For reasons I won’t bore people with I needed a pair of trail running shoes at 6pm last night ready for 9am today.

I went to SD and tried on four pairs of various brands.

The only pair they had that fitted well were Karrimor Tempo 3 Trail for the huge investment of £18.

Wore them today on a swampy Park run and got a PB.

The shoes didn’t fall apart or wreck my feet. The SD staff gave me space and were polite and helpful as I spent 30 mins trying on shoes.

All in all, the shop and the product seem OK to me, in spite of the horror stories.

My Karrimor walking shoes have been great so far.

Sorry but we’ve moved on – you need to point us to an ad where some chubby SD employee was sat cradling their knees, naked, crying, just wearing a pair of Karrimor.

#Upyourgameashley

good luck with the impending trench foot from their lack of breathability…

(I have no basis for that comment…)

I never know what to expect going into shops.
I had no choice but buy my son’s school trainers from SD last year, and the staff were all really nice, unlike recent experiences of John Lewis where you expect high levels of customer service. It makes it difficult when it comes to deciding whether to return to a shop or not in future.
I think it’s just random – depends on who you get on the day and how they’re feeling.

The Peterlee SD staff are very helpful and give you space, even the guy who is a bit obsessive about selling you aftermarket gel insoles for £7 is cool once I point out that they’re £4 in Aldi (when in stock).

How fast? I need to know if they are quicker than my shoes. 🙂

Good service?

Why not…

Last one run?

See above…

Durability?…

I can gaurentee they are slower than your shoes avdave2! If they’re not you need to lay off the pies and get some exersise.

I thought the horror stories were how they treat staff, not the service or quality of the products…

They are good otherwise they will not survive the competition.

I thought the horror stories were how they treat staff, not the service or quality of the products…

+1

Isn’t it the same product you’d buy elsewhere anyway? it’s just cheaper because of all the horror stories i.e. staff on minimum wage queuing to be searched in their own time after 8 hour shifts despite being docked 15 minutes wages for every 1 minute they are late in the morning etc etc etc

Exactly DezB

Isn’t it the same product you’d buy elsewhere anyway? it’s just cheaper because of all the horror stories i.e. staff on minimum wage queuing to be searched in their own time after 8 hour shifts despite being docked 15 minutes wages for every 1 minute they are late in the morning etc etc etc

That is a factor but most of the labels stocked (apart from Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma and a few others) are owned by Mike Ashley and are produced in the far east so I imagine the margins on them are pretty high too.

Ashley has done very well buying up defunct brands with reputations, such as Karrimor, Slazenger, Firetrap, Lonsdale etc. He then produces far lower quality kit, using cheap Far East suppliers. It is what it is, but there’s a reason that it is so cheap and quality is a big factor.

Seriously my Karrimor boots are very good quality, they did cost 60 quid(reduced from 120 – i doubt they ever were mind) which are damn expensive for SD. Soles good, eVent lining, look ok too.

Only experience I have of recent Karrimor shoes is buying a pair of walking shoes a couple of years ago. Within a couple of months the innersole (cardboard I’m presuming) completely degraded so the sole lost all firmness. The sole became super flexible and useless for using outdoors now. They are now my decorating shoes.

13thfloormonk – Member

+1

Isn’t it the same product you’d buy elsewhere anyway? it’s just cheaper because of all the horror stories i.e. staff on minimum wage queuing to be searched in their own time after 8 hour shifts despite being docked 15 minutes wages for every 1 minute they are late in the morning etc etc etc

The question you need to ask is, are the staff force to work there or can they apply to jobs elsewhere?

Are they forced?

Are they forced?

If the DWP cuts their benefits, then yes, they’re forced to work there.

chewkw – Member

The question you need to ask is, are the staff force to work there or can they apply to jobs elsewhere?

Are they forced?

If Jobseeker’s turn down employment offers then all their benefits are stopped. So yes, people are forced to work under unfair working condition, for low pay with no job security out of fear & desperation.

In fairness – IF I was running a series of stores, with a shit load of staff then I’d seriously consider implementing something along those lines.
In reality – anyone on here who says they wouldn’t is either naive or a liar.
Loss of stock through theft and/or loss of working hours through tardiness/”sickness” costs thousands. 10’s of thousands even.

They may not be forced at knife or gunpoint to work there, but economic pressures probably force their hand. I’m sure many of them would quite fancy a cushy office job; well paid with an expense account but they have to take what they can get to put food on the table.

In fairness – IF I was running a series of stores, with a shit load of staff then I’d seriously consider implementing something along those lines.
In reality – anyone on here who says they wouldn’t is either naive or a liar.
Loss of stock through theft and/or loss of working hours through tardiness/”sickness” costs thousands. 10’s of thousands even.

