doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dick's Sporting Goods, Fairfax, Va.

I live in Centreville, Va. and from 2002 to mid 2003 I worked for Galyan's Sporting Goods in the Hunting Department, Fairfax, Va. I like to think that we had one of the best selection of guns in the Northern Virginia area. We sold Browning, Beretta, Benelli, Remington, Ruger, Weatherby, Tikka, Winchester, and a couple of Kimbers. Our selection of handguns was very extensive, in that we sold Glock, Sig Sauer, H&K, Smith & Wesson, Walther, Springfiled Armory, and a couple of Colts. I left in mid 2003. Not too long after that, Galyan's sold out to Dick's Sporting Goods and the hunting department went downhill. They decided they were going to make the world safe by not selling handguns and they discontinued the Browning. Every time I have been in there, I come away disgusted. The hired help don't care and they don't know their products. I was in there this past Saturday and they were selling over and unders with the Benelli name on them. The checkering, if you want to call it that, was flat and looked it had been rolled on with a press. The price was around $800. When I went on the Benelli web site, all they had listed were their autos and pumps. No over and unders. Have any of you had the experience of going to any of the Dick's sporting Goods and seen these shotguns?

I have a Dicks Sporting Goods where I live as well, the gun selections is bad, and the last time I was in there, I asked a young kid if he had any 28ga. shells, his response "they dont make those anymore"
Sad thing is the Gander Mtn. that just opened here is even worse.

Box store can not cater to educated masses. They are fine for the fast selling items like 1100's, etc., AA and Remington shells, but get outside their comfort zone and you are are your own. More likely to find clothes at a decent price than a gun you want to buy. I like to shop the end of season sales for clothes of all types at Dicks. Bought more than one item for 10-20 cents on the dollar. It is hard to buy from a retailer when you are better informed than their best sales staff.

I agree with KY Jon. Dick's isn't going to carry many of the types of items people here are interested in. They're good for ammo when they have a sale, though. :-)

Phil

I think the "Benellis" at Dick's are really Franchis. No idea why they are now calling them Benellis.

Dicks Sporting goods,which is traded on the NYSE (and has done quite well);
http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/...eq=1&time=7

is not in the business of selling what most of us on here buy gun wise,they make money selling Under Armour(AU)Nike(NKE)and Croc's(CROX)and Garmin (GRMN).All top sellers
I have been in the one in Concord a few times,to see how sales are (I trade both AU and CROX at times) and wander over to the gun dept to check it out.Small section of scopes,GPS,no handguns,ammo pretty much dumped on the shelves.I suspect its more or less an after thought in an otherwise sound business plan.Not our thing but you can make money owning them.

I used to go to Galyon's a bit west of NRA place off 66. Now I live near Stony Point Shopping center and local Gaylon's morphed into Dick's. Now only the climbing wall reminds me of Gaylon's good old days.
Gaylon's was to Dick's what Sacks 5th Ave is to Sears.

Considering their buying leverage and their "big box" character, they should have everything, but you'll only find what the lumpenmasses are buying this fall. You can get primers for your inline front stuffer but lucky to find Pyrodex or Triple-7 in a bottle. Try percussion caps! Course my friendly, busy, local "shoebox" gun store is also out of #11s but presumably they will attempt to restock whether they move instantly or not. My Tap-O-Cap is on the way mail order. At least they've got GOEX ALL the time. Dick's locally did have a buy-one-get-second-half-price sale on cased shotshells this fall.

jack

Local Walmart carries Winchester Light, Extra Light and Feathersomething? low recoil loads for $5.89 per box plus Remi target loads in luvly gold colored cases. The price at GanderMtn. for them feathery things is $8.99! I doubt Dick's carries the ones with feather on front of the box.

Hey Colin I agree w/you and miss Galyan's and staff - prolly have some old mutual friends. Dick's in most ways is a Sports Authority with carpet. Their gun selection is pretty weak but I don't go looking for the new stuff much any more so don't care. One thing is for sure - the "buyers" for Dick's don't live around here as evidenced by the 3 aisles of marlin baits. If they actually have someone who works there that know's their stuff, I haven't met them. I will say one thing about Dick's - they usually have something on hand that will make due in a pinch and it is frequently less than the listed price, or there's a cupon. N.VA is generally hurting for a quality sporting goods store that offers one-stop shopping.

-Jerry