Soapbox

No a major rant but something I thought was a little suspect.

Manchester's new Go outdoors opened on Saturday. Whilst there I went to  check out the glove range - which is normally pretty good.  I saw 3  types near the till taking up about 2 foot square of retail space,  but no junior, no waterproof, no winter etc.

On asking I was told, very  sheepishly by a knowledge  member of staff, that was all they had. He  told me he had been embarrased when another customer had asked the same question.

On check out I asked to speak to the store manager. This is a HUGE store with many many types of kids walking boots and coats etc. surley if a a new walker came in they should be able to provide the basics.

An admin manager came to me. and told me it was summer so they only had summer lines!  I asked if she was a walker or had ever tried to use cold/wet hands  upa hill in the lakes even in summer? err no.

The manager then arrived but only after I had began a discussion with the Oldham moutain rescue guy, who had been there collecting, for his thoughts on the basics such as gloves.  He agreed gloves were basic kit and needed. He also pointed out  to the manager that he was off to the snowy bits of europe the following week.

The manager was pleasent but seemed to have a hard time understanding that  summer lines position is not a consistent position when you are **also selling ice axes in store**

Also as a large retailer who aims to  attract  neophytes as well as seasoned outdoors people they really should be able to kit a family out with the basics. It does not have to be expensive or fancy just basic offering of warm  and warm n waterproof for men, women and children.

I suppose  this ircked me becuase this is a flag ship store, they appear to have spent a fortune on stocking it but  seeemd to think gloves were not worth the effort. I left my card but am not really expecting any contact as was mentioned by the manager.

 BTW I do like go-outdoors and get quite a bit of kit mainly from there.

I suspect it was more to do with the manufacturers and that the store opened in April rather than bad planning on Go Outdoors behalf. 

I've tried to get winter kit in the summer from various major manufacturers (such as belay jackets and balaclavas from Mountain Hardwear and Haglofs) and they tend not to produce winter kit in the summer, so most winter stock you see in stores will be the left overs from last Autimn Winter.

I know a few people will be heading to the alps during the summer, but the majority of their customers will be heading to the UK hills and will only require summer kit.

 they can listen to their customers until the cows come home, but if the manufacturers run has ended back in August and everyone has been selling out their winter clothing on sale since Feb, where are they going to source the winter gloves from?

Well there are I think some people who do gloves year round? Plausibly not in Go's stockist lists though.

Do agree that its more of an overall industry problem - not sure if its induced more by manufacturers or stockists or some odd combination of the two but the result is a bit silly! - than specifically an issue with Go.

on a slightly different point about this new shop, I get the Go Outdoors catalogues through the post which featured a special offer on Leki walking poles. So, I called them on the last day of the offer to check that they still had some in stock, was told "yes, we have got loads" and so I went in. You can probably guess the next bit.

 There was one more experienced manager there from the Stockport store who told me that most of the staff were brand new to the organisation and, if ringing up, to make sure to be put through to the relevant department rather than asking the first person who answers the phone. Mind you, even he admitted he was not a walker!

 One thing about these shops, though, is that they have loads of tents set up which I find really helpful before buying something, not necessarily from them!