What is the most irritating thing about your local pro shops or pro shops in general. Just doing a little market research...
They are incompetent concerning archery and they charge too much for their incompetence and equipment because they think everyone else is as ignorant as they are.
Lol Bruce!! :D I've heard It time and time again and It erks the hell out of me. I'll over hear the "expert" telling a hunter that this bow Is so fast that you can take much longer shots then ever before. One guy was telling a customer that 70 yard shots are no longer Impossible and quite capable to make while hunting. I had to walk out before I blew up on this "expert". The other thing Is selling mechanical heads to hunters who aren't set up for them. It really gets my goat when they sell these to kids. I've stepped In twice at 2 different pro shops and gave my take. Both times the kid and parent walked out with cut on contact heads.
The guy that claims to run a proshop here literally sells his customers arrows based on what he has in stock and inserts them full length because he doesn't have an arrow saw or know how to cut an arrow. He literally sent someone out the door with full length 2016 aluminums for a 70 lbs. bow with a 28" draw (that's 6 spine groups off on the chart!). I almost puked when the guy showed up at my door because he couldn't get his new bow to shoot.
They guys at my local shop are extremely pushy on cretin brands and are unwilling to help out with ideas that aren’t theirs. Case in point being that I have started looking at new bows for next year and if I ask for any info on anything other then a Hoyt they tell me that I shouldn’t even look at anything else. One of their sales men wont let me 3 steps in the door without pushing a new Hoyt on me. It’s to the point now that I don’t even want to go in there for anything. Add to that the fact that they are 10-20% higher in price then what I can get stuff for on the net and it seems like they have a revolving door for their archery tec’s. I guess the only plus I can say about them is that they are only a few miles away from home and I can get stuff I need on short notice.
I can't say my proshop is lazy because it is one guy who works over 12 hours almost every day. However he cuts corners. I bought a bow and it was tuned but not tuned to the degree that I would have liked it. My father also bought my little brother his first bow this year and there was very little tuning that went into that also. In addition, he is shooting around 45 lbs. and a 25" draw whereas I am shooting 60 lbs. with a 26" draw and we are shooting the same arrows. A lot of the things I am skeptical about with proshops are their attention to detail. The one (only one) close to me anyways.
I tell you what-you go to the big shops (bps & c & sg) you are lucky if you get somebody who gives a sh!t. Here in san antonio, there is a couple of small firms that know more than those. The "bow shop" is a mom & pop store that "fred" & "tammie" can do more with mathews & mission bows than anybody else. A friend of their's worked at bps and would constantly send customers to them when it was a probilem with a mathews. (especially the monster<as you should probably know-neither bps or c does not carry the mathews line) and they will treat you like family-nothing fancy-just good people-opa
I do all my work on my bow work, a lot of pro shops will slap a string on, tie in a peep shoot a hole thru paper at 6 feet and your on your way. 1.after installing a new string the bow should be made sure the ATA,BH,CAM LEAN. it should put in factory specs.
My new shop is amazing. I have nothing to complain about other than he doesn't have enough employees in there some times. Now my old shop, where do I start? Arrogance- These guys that worked in there acted like they were gods. No one shot better, no one killed more deer, no one knew any thing they didn't and their archery club was the only one anyone would be a part of. If you weren't a part of it and one of their buddies came in no matter how deep of a conversation you were having with them, you might as well disappeared. Knowledge-or should I say lack there of. I could really go on and on about this one but, I'll just keep it at that. Disorganization-Oh my lord, I couldn't find crap. There was no way a person could walk in, find what they wanted on there own, pay and leave. It looked like a garage full of new and used archery and bow hunting stuff. Their bows were hanging on the wall BEHIND their bow presses that were behind their counter so you had to ask to step back there and see any bows. Then there was the counter that looked like their filing cabinet threw up. Basically it was horrible. My new one couldn't be more opposite if I had designed it. It looks like the owner is a six sigma black belt. lol Organized to the highest standards, clean and most of all knows his stuff.
I bought my first 'high end" bow a mathews monster at a small pro shop dealing strickly in mathews and mission. I think the shop owner should have talked me out of it but he just threw it in my face and jumped at the sale. Needless to say I've had alot of trouble with it but on the plus side I've learned alot of things I probably wouldnt have without the complications. One thing I know for certain is that he did not properly tune it. Another issue I will have to revisit Where I'm from we have a gm and they go through alot of staff that are under experienced some of them can barely tie a peep in your string correctly. I'm thinking it would be a great idea to learn as much as I can so I can be a little more self reliant and not spend so much on sub par services.
I am rather blessed with where I am. Within 1 hour from my house I can be at 5 archery shops, 2 gander mountains, and a handful of ****s sporting goods. I have gotten to where I only deal with 1 shop. Luckily for me it is the closest to my house. Here are a few observations: Branding - They all have their brands. They push these brands. One shop I was shooting at one afternoon, had me try basically every type of bow he had. It was kind of annoying. I won't buy his brand. I don't like the way they shoot or the company. Most all shops have the mentality there is "Brand X", and there is junk. My regular shop has that mentality to a point. They will sell and support anything, they lean towards Mathews and they may give you a hard time for buying something else, but only if you're a regular. If John Smith were to come in off the street and want a Hoyt, not a Mathews, then buy all means. Techs - Most all the techs are good across the board. One shop is a know it all, and another will set your bow up to fail (shooting a 335 grain, .500 spine arrow out of a 70 pound bow to make it fast). However, the shop I go to, the techs are not product pushy and they take their time. A few other positives: If I want something and he doesn't have it, he'll get it ordered right away. The prices fall right in line with gander mountain and ****s. If something is more expensive, then he'll match the price, AND, I get to give him a hard time about it. The owner is constantly looking for new products and adding to his selection. They have big open houses and promotial days, 3D events... The shop is clean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Negative: I'm not a fan of their range. It's concrete floors, not very well lit, and the targets are older. It's very loud and echos badly. That said, we were talking and he got a ton of stuff to redo it. Camo selection sucks. I need to give him a hard time about that too. A lot can be said to a shop that is a "not so rich" part of the state and moved about 23 mathews xtremes in 2 weeks.
The place I go is awesome. In addition to all of my bowhunting needs, they sell beer, cigs, food and there is always a sweet little old lady greeting me when I walk in.
