Local Sporting Goods supplier

[Hal]

This is an e-mail which I sent to Sportsman's Warehouse about their failure to support our kids
in last weeks "Crackerfest". It will be interesting to see if we get a response from them!.........Hal

I would like a response to this letter.
Please be advised that many of the sportsmen & women in and around the Chattanooga area are very upset with the actions of Sportsman's Warehouse.
Each year we have an informal fishing contest for the kids of the area. We call this "The Crackerfest" and all kids of all ages are invited.
In order to make this an exciting event for the children we solicit prizes and donations from local sports businesses.
For two consecutive years our organizers have contacted our local Sportsman's Warehouse to solicit a prize or prizes for the kids in this event. Both years the organizers have been told that the manager who takes care of such requests was "in a meeting" and would give us a call. The call never came, in other words we were "blown off".
Many who are very interested in the future of the sport of fishing and getting the younger generation interested in our sport are having second thoughts of supporting a business which does not support such a great cause. Many of us buy from Sportsman's Warehouse as our biggest supplier of outdoors equipment and now are considering other options.
Even Wal-Mart gave several gift cards and I would think Wal-Mart is bigger than Sportsman's and would be harder to get support from but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Thank you for your time and awaiting your response........Hal Perry

 

[bassfisher17]

Let us know the response.

 

[jrloganrn]

Pending on their response I will support smaller sports dealers and internet anything else I can't get locally.

 

[Guest]

Hal, please let us know what you find out, we might be waiting a long time if my guess is right. I'll bet if you told the store that Bill Dance or some other pro fisherman was wanting to see the store the manager would mysteriously appear.</p>

 

[beetlespin]

Just another reason to hate that place. I wish we could get a good sporting goods chain here. I buy all of my stuff from Soddy Custom Tackle. They seem to be good guys. If they don't have it I get it online. I don't even like to go to Sportsmans. They have five billion lures but never what you want.

 

[drumking]

For you guys on the east side of the river, please consider Hamilton Sports Shop. They have always supported the kids and if they don't have it, they will order it from BPS for you. Orders are usually placed each Monday and are in by Thursday or Friday. And they pay the shipping costs. They are very friendly and accomodating. They may be a few pennies higher than SW, but I'm willing to pay the difference to support someone who supports the kids. emoGeezer

 

[SpurHunter]

Thanks for doing this Hal. I wrote them as well on monday, but no word back yet. I will be supporting the smaller locals as much as I can.

 

[Guest]

"What about the little man?"...............emoGeezer

 

[JSV]

Just a reminder and another Thank You to the ones which have continued to help with the kids event.</p><p style="">Please use these stores and let them know you appreciate their support!</p><p style="">Hamilton's Sporting-goods on Hwy 58 for donating for the third year!!!</p>

Soddy Bait and Tackle for donating for the third year!!!</p>

Fish-n-Fun for donating for the second year!!!</p>

Grant's Sporting Goods <b />(in Dalton<b />) for jumping on board and donating!!</p><p style="">Wal-Mart stores <b />( Gunberrell: Signal Mtn.:Tiftonia and OOltewah<b />)!!!</p>

 

[foodsaver]

Sportsmans has supported stuff for CFF in the past. I know that they have been generous at the picnic and am suprised that they weren't involved in crackerfest. James Rhodes is the store manager who would be the one making the final call on whether to donate or not his email is [email protected]. I am interested to see what response you get Hal.

 

[SpurHunter]

I just got a call from Jim, and spoke at-length with him. I believe that he really wants to work with the CFF members in the future. There was obviously some miss-communication, we may have been asking the wrong folks when contacting them?

</p>

I am impressed that he took the time to call, and also offer to come to our next CFF function and work towards support for future events. </p>

 

[Hal]

SpurHunter - 5/16/2008 1:56 PM



I just got a call from Jim, and spoke at-length with him. I believe that he really wants to work with the CFF members in the future. There was obviously some miss-communication, we may have been asking the wrong folks when contacting them?

