BassPro Spring Classic

[fiker]

I did the reel trade in thingy and picked up a new baitcaster. I got the Johnny Morris that is on sale.  I like it a lot. 

Part of why I went is that here are some things that you just can't picture or feel in the cataloge.  I wanted to see what their extreme rod felt like in a 7' medium and a 7'medium heavy. 
They didn't have them.  I thought it was very weird that a rod that's on sale was so low in stock.  I was there at 9AM.  I asked the girl at the counter if they had any more. 
No, but they might have more at the warehouse, and if they do, they'd be glad to ship me one for a fee. 
But, frankly I'd already driven an hour and a half, and  I wasn't going to pay them to ship me something that I thought they sould have had there already.
So... although it was a good price on a rod, I came away empty handed. 

[yukonjack2]

Typical BPS stuff - they never seem to have enough stock of what is popular - I went looking for a pro qualifier flipping stick - I got a flier in the mail that is was onsale for $79 from a price of $119.   They also did not have any on the shelf, and said its not on sale for the classic week - that flier was a catalog/internet only deal - how smart is that?  Send me a preferred customer card to get into the store Fri night for this big sale, and certain rods are only on sale where you have to pay $7 shipping and $7 ovesize to get it, and you can't even test it out?

seemed like it was all the last years leftover stock on sale only - notice the poor supply of raingear on sale, except for the new pro qualifier and 100 mph stuff for $350 plus?  nice going guys -

Jack

[slsail]

they do a lot of boarder line "bait and switch" stuff. I f you watch they switch up the standard high price combos with cheap reels for special events or are out of stock. If you press them on it they will give you a rain check (never call you when your stuff come in).
Typical story line is "flyer was printed wrong".  I have heard that a number of times. 

[Cheetam]

The best deal I found wasn't advertised and you had to look in a plain old brown cardboard box to find it...In front of the fish tank, on a shelf in the middle of the isle were 2 or 3 unmarked boxes filled with an assortment of Daiwa Crankbaits and topwaters.  Normally 15.99 to 17.99, they were priced 5.99.  I picked up a few of the titanium-lipped medium and deep divers.

[blakstr1]

Well thanks for everybody that stopped by and said HI at BPS, I had a good time talking with everyone...although selling was slow, at least for our Fish Hedz.  I think the trick with those is to get people to try them on the water, I'll always have a few extras in my boat for people to try throughout the season, so if you see me somewhere don't be afraid to ask. 

Sure is nice to put names with faces...

[Revtro]

I'm not trying to slam BPS because I love going there.  It's my Mecca.  However, you guys are right.  They never have enough stock of what's on sale.  I doubt it's rocket science to try to figure out how much stock you're gonna need in order to keep product on the shelves during a sale.  It's absolutely maddening.  The last few times I've been there looking for stuff I left ticked off.  I have to drive an hour to get there, so I expect to see what they have advertised on their shelves.  All I can figure is POOR MANAGEMENT.  Grr.  I had a list of 8 items that I needed during the sale.  They were out of 5 of them.  The end result is that I didn't buy anything but rain gear during the sale.  I'll end up buying most of the items I wanted from somewhere else online.

COME ON BPS.  Get it together.  You're losing money and you don't even know it.  I think it's time for people to really start complaining or it'll never change.

Sorry if I'm ranting guys.  It really ticks me off though to waste my time and gas money so often.   

[blakstr1]

Poorboy and I we were set up at the end of one of the aisles over by the GPS counter at the BPS spring classic, we had lots of people asking wheres this or that and found that they were out of the products.  I saw tons of empty spots on the shelves...not what you would expect.  Poorboy actually made a sale for them that BPS would have lost if it wasn't for him, a guy came up to us looking for a certain small battery charger, the rep for the chargers and batteries evidently told him that BPS doesn't carry what he was looking for, out of frustration he asked us I guess and as it turns out Poorboy has the model in question, he took the guy too it and the customer bought it..we had a lot of that happen, I sold a bunch of oil and underwater cameras for them...at least they fed us..

Funny Revtro-  Savage and I refer to BPS as Mecca as well....

[McCarter]

You have to think of it like this.  Spring time is the biggest season for fisherman.  Thats when we are all gearing up for the season.  Im not talking just in michigan, im talking in 60% of the country or better.  Now take into account all the tackle shops, big and small throught the country.  They are all stocking a lot of the same stuff.  I think a lot of it has to do with how the mfgrs supply all the stores.  they can only make so much at a time and then it all ships out.

On top of that, there are guys who literally spend thousands on lures.  I have seen guys buyout entire colors of certain baits.  Even Lucky Crafts.  At last years show, i seen a guy with 10 or more of at least 7 different color LC Pointers.  I happen to pass him on my way to the LC isle.  They were all out of what i wanted.  Couldnt help but laugh.

Plus, alot of the stuff they have on sale is actually old inventory that they are clearing out.  For example, they had Arbogast Hula Poppers and Jitterbugs on sale for $1.99.  Those things went faster than a box of twinkies at a weight watchers meeting.

I will agree that it sucks.  but if you do look hard, you can usually find some stuff that will replace the exact thing you were looking for.  They had some realy good deals on some good stuff.  I got a few of the new BPS Tungsten spinnerbaits for $3.00 off.  I was playing with them last night.  Very nice.  ANd they have the best interchangable blade system i have seen yet.

The good news is Cabelas is having there Spring Fishing Sale this coming weekend.  I know its kind of a hike for most of you guys, but it might be worth the trip if you can find some stuff you actually want.

PoorBoy himself