid (goalie, squirt aged) while we are in the weeds during a tournament. She grabs one of the Tackimac grips off the wall, and proceeds to cut in front of the line to the counter and ask if someone could put it on her kid's stick for her, because she had such a hard time the last time. I explained that we could not leave the store to put the grip on (requires hot water) and that she had just cut in front of a line of 3 or 4 people. She gives me this look like I had just kicked her dog, puts the grip down, and leaves. Comes back at 6:30 AM the next day as I'm opening the door. Grabs the grip again, and again asks if I could leave the store to put it on. I explained that I couldn't leave the store because I was the only one there at that moment. Again she starts pouting, so I explained that these things usually don't dry too quickly so he wouldn't even be able to use the stick for a bit. And this is where the stupid gets stunning... She tells me her kid is done for the tournament - he got rocketed in the head in his game the previous night, and has been dizzy ever since, with dilated eyes and he has puked a couple times. She said she should "probably take him to the doctor soon." So, why is she in the rink with this kid at 6:30 in the morning? Because they won't leave until I put the friggin tackimac grip on her kid's stick. She was dead serious, and right then I realized she was crazy. I told her to get out so I could lock up and I'd be back in five minutes with the damn stick. I bring it back, and she grabs it (about thirty minutes later, after they watch a bit of a game) and proceeds to tell me how odd it is her kid got "hurt in the head" because he was wearing his brand new goalie mask that "has a cage and everything." Later the father of the goalie who was in the other net during the game tells me the kid didn't get hit with a shot, he dove on his side and the mask slipped half off, resulting in him smacking his jaw on the ice.

Wait, you mean a guy who has sharpened skates for 40 years could possibly be a crappy sharpener? Every time there is a large enough tournament in town I get "that guy" who once sharpened skates for *insert name drop here* during the '70s and thinks there are only two proper cuts - "goalie" and "regular". Anything beyond that is crap and a gimmick. Of course, every one of these guys has a team of saps who buy everything he says. Doing something wrong for 40 years doesn't make it any more right. I'd echo what JR and Jimmy have said - those complaints are unfounded. We've had it for a year or so and have about 40% off our regulars using it, and I can only think of ONE who switched back because they didn't like it. Any others that did only did so because they couldn't get used to having FBV when home, and then having to switch back to a regular hollow when on the road because they couldn't get it done after losing an edge in a game.

This one from about two months ago...(longish story) Guy buys a pair of TotalOnes from another store, and decides he doesn't like the tongues in them. He brings them to me to see if I can put new ones in (I can't remember which ones he ended up going with). I've played with the guy in the past and he is pretty upset about the tongues not working and the price he was quoted from the other store to have them replaced (they don't do them in-house but send them to someone else) - I make the mistake of trying to do something nice for a buddy and tell him I won't charge him the labor fee I normally get for tongue replacements. Of course, he wants them done yesterday. I order the tongues and have them rushed here. I install them as soon as they show up that day so he can skate that evening. He comes in, tries them, walks around a bit, says he loves them. I make a point of telling him that I may need to trim the underside of the tongue towards the toe, as it is something I usually do but didn't this time because of time constraints. "Understood. Thanks" and out the door. A week later, I get a phone call from the guy. The new tongues caused "debilitating pain" in his feet, and now he can't play for two weeks. He wants his money back, and a fresh set of different tongues he can send with the skates to someone who "knows what they are doing". Other than basically calling me an idiot, he is pretty calm at this point, so I ask a few questions. Apparently, they didn't start hurting until the start of the second period, and it was bothering him right where I said it might need trimming. I told him "no problem", bring them in and I will take care of that. Of course, I can't do anything about it, because he decided that the mid-season, low level men's league game he was playing in was so important that he actually cut (ripped, I should say) the tongues out of the boot, and I guess, played the rest of the game without tongues (and of course by the end of the game, the pain was "debilitating"). Needless to say, at this point all I can say is "I can't do anything for you." He calls me an idiot a few more times. I see him around the rink the next day, watching his team play. He is walking fine, but his arm is in a soft cast. Guess he was wearing the skate on the wrong limb the whole time

Can't speak for others, but personally I don't see anything wrong with this, really. So long as you aren't being a jackass about it and doing things like calling one store while you are in the other in order to try and haggle over prices. Stuff like that will get you in trouble with both places pretty quick and you will find you won't get a deal at either place anymore. Quite a few of my customers shop at our store and another. Without going into detail, the nature of our shop dictates we have a smaller inventory (but still a decently wide selection at most times) than the other store, but most people find we are considerably better when it comes to fitting and repair work. People make their decisions based on these things, and I understand that (and I think most shop owners and workers do).

It sucks when that happens. I've got a goalie who I've taken care of pretty damn well since he started (being a goalie and in a non-traditional area where the equipment is hard to come by, I help him out best I can) who pulled the same exact thing on me recently on some pads and a mask. I get the parents of travel players do that a fair amount, too. They have their kid try on every pair of skates in the shop, think about it for weeks, and finally buy them while at a weekend tournament somewhere else (thus not getting their association discount or free sharpening, baking, and radius if needed). I think some people who have been looking at something for awhile trying to make up their minds get to that point where they just say "F it" and make a purchase without considering it at all. *shrug*

Even with the greeting I still get QUITE a few customers who will just stare at me, or maybe grunt as they drop wet skates on the counter. The wet skates thing drives me nuts because I have tons of counter space, but rather than put it down on an open space or actually hand them to me, they will drop them on the one place that has a stack of catalogs or some other sort of paper.

That pisses me off. At my store we have a decent amount of counter space, so usually I have catalogs and whatnot at our "paper work" station. Sometimes I will be flipping through a catalog or filling out an order and have a customer walk in the door, look right at me when I say "hello", and drop their soaking wet skates onto the papers I am clearly reading or writing on. Most of the time these are the same people who don't respond when I ask what they need/what cut they would like, and instead gesture and grunt at the skates.

So, just had an interesting variation on a pretty common exchange with a [non]customer. Guy calls up on the phone, and asks if I can help him out with sticks. He explains that he is trying to buy some sticks online, but doesn't know what "size" he should get. I politely told him that I could not help him purchase items online, and suggested he come to the store and check out our stick sale. He hung up. Ten minutes later, I get another phone call. Obviously the same guy, now trying to disguise his voice. Asks if I have any elbow pads for someone *insert hight and age here*, and what size/brand they are. Again, I ask him to come in and try some on for a proper fit. *click* Not long after, another phone call. This time it is a young sounding woman. She opens up with "Umm...I had a question..." followed by hushed whispers. I clearly hear the SAME FREAKIN GUY say "ask him what the difference between hockey pants and breezers is". At this point, I'm pretty pissed. I asked her/them if they call resteraunts and ask for advice on how to make their dishes. The point was lost, so this time I hung up. You'd think in the age of caller ID people would get it.