</p>

I am impressed that he took the time to call, and also offer to come to our next CFF function and work towards support for future events. </p>

I too got a call form Mr. Rhodes this afternoon. It seems that pointed e-mails do get results. Mr. Rhodes did indicate that Sportsman's wants to work with the CFF members but there was no guarantee that they would donate to the "Crackerfest" next year although I did ask.
After something like this happens I'm a "wait and see" kind'a guy and although I won't go so far as to say I won't go back in their store, I will be checking out those who did support our cause for the kids in the future for my fishing/sporting needs.
During the conversation this afternoon there seemed to be a certain amount of "hot water wiggling", possibly from heat from higher up!
Mr. Rhodes did say that he would like to have further communications with us to explain that they do support other activities which are aimed at kids enjoyment of outdoor sports.
He suggested that he would like to come to a CFF meeting to give his point of view but that will have to be handled by someone with more athority than me.
At least we got their attention and I'm sure they do not want to loose the business of, perhaps, hundreds of local and "just out of town" buyers of their products.
I will say that advertising pens and caps won't do to help our "Crackerfest" cause for the kids prizes. Most of the younger kids could care less about a printed ad on a pen or cap so better is a must.
We'll wait and see what they come up with if anything.

Thanks for all the good words from all who made comments about my e-mail. It was just something that I felt should be said................... ...................Hal

 

[Buoy-Master]

Glad you got that reply back Hal. Maybe he could make it to our picnic this year and see what a community we have here! </p>

 

[electrofisher]

Way to go spur and hall thanks ! I'm glad you guys got them talking and that sportsmanswarehouse is missing a great opportunity to bless a few kids and grow a lot of customers.....

 

[Fish Hunter]

beetlespin - 5/16/2008 8:02 AM

Just another reason to hate that place. I wish we could get a good sporting goods chain here. I buy all of my stuff from Soddy Custom Tackle. They seem to be good guys. If they don't have it I get it online. I don't even like to go to Sportsmans. They have five billion lures but never what you want.

Ditto that!

 

[honkytonker26]

drumking - 5/16/2008 8:09 AM

For you guys on the east side of the river, please consider Hamilton Sports Shop. They have always supported the kids and if they don't have it, they will order it from BPS for you. Orders are usually placed each Monday and are in by Thursday or Friday. And they pay the shipping costs. They are very friendly and accomodating. They may be a few pennies higher than SW, but I'm willing to pay the difference to support someone who supports the kids. emoGeezer

I second that emotion!

 

[tso]

As many of you know Sportsman's Warehouse is one of my sponsors, so take what I am about to say as you will.

Long before they sponsored my radio show, I have seen Sportsman's donate thousands of dollars to local events, including several kids programs. So shop there or not, it's your choice, but you can not fault them for what they give the community and I think it is unfair to trash a business just because they do not support your particular event.

I also find it interesting that Jim Rhodes called two of the people complaining above, I think that is enough said about his character.

And for the guy that said Jim was feeling pressure from the top, I do not think so. After dealing for nearly a year with Sportsman's Warehouse and Jim Rhodes on a handshake, he was doing what Jim does best. Approaching an issue head on, not hiding from anything.

 

[hl&s]

I've shopped at Sportsman's since they have opened and have always been treated courteous, found items to be fair priced, and store employees willing to answer my questions and help me find what I wanted. I'm glad Chattanooga has a store that carries so many brands of fishing and hunting supplies.

No retailer can support ALL local events.

 

[beetlespin]

I must admit that I bought a new Humminbird 787c2 out there today. The boy in fishing was very helpful while my 5 and 6 year old boys ran around throwing stuff in the floor!

 

[Spooner]

I have shopped at Sportsman's Warehouse since they opened two years ago. Many times I have gone in and have seen Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, RMEF, Ducks Unlimited, and other connservation groups uisng Sportsman's Warehouse space. I also know that the store sponsors many children's events. For one to say the things the thread-weaver did here is not called for...without meeting the group at the store face to face, without hearing their side, you may have jeporidized not only CFF contributions in the future but other worthwhile causes. They have contributed to CFF before; maybe the contact from CFF previously was a little more tactful in their request for a donation than the person 'requiring' a donation now. Go figure...squeaky wheel gets the grease..not in this case....Spooner