"Call for Price"

[pizzakid13 5]

in places where you have one, than yeah. not all of us are in canada or minnesota.

[Chadd 916]

in places where you have one, than yeah. not all of us are in canada or minnesota.

A lot of people never give local shops a chance anymore. I don't know how many times I talked to guys who bitched about how overpriced local shops were, then paid more online. Then my favorite are the ones who brag about how they know more than the people working in shops and are dead wrong about most of what they say. As you say, not every employee in a local shop is good. When you find a guy who is good, make sure you support him/her.

[jimmy 194]

It is good and noble to say support your local hockey shop but that is not practical for everyone. Many of us live in areas were going to a local hockey shop for help with hockey gear is like going to CompUSA for real computer advice.

The shops near me hire kids who are barely out of high school and have very little skill and expertise. They do shoddy work and don't stand behind their products and workmanship. Worst of all, many of them have a piss poor attitude.

For me it is not about price. I would love to have a good local hockey shop to support and I would gladly pay a premium for good service and workmanship but that doesn't exist around here. If the LHSs don't add value and expertise to your buying experience they are not worth the time, arrgravation and hassle when I can better product advice on MSH and better service and selection from an online dealer.

Sad but true. The constant preaching about supporting your local hockey shop is getting old.

Please tell us where you live. It's very "convienent" to use the "my hockey shop sucks" excuse. We can go thru the archives and find MANY folks that are just trying to bypass the LHS to get a good deal. They even post threads like, "Best online prices". Someone even just posted, "List of online stores". Yup, he just went to his LHS and could get the "service". Not!

On the other hand, if you are not getting good service from your LHS, have you ever asked to speak with the owner. I'm sure he/she would much rather correct the situation than for you to get your "free" advice on MSH and give a nameless online store the sale instead.

[David13 0]

I know some sites such as icewarehouse.com and i beleive thehockeyshop.com will say call for price but if you choose the options size/color and whatnot and hit add to basket as if you were going to buy it then go to view basket it will list a price under total.

[hockeyherb 1]

for those of us in non-hockey towns, the internet is crucial. in phoenix, we have a couple LHS but the selection is extremely weak. at my rink, the former practice facility for the yotes, it is small and carries very little. they give us 10% off equipment and 20% off soft goods which is great, but they dont carry all brands and the ones they do carry are very limited models.

Amen brutha. Here in Austin there is one place in town to buy hockey equipment and it's the local pro shop. They're good guys and I didn't find their prices much higher than online so I like to support them as much as possible, but if I want to try something other than Bauer (or a couple other small lines they carry) I can't shop there.

I understand their position of course, there probably aren't more than a few hundred adult hockey players in town anyway. One guy on my hockey team said a guy he knows is going to open another shop in town though. Makes me wonder if this town is big enough for the two of them...

[sogaduch 0]

I can somewhat understand the idea of an online hockey shop but picture this though, think of what your parents do for a living and if there in sales or insurance and they made money from helping people in there store but then a store was made online that sold just what your parents work sold but at a much lower price im sure you would be abit upset because your parents may not make the same amount they used to make before and cant afford to get you stuff you used to be able to get. the onlin stores hurt the lil shops and doesnt allow them to grow. im sure if there was no internet there would be a few more shops in places in the states that may have 1-2 stores right now. Granted im in toronto and whenever i hear about kids buying stuff online when you live in a big hockey city where theres hockey shops all around i find it somewhat funny, also with an online store you dont get the joy of coming into a shop and talking to people and get there advice.

[pizzakid13 5]

i'd kill for one of those great shops with almost every item made. trying on all the elbow pads instead of just the 2 models available. and being able to try on all the skates!

[devilsrule711 0]

for those of us in non-hockey towns, the internet is crucial. in phoenix, we have a couple LHS but the selection is extremely weak. at my rink, the former practice facility for the yotes, it is small and carries very little. they give us 10% off equipment and 20% off soft goods which is great, but they dont carry all brands and the ones they do carry are very limited models.

Amen brutha. Here in Austin there is one place in town to buy hockey equipment and it's the local pro shop. They're good guys and I didn't find their prices much higher than online so I like to support them as much as possible, but if I want to try something other than Bauer (or a couple other small lines they carry) I can't shop there.

I understand their position of course, there probably aren't more than a few hundred adult hockey players in town anyway. One guy on my hockey team said a guy he knows is going to open another shop in town though. Makes me wonder if this town is big enough for the two of them...

well if you're both in that situation like me (one shop has not a single composite anything for instance) ask the guys to order what you want for you if youre really serious about buying it thats what the guy at one of my LHS does and pizza kid if the give you a discount why not ask them to order it for you

[DarkStar50 679]

well if you're both in that situation like me (one shop has not a single composite anything for instance) ask the guys to order what you want for you if youre really serious about buying it thats what the guy at one of my LHS does and pizza kid if the give you a discount why not ask them to order it for you

Half the the time Gary makes you wait and wait for something you could find elsewhere quicker. Plus all he ever does is trash all the other rinks and shops in the area. From Day 1 he said no way our area could ever support a 4 rink building. He couldn't even keep his shop open in a 1 rink building. Why do you support a shop/owner like that?

