For Members Who Own or Manage Retail Hockey Stores

[G.M. 0]

THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO EITHER OWN OR MANAGE A RETAIL HOCKEY STORE PLEASE

I am just curious what your opinion of THC/RBK selling hockey equipment direct to the consumer is? See it for yourself at the Reebok Store.

I know that retailers have always wondered who was going to be the first to do this and it looks like it is RBK. I always thought it would be Nike as they have had their Nike Town for many years.

Chadd? Jimmy? Very curious to hear if you had been told in advance by your THC/RBK rep that this was coming and what your opinions are.

All other store owners and/or managers, please join in.

[sogaduch 0]

for our shop we carry the mid-high end ccm/rbk stuff so i dont think this shoudl affect us and i havent heard anything from our rep yet

[Chadd 916]

I'm not surprised at all and like you, I expected it to be Nike and not RBK. I think it's only a matter of time before you have company stores in key markets.

That said, I think it is wrong and it shows they don't respect their own dealers. The largest volume comes from the mid-low end products in any market and every direct sale they make is another sale they stole from their own dealer network. I have to imagine that they never told the reps or they would be pissed about potentially losing the commissions

[Fonya 0]

I know I dont work in the industry and going against your rules but I would like to point out that the store doesn't have any of the 8k series or higher end products in that store.

[Chadd 916]

I know I dont work in the industry and going against your rules but I would like to point out that the store doesn't have any of the 8k series or higher end products in that store.

So what?

For every pair of top end skates that are sold there are 5-8 pair of lower end skates sold, maybe more. Those skates are much more important to a dealer than the top end skates.

I don't sell Vectors, but the local PIAS does. I sharpen 15 pair of Vector 3.0's for every pair of Vector pros.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Is it RBK direct or a retailer who has a deal with RBK to run their online presence? (similar to shop.NHL.com?)

It is wrong - yes, they do not sell top-end, however like Chadd said, the highest volume to be made is that price range...

[G.M. 0]

I know I dont work in the industry and going against your rules but I would like to point out that the store doesn't have any of the 8k series or higher end products in that store.

Fonya,

The fact of the matter is that the product posted on their website is the product that our stores actually make money on. The higher end products are the ones with the smaller margins that after all is said and done, RBK is the only one making money on.

[G.M. 0]

Is it RBK direct or a retailer who has a deal with RBK to run their online presence? (similar to shop.NHL.com?)

It is wrong - yes, they do not sell top-end, however like Chadd said, the highest volume to be made is that price range...

JR,

It is Reebok's website that they sell all of their products on, not just hockey.

[thunderbirds_are_go 0]

How do there prices compare to recommended retail? It would majorly suck if they where undercutting the regular retail price, but not quite so bad if they only sold at the recommended price. As for this competing with local hockey shops, I would have thought that it would only be competing with the likes of Hockey Giant and Great Skate, not your local hockey shop.

It won't affect us at all I don't think, as we're all the way down in New Zealand, so it's effectively just another online hockey store from our perspective.

[Old Goalie 0]

As of today the hockey product is no longer on their site.

[Chadd 916]

As of today the hockey product is no longer on their site.

I just heard about that a little while ago. Evidently some people within the company weren't happy about it. If that's true, I would like to commend them for taking a stand to protect their dealers.

[echi24 1]

Nike sells skates and sticks and everything at their "nike-town" stores. I've been to multiple ones, and ive seen everything from clearance v10s last year for $250 CDN to $50 nike zeroG sticks. they also had helmets, pants, gloves, but because it was the nike store, prices were generally still higher than my LHS

[prenny207 1]

well, i'd say it was more influenced by some comments from some "big" dealers!

[Old Goalie 0]

you would say? or do you know for sure?

[prenny207 1]

well, based on the pretty reliable sources that i have got in this industry, i would say i pretty much know for sure! but im only going off what ive been told.