Dick's Sporting Goods is Good Sporting
Written: Aug 27 '02 (Updated Aug 28 '02)
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I recently decided that I would get my boss a Cincinnati Bengals sweatshirt at a recent “Secret Santa” (or as I prefer to call it – EANRAB – Equally Attractive Non-Religious Alms Bearer) event. In any event, for those of you who don’t know, the Cincinnati Bengals are not exactly the most popular team in the country, and finding their gear was next to impossible in Northern California. Add to that my procrastination – I hadn’t found the sweatshirt as late as three (!) days before I was supposed to give the gift.
Imagine my delight, then, when I found that Dick’s Sporting Goods (which has stores in Ohio and elsewhere) had not only what I needed, but a few different choices at their online store at www.dickssportinggoods.com. If I recall, Dick’s was about the only on-line store I found that had what I wanted and where – their selection was just great.
The Store
The store’s front page is divided into several areas. First, there’s “Hot Items” – presumably items they want to move. There are also “top categories”, which lists popular subgroups, like “treadmills”. They also allow the shopper to browse by general category, like “apparel” and then down to subgroups from there. Finally, you can shop by brand if you know the brand you want.
The product pages don’t have a whole lot of detail on them, but there is a fair amount. There are high quality pictures for just about everything, though.
Because the online store ties to the brick and mortar stores, there is also a section on advertised specials. Interestingly, their paper sales seem to match their online sales (with free shipping on many items, no less) and they are the same in all places. This allows for a real feeling of continuity no matter how you shop.
Searching
The search engine is relatively “smart”. For example, I typed in “Bengals”, and rather than a mishmash of Bengals items, it recognized that I probably wanted Cincinnati Bengals gear, and took me to a page devoted to that team. Top items were listed there (and you can scroll page by page through every hit), and on the side I could pick all sorts of subcategories – clothes, home furnishings (!), sunglasses – you name it they had it.
If the search term doesn’t match a category, then a list (with pictures) appears, and you can scroll through the options.
Selection
Based on my limited experience, the selection appears to be unmatched. I know of nowhere else online I could easily find a Cincinnati Bengals wallet. I bet I can get better Broncos gear at this one online store than in most brick stores in Denver.
Price
I haven’t shopped at Dick’s enough to know whether their prices are great overall, but the price on the sweatshirt was very good, especially considering the rarity of it on-line. I presume that a store with 100 locations will have relatively good prices on-line as well.
Shipping
To make sure I wasn’t late, I ordered FedEx, and that was not expensive at all (another $10 or so). The item shipped the next day, and I got it a day in advance.
Special Services
I also ordered the sweatshirt giftwrapped. They did a good job here, though I think they left the pricetag on it – thankfully I was there, but this wasn’t very good. I learned my lesson about ordering giftwrapped items on-line – buyer beware.
Conclusion
All in all, Dick’s is an outstanding online sports store with great prices. I started with a Bengals sweatshirt, but now I’m off to get my Denver Broncos Leather PalmPilot case.
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Michael Risch
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 246 members
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