[DarkStar50 679]

SRI,

Those guys should never have been in business to begin with! When guys like Jimmy and myself have fully stocked shops with inventory $$$ in the ......., then we can get up on the soapbox if the online guys piss us off. For all the MSHers out there with no decent LHS close by, I have no problem with you going online. I do it for fly fishing equipment, if need be. I'm two hours from the river where the LFS(local fly shop) is, so..... I just find it a shame that MSHers get screwed by these online guys with mismatched product, factory seconds/blems and then the online store still gets to act like a hero. Throw in the time on the phone to straighten out the online problem and its just nuts. But right now, I'm working on Easton product pricing at retail so I can't get started... Hey, this Stealth CNT Grip costs me how much??!!!! Why, thats a rip-off!! And I pay wholesale!!!

[Jim A 4]

a good shop is a good shop, whether it be online or your LHS

as there are plenty of crappy LHS there are just as many online one's that don't get it..

I was at the StarCenter in Farmer's Branch the other day, they have 1 pair of Vapor XV gloves in a JR size, and a pair of SDP Pro, that's it! It seems to be run on the notion that Stars jerseys, tape, sharpening and laces are what's needed.

[hockeyherb 1]

Amen brutha.  Here in Austin there is one place in town to buy hockey equipment and it's the local pro shop.  They're good guys and I didn't find their prices much higher than online so I like to support them as much as possible, but if I want to try something other than Bauer (or a couple other small lines they carry) I can't shop there.

I understand their position of course, there probably aren't more than a few hundred adult hockey players in town anyway.  One guy on my hockey team said a guy he knows is going to open another shop in town though.  Makes me wonder if this town is big enough for the two of them...

I assume you're talking about Chaparral Ice. When I was a rep in Texas, he was the only account to see in Austin, other than the Ice Bats. From there, I'd drive to Houston, where you have Wilkie's store in Spring (The Hockey Stop), or the Aerodromes (which have now split into two ownership groups).

Sometimes you have to look other places.

Exactly, which is why I'm taking advantage of being back in Calgary this week and found a couple of good local shops thanks to other MSHers who were willing to offer up their advice. Without this board I probably would have had to visit several shops before finding good ones or possibly never make it to them if they're not spending lots of money on yellow page ads or internet ads.

[devilsrule711 0]

well if you're both in that situation like me (one shop has not a single composite anything for instance) ask the guys to order what you want for you if youre really serious about buying it thats what the guy at one of my LHS does and pizza kid if the give you a discount why not ask them to order it for you

Half the the time Gary makes you wait and wait for something you could find elsewhere quicker. Plus all he ever does is trash all the other rinks and shops in the area. From Day 1 he said no way our area could ever support a 4 rink building. He couldn't even keep his shop open in a 1 rink building. Why do you support a shop/owner like that?

when did he have a shop in a rink?

but im not the one who likes gary my dad does cause he got him a good deal on used goalie equipment and some glice time

granted he does do a good sharpening and has the demo MIAs but other than that he just sells and buys used equipment and what he has new is way over priced like hes selling Vapor XXX for like over $500 i think and has not a single nice stick except some sherwood fetherlites and a graf shaft thats been sitting there since god knows when

I only go to get skates sharpened cause its 5 min from my house and thats it if i gotta getr soemthing then i either go to your shop or if need be go online

and prbably the reason he got the huge thing of glice in the back was because he was going down hill

[NuggyBuggy 0]

I can somewhat understand the idea of an online hockey shop but picture this though, think of what your parents do for a living and if there in sales or insurance and they made money from helping people in there store but then a store was made online that sold just what your parents work sold but at a much lower price im sure you would be abit upset because your parents may not make the same amount they used to make before and cant afford to get you stuff you used to be able to get. the onlin stores hurt the lil shops and doesnt allow them to grow. im sure if there was no internet there would be a few more shops in places in the states that may have 1-2 stores right now. Granted im in toronto and whenever i hear about kids buying stuff online when you live in a big hockey city where theres hockey shops all around i find it somewhat funny, also with an online store you dont get the joy of coming into a shop and talking to people and get there advice.

Sure, shopping online for hockey equipment hurts the local shops. Just like buying books from Amazon hurts small local booksellers, downloading music from iTunes or Gnutella hurts local CD stores, and ordering computers from Dell hurts local computer stores. The Internet is here to stay, and so is online shopping. Customers will buy online if it is not worth their while to patronize the local store, so it is up to the people in the business to make sure that is not the case. Don't give me a sob story about how I should feel bad for your parents who aren't making as much money as they were before the Internet. I don't care. I also don't care whether Annie in shipping at HockeyMonkey has a job or not.

All I care about is whether I get more value from shopping locally vs buying online after considering price, driving time, shipping, brokerage, selection, advice, after-sales support, snotty attitudes from store workers, etc. If I do, then I'll buy at the LHS. If I don't, I'll go to another store or I will buy it online.

[DarkStar50 679]

devilsrule,

Gary used to run the hole in the wall pro shop at mackay in Englewood.

