Dick's Sporting Goods Ad

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hokiemojo

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I was watching TV yesterday and caught an ad for Dicks. I noticed that it was specifically a hunting ad. What I thought was so funny about it was that they talked about crossbows, bow and arrows, scent blocker, and a tree stand. No mention of what has to be the biggest component of most hunters, firearms, ammo, and accessories. Are they that uncomfortable with themselves that they can't even mention that they sell these things?

Just to take it a step further, I though that maybe they might have more info in their circular. I went there to check since I've got some interest in a couple things they still carry. Nope. No mention of them. I'm not sure if I am allowed to link, but I'll tryto post it here.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/c...p_OurTopDealsThisWeekOnly_R12_C4_HuntingDeals

Notice anything missing? It really cracks me up. I know their whole history. I just can't understand why they try so hard to cling to having an "outdoors" section when they obviously with they didn't. Take care all!
 
Dick's is a golf shop that still sells guns because they still make just enough to make it worth wild for the company. I used to work for them... Their current owner, the son of the founder, is a HUGE golfer. His father was an avid hunter and all around outdoors-man. The company change quite a bit when the son took over. Today, I'd not buy from them unless I had no other viable option.
 
I know their whole history. I just can't understand why they try so hard to cling to having an "outdoors" section when they obviously with they didn't.
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Here in my State bowhunting is a very popular, growing "outdoors" sport with expanded season for deer hunting.

The Dick's Sporting Store in a nearby large city has and always had a small firearms selection.
 
You know, it might also have a lot to do with the fact that bow season comes first in most places and rifle season hasn't started yet.
 
Here in FL, golf, fitness wear, and "sport shoes", (aka sneakers) are the biggest sections in the store.

When they first opened here about 5-6 years ago, they would run pallets of Remington Gun Clubs on sale every three weeks. Now, they have a flat or two on the shelf and only recently disbanded their 3 box limit on target shotgun shells. I used to be able to get a good sale on golf gloves too (I use them for shotgun target shooting), but no more. I just go to a local golf store. Haven't been back inside in two years.
 
The Dick's stores around where I live have always had a decent selection of rifles and shotguns, though they also had the highest prices of any of the other sporting goods chain stores. The only time I went to Dick's was to buy ammo that was on sale and that's been quite a few years now.
 
hokiemojo said:
I was watching TV yesterday and caught an ad for Dicks. I noticed that it was specifically a hunting ad. What I thought was so funny about it was that they talked about crossbows, bow and arrows, scent blocker, and a tree stand. No mention of what has to be the biggest component of most hunters, firearms, ammo, and accessories. Are they that uncomfortable with themselves that they can't even mention that they sell these things?
Click to expand...


Have you seen the price of crossbows lately? Crossbows are the hottest item in the hunting industry right now, a good one costing more than a good hunting rifle and scope.....and in two years it will be obsolete, and folks feel they will need a new one that's faster and more effective, unlike that deer rifle you've been using for thirty years.

Odds are Dick's is targeting a customer base at the time of year when specific items are most popular. If there's more money to be made in archery equipment right now, this is going to be their target audience. Altho firearms and ammo may be your biggest interest, it may not be the primary interest right now of the majority of Dick's customers.

Seems many firearm enthusiasts are getting so sensitive to negative gun opinion that they tend to read it into everything outdoors. The fact remains tho, that there's a lot of outdoor recreation out there that millions of folks participate in, that does not involve the use of firearms.
 
Dick's are jerks about guns. In Colorado, they pulled all their handguns following a high profile criminal escapade. Even in Wyoming, they have the poorest selection of guns and shooting stuff of any SGS, even wally world has a better selection.
 
In many parts of the country the archery season for deer starts around this time. No surprise that is what they would target. The Dick's newspaper inserts around here are usually tailored to the seasons, so guns will probably start being featured in a couple of weeks.

I don't recall ever seeing handguns in a Dick's in Kentucky.
 
There is a Dick's in the STL area, South County, I believe. Never been in there. It's too far out of my way, and I've never heard anything about them that justifies the trip. I have seen a crossbow commercial from them on some satellite TV channel. It only mildly caught my attention, because I have little interest in that. As bows go, I've always been a recurve kind of guy.

I'm still stunned at seeing a Glock commercial, though.
 
Dicks is a knee jerk PC company and they are dead in my eyes. Wouldn't shadow their doors if they had 22lr stacked to the roof and gave out AR's and Glocks as door prizes.
 
Dick's opened a store in the Milwaukee area about a year ago, and as far as I know, it's the first one in the area. Just after it opened, I called to inquire regarding firearms, ammo, and reloading items, since I didn't want to travel to it just to find out that they had little I was interested in. I was surprised when they said they had no firearms section or reloading items.
 
Dicks in my area has recently moved two of their stores to combine with 'Field & Stream' stores. Side by side in new buildings constructed just for them. I have not visited them...as they weren't that great by themselves.
Interestingly enough, one of these was just built right across the street from Cabela's.

The 4 Dicks stores around me have never really had that great a stock of firearms or firearms stuff. They have always been oriented mainly to golf, tennis, camping, canoes/kayaks, and fishing. Not even that great of archery stock.
 
