Dick's Sporting Goods Online - Beyond Beer and Bait.
Written: Feb 02 '02
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My middle school kid is a sports guy, so I buy loads of gear. Since I don’t live close town, I generally try to pick up things online.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is kind of a Wal-Mart of sporting goods as far as the selection, but the company has the “sporting good shop” feel as far as the customer service. That’s pretty darn impressive. It’s hard to go big-time and still be small town in mood.
Dick worked at the Army/Navy store about mid-century. His boss thought about adding fishing gear and asked Dick to come up with a “plan.” Dick worked hard on that, but his boss thought his idea was stupid. Dick spoke to his grandmother about that, and she did believe in his idea. She gave him $300 out of her cookie jar to start up on his own. His idea was to offer a good selection with good prices and to help the customer out with outdoor and sports products, and that is still the focus at Dick’s.
When you first click in at Dick’s, you may think you need to call the coach. There really are a lot of options. Don’t panic. I’m a “mom person,” and I can handle this, and you can too.
Departments are listed as well as brands. Usually I go to “sports” and look at “baseball” and then “Little League.” Sometimes Caleb has a particular brand in mind like on his cleats and ball bag. I find it works best to go into the correct department and then look by brand if I want a certain brand.
While Dick’s does have the search and that can work out, that one pulls in mega hits. Type in “kids” and get close to 2000 products. That is enough to stress me out. That can be narrowed down easily by gender pull down which is really more than just gender. You get age break down there too, so that really is helpful (but not labeled well).
If you run into problems finding things or just need to ask some questions, then call or email. You can also click on help and find a lot of great info. This is where Dick’s really stands out. The employees know what they are talking about and are nice. They don’t act like you are stupid if you don’t know what the numbers mean on bats. Back when I played, a bat was a bat. It is way more complicated now. Not a problem. The Dick’s men and women will explain that stuff.
The prices are good. They are not the lowest every time (but they are very competitive), and I did buy Caleb’s last bat at another online spot (but that online does not help out any). Since Caleb was using his birthday money, I spent the extra time to price search. He saved about $20 which is a lot for a kid. Mostly, I would just go with Dick’s, since they provide the help and decent prices too.
The only problem I’ve seen at Dick’s is the load time on pages. That may be due to the volume. The wait is not excessive, but it is slower than Fog Dog (another favorite sports space for our family). The speed is better late at night or early mornings from my experience. The extra customer service at Dick’s balances that out in my book. Fog Dog is good too, but the customer help is not up to Dick’s.
Mostly I buy baseball items for Caleb, but you can get all kinds of things at Dick’s. They have exercise equipment, game tables (like air hockey), and even two-way radios. One big section is golf, so if you golf check them out.
I’ll bet the boss at the Army/Navy store in New York wishes that he had given Dick a chance. His ideas are great and he now has over 100 stores but mostly on the east coast. If you don’t have a Dick’s nearby, then feel comfortable shopping online at Dick’s. You’ll find most everything you need at good prices, and you can get help if needed.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Cyndi
Location: out in the yard grilling
Reviews written: 1176
Trusted by: 633 members
About Me: The first and greatest commandment is, don’t let them scare you. Elmer Davis
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