Yep, and that’s a cost of running a business, which you pass on to your consumers by pricing your products accordingly. Our bike shop did a stock take every year which revealed the scale of the shoplifting which was going on. And yet, we survived, why? Because the retail prices we charged (RRP, for what it’s worth) covered the cost of the theft/insurance premiums and yet still kept us competitive on the high street.

Yet another reason why high street stores can’t match online store prices, you don’t have gangs of little scrotes trying to walk out with £100 handlbars stuffed down their trousers!

Being able to offer low low prices because you make your staff line up to be searched in their own time, effectively lowering their wage to less than the basic minimum, is not ‘good business’.

p.s. sorry OP, definitely not having a go at you here, all you did was post to share a good experience with a shop! 8)

I thought the horror stories were how they treat staff, not the service or quality of the products…

Nope, I’ve heard an endless stream of criticism of SD service and product quality & a quick google suggests what I’ve heard is typical.

You shouldn’t be passing the cost on though – you ensure it doesn’t happen.
Simple rewards scheme, staff discounts, etc all help to stop that sort of thing by making it attractive to behave.
If they still choose to steal then they deserve to be searched, docked, etc.

You shouldn’t be passing the cost on though – you ensure it doesn’t happen.
Simple rewards scheme, staff discounts, etc all help to stop that sort of thing by making it attractive to behave.
If they still choose to steal then they deserve to be searched, docked, etc.

Yeah good point, in my example it was rarely the staff that were doing the shoplifting. But I still think ‘innocent until proven guilty’ should apply, you don’t implement random searching (again, on the staff’s own time) until there is a proven theft problem.

captainsasquatch – Member
If the DWP cuts their benefits, then yes, they’re forced to work there.

scruff9252 – Member
If Jobseeker’s turn down employment offers then all their benefits are stopped. So yes, people are forced to work under unfair working condition, for low pay with no job security out of fear & desperation.

Hhmmmm … something somewhere is not right …

I find Sports Direct a bit like Halfords. There are good and bad ones whilst some depend on what staff are working.

I like the Karrimor running gear but not tried any if their shoes for a long while and then I wasn’t impressed.

Sports Direct Workers 82 Ambulance calls

Wouldn’t use them even if i had to go naked. I remember how the Karimor trainer heels would slice your foot and also getting over charged at the till (charged 3 times for one shirt) pointed this out and i was told that i would have to wait for a refund, they have no office to call and they can’t refund to my card at the till. Blooming SD is a cattle market of for the living dead.

…also, it stinks of polyester somehow

OOB – you could have started a good ‘un 😉

Did you feel dirty coming out??? Metaphorically speaking?

FWIW, I have a couple of Karrimor * tops and some muddy fox stuff and all great

* pine after proper Karrimor stuff from Accrington days though. You were Karrimor v Berghaus in those days

I bought trainers from them once, they were fine……true story

It’s a sad state of affairs when you feel you have to offer up praise to a shoe shop that sold you a pair of shoes and a shoe manufacturer that made a shoe that didn’t fall apart on it’s first outing.

Did you feel dirty coming out???

I felt deeply uncomfortable going in. I hate the cramped layout and the whole place screamed “chav”. The actual experience was fine, then I felt awkward coming out ‘cos I’d spent 30 minutes trying on trainers then walked out with the uber-cheap ones they had stacked up by the door.

I find Sports Direct a bit like Halfords. There are good and bad ones whilst some depend on what staff are working.

Totally agree re Halfords. One day there are monkeys on shift and the next you find people who really know their stuff. Luck of the draw. Like SD I strongly feel buying from Halfords is wrong but they have plenty of stock and they’re open Sundays so I go there more than my local bike shop who I do wish to support. (God knows why they never have anything I need in stock, and they’re closed 3/4 of the weekend.)

It’s a sad state of affairs when you feel you have to offer up praise to a shoe shop that sold you a pair of shoes and a shoe manufacturer that made a shoe that didn’t fall apart on it’s first outing.

It says a lot for the perception of the brand. I’m starting to wonder if that perception is 100pc justified.

People slate SD but how well are bikeshop staff treated in comparison?

Remember, SD is a role model for On One/Planet-X.

That seems like a pretty silly thing to say but I’m sure you’re just about to explain what you’re on about.

Haven’t bought “real” trainers for years. I don’t run so don’t need them but I do buy the fabric “walking” shoes. To be honest I find karrimor stuff lasts as well as stuff 4 times the price and fits as well. The good thing is that I can justify trashing them a bit more frequently. Of course being N old fart I do wish Mike Parsons still owned the company like the good old days.

Last two pairs of KSB’s have fallen apart.
After reading about their dodgy employee policy, it’s a ‘never again’ from me.

They have just issued a profit warning