Got my latest email from this lot today. Offering all sorts of wonderous discounts and savings. Great, I think, needing a pair of trail trainers and maybe a Gilet for my wife’s birthday. So I follow the link, Salomon Speedcross 2 advertised as £45. Beauty! Oh they aren’t in stock in any sizes, not available for home delivery, only via reserve and collect in store. But not at my local shop. Suggests I just need to pop down the road to Wakefield. Or Coventry. From Edinburgh….handy!

Unsubscribed. What a joke…

sports direct.. you may be surprised at the shoes they have on offer!

Not the best experience agreed but they’re a lot better than many retailers. Their price match is very handy – picked up quite a few bits at Merlin/CRC prices without having to wait for delivery.

It is what it is. The nearest one to me is Coventry, and they often have quite a lot of good stuff in (Montane etc.) at pretty good prices. As you’d expect, sometimes they’re low on some styles/sizes and I expect what they have varies widely between stores, but that’s the flipside of their model I suppose.

That said, I don’t really like the shops- the Halfords of outdoor shops I suppose. I’m not all misty-eyed about LBS-type shops staffed by keen riders/climbers etc., but you get the impression they could just as well be selling tins of beans for all they know or care about it.

Aye – for trainers and such like few will match sports direct for price.

jruk – it’d be merlin/crc prices plus 10% off.

I think they are pretty good. The staff are moronic and don’t know shit all about anything…but the stock is often alright and cheap.

Echo the above – you want cheap kit, it is ace. You want advice, knowledge, great service etc, then use a proper shop.

If you want bog standard cheapo camping stuff its good, sometimes they have killer deals on quality kit, but I always prefer going to Outside / Accelerate for any specialist gear.

I did get a killer deal on a price match though, but their branch in Sheffield is pants, none of the staff are serving and there’s never any stock of anything they have on their website.