Sportsmans Warehouse

[Mojoman]

Once again its a shop that has its uses but you need to know what you are looking for.

[NINER_boy]

If you buy a bike from a shop like Sportsmans Warehouse, you qualify under the following:

1. Someone who buys a TV from a blind man
   
2. Someone who buys Hi Def audio equipment from a deaf man
   
3. Eating steak at Fish-Aways
   

Come now, really...

[divernick]

Walked in a SW a few months ago. Was looking at prices for darts and dart boards. I also looked at the cycling kit. They were insanely expensive compared to any of the LBS in my area.

 

Shops like SW is proof that people in South Africa don't know how to shop for the best price.

 

It's proof that many South Africans don't know that cycling is a specialist sport, like scuba or skydiving. Is it ignorance or stupidity?

 

Anyways, I was at Makro the other day and for a laugh I was browsing through their bike stuff and overheard a couple in their late thirties discussing buying a MTB there for him....I really should have helped them with some friendly advice, but I felt too sorry for them after hearing that this bike wouldn't fit in the boot of the merc cos it didn't have those wheel-wingnut goodies.....lol

[Bateleur1]

It's proof that many South Africans don't know that cycling is a specialist sport, like scuba or skydiving. Is it ignorance or stupidity?

 

Anyways, I was at Makro the other day and for a laugh I was browsing through their bike stuff and overheard a couple in their late thirties discussing buying a MTB there for him....I really should have helped them with some friendly advice, but I felt too sorry for them after hearing that this bike wouldn't fit in the boot of the merc cos it didn't have those wheel-wingnut goodies.....lol

 

In my book it is stupidity. You should do a bit of homework to make sure you don't get screwed through your wallet. Especially if it is involving something you do not know much about. Then again some people just have so much money the couldn't care less.

[Big H*]

If you buy a bike from a shop like Sportsmans Warehouse, you qualify under the following:

1. Someone who buys a TV from a blind man
   
2. Someone who buys Hi Def audio equipment from a deaf man
   
3. Eating steak at Fish-Aways
   

Come now, really...

 

Cause they do not sell twenty naainers ......mmmmmm?

[Clinton1]

Shops like SW is proof that people in South Africa don't know how to shop for the best price.

 

Incredible Corruption is another perfect example of this. I can't believe their prices.

[NotSoBigBen]

Bikes are a growth market and SW see the chance to rip off some uninformed newbies.

 

And that's different to other 'bike chain stores'

[Clinton1]

It's proof that many South Africans don't know that cycling is a specialist sport, like scuba or skydiving. Is it ignorance or stupidity?

 

Anyways, I was at Makro the other day and for a laugh I was browsing through their bike stuff and overheard a couple in their late thirties discussing buying a MTB there for him....I really should have helped them with some friendly advice, but I felt too sorry for them after hearing that this bike wouldn't fit in the boot of the merc cos it didn't have those wheel-wingnut goodies.....lol

 

Dude, it's like with anything, whether it be sport or recreation, until you get into it and do a little research you are easily lead astray. Hell, before I "got into" mountain biking I too was easily fooled into seeing a front folk with shocks and thinking that this must be the real deal.

 

Think anything. Golf clubs. Know nothing and as long as it has nine irons and a few woods you assume this must be a mamba set of clubs. Or those Vaalies who come to Durbs on holiday and buy themselves those luminous baggies because they are somehow fooled into thinking that is how surfers dress.

 

Unfortunately there are huge markets that prey on these folk. They manufacture "replicas" of the real deals and sell them to the masses.

[slowmo2]

The more the merrier

[Lucky Luke.]

last time i went to sportsmans warehouse the oke tried to convince me that the cycling pants were unisex......wonder how many chaps are now riding around in girls cycling pants?.......i dont shop there anymore

 

I asked for a pilates ball. The assistant didn't know what it was. They were 20 meters away. About 3 shelves full of them. Not his section apparently.

[Azonic]

The only thing I buy from SW is their house brand wax chain lube. Much like Squirt, bigger bottle though and cheaper.

[NINER_boy]

Cause they do not sell twenty naainers ......mmmmmm?

 

Mmmaybe, but I'm not telling

 

Oh yes, maybe they don't sell 29ers because the guys at SW thinks a bike is a bike

[DJR]

I don't buy bikes from them, but on more than 1 occasion they have saved the day with smalls like tubes or patches because of their longer business hours over weekends. Try finding something like that from your lbs on a Sunday afternoon.

[mazambaan]

But SW performs a vaguely useful function. You gasp at the price of something at your LBS, go SW, see same and nearly faint. You then return to buy at LBS feeling justified. A kind of placebo lube for the nether regions.

[pezulu]

Sportsmans Warehouse, Outdoor Warehouse, Game, Makro and Dions Wired are all part of MassMart Stores, and as such sell much of the same stuff.

People tend to think that because they are a large retail store their prices should be lower than your average bike shop.

 

This it nominally true, as walking into your LBS, and comparing prices of the bikes with what you can buy at any of the MassMart stores.

Then gain some knowledge, and compare the prices again.

What you at first thought to be a prohibitively expensive bike at your LBS is suddnely not so expensive compared to the bike standing at Sportsmans Warehouse, where you will have to upgrade all the components to get a comparable bike.

 

Because they are a large retail store, they have huge overheads, which have to be paid for by someone. That someone is you, the buyer.

They might get a better discount from a manufacturer, but because they have such high overhead costs, there is no saving passed on to the customer, as they have to levy higher mark-ups to cover those overheads.

 

Their staff are normally also not trained in the various specialities available in-store, and it is often only through self study that you will get a salesperson that has any useable knowledge regarding their items on sale.

 

We went the same route when my son first showed an interest in cycling. We visited a LBS, had one look at the prices, and ran away screaming in terror.

A visit to Game, Makro and Sporsmans Warehouse, and we bought him a "mountain bike."

A week later we had to take the bike back, as the back wheel was wobbling so much it threatened to throw him off the bike. They exchanged that bike, and two more, before we decided we wanted our money back, and we went back to the LBS.

 

After speaking to some of the personnel at the LBS we bought a second hand bike at the LBS for the same price as a new bike at Makro, which we still thought was expensive, until we realised that we had not had to take the bike back to the store to have any wobblies, shakes, rattles or snaps repaired in over 3 months.

From there it was a slow learning curve finding out all about the various thingamabobs, whatitsnames and thingamajigs that make a bike not just a bike, but a racing machine.

 

We still don't know it all, and probably never will, but at least now when we walk into a Sportsmans Warehouse we can laugh inwardly at the pearls of wisdom that a salesperson will drop to try and entice us into parting with our hard earned money on something that we know he has no clue about.

[shaper]

Happened to be passing SW in fourways today, so popped in to see. Did not have to go far as right at the door were about 50 bikes, a full range of 26 and 29ers, both hardtail and dual. Merida, Schwinn and Trek as well as their previous brands. Some with a R25K price tag and looked like they were in the process of revamping the whole cycling area.