Dear Dick's,
I have been a loyal Dick's customer now for well over 25 years. I regularly have shopped at your stores in Binghamton, NY. I started shopping at Dick's on Court Street many years ago when my uncle, who owned a farm near Binghamton recommended your store to me. I shop at Dick's primarily for firearms, ammunition, hunting accessories and fishing supplies. Until a few years ago, you unquestionably were the best retailer of these items I had ever encountered. Over the years though, your stores have changed. You sell less hunting accessories and less fishing supplies now, and more things for other sports. You also no longer sell any handguns.
Over those same years, your staff has become somewhat cool, if not antagonistic, toward the firearms enthusiast, hunter and, fisherman. This goes even for your original store on Court Street. It has detracted somewhat from the pleasure of doing business at your stores. Yet, even if not the best - as you once were, I usually have found what you sell to be a fairly good selection of the things in which I am interested - of course with the exception of handguns. Because you maintain a fair to good stock of items, and because not all of your salespeople seem discourteous to the firearms, hunting, fishing enthusiast – some remain very courteous, I keep returning to your stores time and time again.
My patronage of your stores once however very pleasurable, may soon come to an end. I recently visited your store at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City New York. This store used to be a Galyan's. I visited there yesterday and, I was shocked to see that the once poorly stocked shelves of Galyan's were now even worse off now that the store was a Dick's Sporting Goods store.
I shopped in the gun department only to find the area around the gun counter chocked full of fishing rod displays. This was strange as the section is quite a distance from the gun section yet it was so cluttered by fishing rod displays as to make it difficult to get to the gun counter. I was also pretty surprised to see that the rifle racks were about 1/2 empty. When I tried to inquire about a firearm with a salesman (who was apparently a retained Galyan's employee) we were interrupted by a manager who demanded to know why the clerk had not been answering the phone. When he explained because it had not rung recently (and I can attest to that after waiting for help for 10 minutes and hearing no phone) the manager took out a cell phone and dialed the number of the phone at the counter to hear it ring. She then started an argument with the clerk - this in front of me and my son and interrupting my inquiry. No excuse me sir, no pardon me folks, no sorry but I have to take care of this; she just talked in a nasty tone of voice to the salesclerk, implied he was a liar, then she stormed off in a huff.
The clerk just walked away from me and helped another customer as if he had totally forgotten about me. I was not involved in the encounter at all, but had been trying to order a rifle, a Ruger 10/22 All Weather which other Dick's stores sell regularly. It turned out when I finally got help I was told all the rifles that currently were in stock were all that would be stocked; no more could be ordered. I left quite disappointed.
I looked around at the aisles and the shelves and I was again disappointed. The aisles were in disarray. Empty boxes littering the floors, displays askew and out of place, many nearly empty shelves. I also went to the show department and found items all around on the floor. I could not believe this was a Dick's Sporting Goods Store.
I am hopeful that this mess was due to the store recently taking over Galyan's but, I am none too sure of this since, said store has been under the Dick's name for a while now. Hopefully you can do something to improve customer service and the quality and quantity of your stock at this store and other stores. Maybe it is time for you to remember who were your first customers and, maybe it is time to remember who were the customers that made you so successful over the years. They would be primarily those who were among other things: firearms, hunting and fishing enthusiasts. I am not saying to forget your other customers, but we deserve at least just as good as the others get. Nylon running shorts, T-Shirts, running shoes, seem to be overflowing the shelves – how about putting some more emphasis back into the firearms, hunting and fishing goods along with a bit more courteous customer service from your salesclerks.
Best regards,
Glenn Bartley