Bowhunting is popular here in CT. Here it is much easier to find places to bowhunt- much easier- than it is to hunt with firearms.
 
Robert said:
Today, I'd not buy from them unless I had no other viable option.
Click to expand...

Roger that.

X-Rap said:
Dicks is a knee jerk PC company and they are dead in my eyes. Wouldn't shadow their doors if they had 22lr stacked to the roof and gave out AR's and Glocks as door prizes.
Click to expand...

On the money. PC is their mantra. Any place else, Bass,Cabelas,Gander is preferably. Dick's is at the very bottom of a very large pile.
 
A new Dick's opened near me a few years ago and I received a $10 coupon in the mail. I went during the grand opening and figured if nothing else, I could get some shotgun shells with my coupon. I discovered that this store did not have a hunting section at all - which is the smartest thing they could have done since there are excellent locally owned sporting goods (hunting & fishing) and gun stores within 2 miles of this crappy Dick's store. I also enjoy bicycling and camping. The coupon was for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. I walked all over that store and could not find a single thing I wanted. I thought I might pick up a bag chair, but the ones they had looked so cheap and flimsy I decided I would not drag it home if they gave it to me (which is essentially what they were doing with the coupon). I left empty handed and tossed the $10 coupon in the trash when I got home. I have not been in a Dick's store since.

I can tell you from previous experience that if you find something at a Dick's store that you like, you better buy all they have. Store staff has no control over inventory and they cannot order anything for you. They get what corporate decides to send them.
 
One of the post regarding this story mentioned that Dick's and Field & Stream were being paired together and that's a fact as one owns the other and I'm not sure of the relationship. I talked to a Dick's employee here in Greensboro, N. C. and a new Field & Stream is opening here on October 8th. The employee told me that there was a relationship between the two firms and that Dick's was going to start selling handguns and this happened months ago.
 
The Dicks here seems to actively seek out employees for the gun department who would have to study guns for months to be able to have exactly Zero gun knowledge. I've only been in there a couple of times, but many of the people I work with go in there quite a bit and they don't have much nice to say about the employees. I guess the sale prices on some of the ammo can be pretty good, but I got sick of them arguing with me about what my rifles were chambered in:

"Sir, I'm sure that you have a 7mm Magnum, not 7mm Mauser because I've never heard of a 7mm Mauser."

When I asked which 7mm Magnum it would be:

"There's only one 7mm Magnum."

I pointed out the issue to the Manager and he told me that all the 7mm Magnum rounds were the same, just made by different people. 7mm Weatherby was just a 7mm Magnum made by Weatherby and would work in any 7mm Magnum rifle. Same with 7mm WSM, 7mm SAUM, and 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum. I asked about 7mm STW and he thought I was making stuff up. It must be different because it doesn't have "Magnum" in the name.

I had a similar thing happen at the Cabelas the first time I went there, but one of the other employees was able to help correct the situation and the original employee seemed open to the fact that he had a lot to learn.

Matt
 
Robert said:
Dick's is a golf shop that still sells guns because they still make just enough to make it worth wild for the company. I used to work for them... Their current owner, the son of the founder, is a HUGE golfer. His father was an avid hunter and all around outdoors-man. The company change quite a bit when the son took over. Today, I'd not buy from them unless I had no other viable option.
Click to expand...
They have good prices on golf stuff. Sometimes.
 
I'll buy from them if they have what I want and the price is right. Too many people on this site use some kind of moral yardstick or gun guy litmus test when it comes to businesses that they will patronize. They are a gun store. You can go right in there and buy guns and ammo and sometimes their prices are great. I appreciate this. I support all gun stores.
 
As stated, a replacement Dick's just went up with an internal opening to the new neighboring Field and Stream. I want to say that Dick's doesn't even sell hunting gear anymore at this location since F&S has it all. I could be wrong. Prices are better than Gander but not as good as smaller LGS or obviously on-line. 1000 rounds of UMC 115 9mm for $199 isn't terrible.
 
The Dicks near me has a pretty large selection of hunting firearms and ammo. Too bad all of it is so overpriced as to make it irreverent. I never shop there.
 
buck460XVR said:
The fact remains tho, that there's a lot of outdoor recreation out there that millions of folks participate in, that does not involve the use of firearms.
Click to expand...

OH MY GOD!!!! SAY IT ISN'T SO!

Not everything is an attack on the Second Amendment, or even an anti-hunting conspiracy.

Box stores, such as Dicks, Sport's Authority, and Mal-Warts have an extremely broad base of customers to cater to. They have to do that to be successful. As someone already pointed out, golf is probably their bread and butter, yet they also make some profit on hunting. Why should they risk alienating the largest part of their customer base, and why should we expect them to?

Should businesses and corporations even be weighing in on political issues?

Case in point: Chic-Fil-A took a stand on an issue its owners felt strongly about, and popular society clobbered them.

Dick's is trying to be all things to all people to maximize its profits and diversify its income base. All your complaining and boycotting will do is drive them out of the hunting business and you'll have one less place to shop. There are far more golfers, runners, swimmer, baseball players, etc than there are hunters.

Edit:pS: REI doesn't sell guns or camo, should we be angry with them?
 
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