[devilsrule711 0]

o ok that makes sense so thats why his team plays there

and FYI he was replaced by a vending machine

[DarkStar50 679]

o ok that makes sense so thats why his team plays there

and FYI he was replaced by a vending machine

I'm sure the vending machine keeps better inventory than he ever did. I think Gary orders tape by the roll.

[devilsrule711 0]

o ok that makes sense so thats why his team plays there

and FYI he was replaced by a vending machine

I'm sure the vending machine keeps better inventory than he ever did. I think Gary orders tape by the roll.

i dont think anyone uses it but he is good for buying old crap that you dont need which is perfect for me so then i can use the credit and add it towards my MIAs

[jimmy 194]

SRI, No flames, just good honest discussions. :D

But what do you think the reasons are that some LHS's have nothing in their store? Here's a couple.....

* manufacturers refuse to let them sell their stuff. (Caused by a poor distribution strategy or from undue influence from bigger clients). So if your store is not stocking a particular line of equipment you want, complain to the manufacturer, ask them to sell equipment to your LHS. Believe me, the store owner want to sell it.

* Not enough cash flow. Customers have to spend money locally (not online) When a store owner can make money and knows it's coming in on a regular basis, they will take more risk and order more equipment.

[Docter Pepper 0]

for those of us in non-hockey towns, the internet is crucial. in phoenix, we have a couple LHS but the selection is extremely weak. at my rink, the former practice facility for the yotes, it is small and carries very little. they give us 10% off equipment and 20% off soft goods which is great, but they dont carry all brands and the ones they do carry are very limited models.

Phoenix, AZ? I was there the last 2 weekends and went to Behind The Mask in Chandler and Phoenix. They had a fine selection. What were they lacking? Both stores had about 60 pairs of gloves, one had 4 racks of sticks, lots of elbow pads and pants. If anything their skate selection was light, but they still had about 10-20 different pairs. Hell, up in Flagstaff we have nothing. Play It Again Sports closed down in the fall. All we have is the rink which does skate sharpenings and tape/laces sales. Be grateful for what you have there.

[DarkStar50 679]

Considering this is the time of year when inventory is lowest(I'm waiting for booking orders to be shipped), most shops will look lean. Wait a few more weeks and then you will see a difference in inventory.

[jimmy 194]

jimmy,

I just hoped you understood where I was going with my points, which you did.

These stores that I spoke about earlier have been some of both Bauer's and CCM's firsts, so, I don't think it isn't that they won't sell to them.

I can understand these stores not wanting to carry Mission, TPS, smaller specialty brands like Eagle, but, to not carry Easton, Bauer, some CCM/RbK, just baffles me.

As far as not having enough cash flow, well, when you have nothing in store to sell, then the cash flow won't be there. Now they find theirselves in a bind and behind the 8-ball on whether they can/should bring stuff in and whether or not their shop will ever recover. It is in these smaller towns where many players have no choice but to order online.

It's way more complex than can be explained here. For me, it's a combination of being shut out by certain manufacturers who were "influenced" to shut me out by some of their "bigger" accounts in my area. Fair, nope. Still, I would stock and sell their stuff in a heartbeat. The other issue is online stores, not necessarily the competition, because I can compete fairly close through most of the year. But if I stock too much variety, at the end of the season I will have a lot in stock . Then when approx 90% of what's in my store is discontinued by the manufacturers, the online sites can really lowball the closeouts. When they do this, I'm stuck with basically worthless inventory and I loose my shorts. They sell them for way less than my cost. So, you don't want to get caught with too much.

[pizzakid13 5]

well if you're both in that situation like me (one shop has not a single composite anything for instance) ask the guys to order what you want for you if youre really serious about buying it thats what the guy at one of my LHS does and pizza kid if the give you a discount why not ask them to order it for you

i think we all feel comfortable in knowing that we could order something not available at our LHS. it is the trying on, the selection that matters. when you are looking to get new skates at todays prices, you need a wide variety to try on. not 3!

[pizzakid13 5]

for those of us in non-hockey towns, the internet is crucial. in phoenix, we have a couple LHS but the selection is extremely weak. at my rink, the former practice facility for the yotes, it is small and carries very little. they give us 10% off equipment and 20% off soft goods which is great, but they dont carry all brands and the ones they do carry are very limited models.

Phoenix, AZ? I was there the last 2 weekends and went to Behind The Mask in Chandler and Phoenix. They had a fine selection. What were they lacking? Both stores had about 60 pairs of gloves, one had 4 racks of sticks, lots of elbow pads and pants. If anything their skate selection was light, but they still had about 10-20 different pairs. Hell, up in Flagstaff we have nothing. Play It Again Sports closed down in the fall. All we have is the rink which does skate sharpenings and tape/laces sales. Be grateful for what you have there.

thats an hour from my house. but since you gave them a good review, i could take a ride.

[Docter Pepper 0]

Behind the Mask has 3 locations: Peoria, Phoenix, and Chandler. I haven't been to the Peoria one. The phx ones seemed to have a bigger selection than the chandler one. you can check them out online too. www.behindthemask.com