Scheel's = :-) Dick's = :-(

This weekend I tried to find new volleyball shoes because my old ones have been worn out. After checking online at Dick's Sporting Goods' web site, I decided to go out to Westroads because it was a much shorter drive than the one out to Scheel's at Village Pointe (a note to the people who keep putting random the random "e" on the end of all the shopping malls to make them trendy: It's not cool. It's annoying and it looks dumb). I arrived at Dick's and I wasn't sure if they were really open because the windows in the front of the store is filled with an enormous display and the doors' windows were tinted. But, they were still open, so I went in. Their shoe department takes up and entire wall on the first floor of the store. I was thinking that surely they would have several options to pick from (as I've always had good luck in the Lincoln Scheel's store) given the appearance of the large selection. I looked for a few minutes and couldn't seem to find any volleyball shoes. So, I had to go track down a sales person. I found that there were actually very few of them in the store. When I finally found someone to help me, she pointed me at four shoes on at the very bottom of one row (two different styles in two different colors). I can understand putting them towards the bottom as it's not volleyball season, but they weren't even labeled. I think they were under the heading "running" rather than even "court" or something similar. So, I asked to try on my size in the two styles. She went in the back and came out, handing me a 1/2 size smaller than the size I asked for while telling me "We don't have anything in your size or any of the three larger sizes. We've had these shoes out for a long time and we're out of stock on almost all of them." I was nice and I simply said no thanks, but seriously folks, what kind of sales person tells you that you should have come earlier (yes, weeks earlier) to buy something that isn't even in season, somehow implying that it's your fault they can't sell you something you actually want to buy. Wouldn't you order more stock if you were sold out of several sizes and you still had the shoes on display? Regardless, I left to go find a different store that would hopefully carry volleyball shoes. I tried Lady Foot Locker and Finish Line, but no luck. On the way back out, I decided to stop in Trade Home on the off chance they might have something. They only had two styles of shoes and I ended up buying a pair of Adidas ones, but I wasn't sure I liked them. Plus, they didn't have my size in red, so I settled for blue and it just wasn't quite as satisfying. Because I had the shoes, I picked up a pair of kneepads from Dick's on the way out (although it was somewhat difficult to find that particular section of the store much less an employee to point me in a direction).

After having some time to think about my purchase, I decided to give Sheels a call and see what they had in stock. The shoes I had picked up didn't feel like volleyball shoes as much as basketball shoes tweaked and then called volleyball shoes. I had really been hoping for a pair of Mizuno shoes I had seen online, but neither of the stores I visited on Sunday had them. Plus, I wasn't very happy with the price of the kneepads ($25! -- the last time I bought kneepads, I could have sworn they were closer to $15). When I talked with the salesperson at Scheels, I asked how many styles of volleyball shoes they had in stock and if they had my size in the shoe. He checked and not only did they have five styles (plus some with multiple colors), they had my size in all but one style. So, last night, I returned the merchandise I had purchased on Sunday. I tried on the pair of Mizuno shoes I had initially seen online. They fit very well, plus they were $15 cheaper than the other shoes I had purchased before. Then, I found the same pair of kneepads I had bought at Dick's and purchased those for $18 rather than $25.

So, lesson learned this week: I felt like Dick's would rather focus on looking cool than selling someone something. Their employees seemed much less interested in selling anything than standing in obscure places and talking with other employees. Also, it appeared that they had a lot of merchandise, but it was just much more spread out than the merchandise at Scheels, but the stores did feel close to the same size when I walked across them. Scheels has lower prices, more involved employees, more merchandise, and better prices. Plus, you can actually buy their merchandise because they stock it, rather than taunting you on the little shoe shelves (those things are somewhat weird). After my experience with Dick's, I would liken it to the "Best Buy" of sports equipment and I don't plan on going there again if I can help it.