Gander Mountain

Returning a purchase ought to be easy, especially when you outright state that you want to purchase something better. My wife bought me a BB gun rifle (Pumpmaster 760) for Christmas. I opened the box and immediately was unimpressed with the lightweight build quality. Maybe I cycled the pump once. I never even pulled the trigger. Returned it today, but even though they made her buy it at a front cashier, they make you return it to the gun counter. Note, there is no sign saying this, so we waited quite a while behind someone returning a lot of things. Only to be told to go to the back by Ty. So we got to the back. Where we were told we were supposed to return it up front. «Ty should know that…» Then they called a manager. He asked if I had fired the gun. No. Then he looked at us like we had probably been shooting it like crazy for two days with the original styrofoam trigger-​protector still in place. He then took it out of the box, breaking that styrofoam block himself in the process. Then he pulled back the bolt, looked down the barrel, went over into a corner with it, shook it about, and fired it dry. Then he was somehow sure we weren’t lying. Then he went looking for a Model 66 with me, and we found that a Gamo model 1400 was on sale for $ 129.99, only $ 40 more than the original 760 model. Usually $ 199.99, so with the manager right there with us we took one to Allison at the front. It rang up as $ 199.99. We assured her that it was on sale at $ 129.99. She said it was not on sale. We assured her again it was. She called a manager. She was not amused. That manager (she told us 2 – 3 were working then) told her it was $ 149.99, so she rang it up as that. My wife caught that she was charging us $ 20 too much. «That’s the pr

There are two flavors of sporting goods stores; one that offers little help and high prices and then there is the Gander Mountain in Portage. I have somewhat become a regular here for my sporting good needs; mostly because of the staff. From the time I walk in the door here, I typically see the smiling faces of the cashiers, which makes me want to spend my money here. They have weekly ads that draw their customer in, and they are displayed as you enter the store, just in case you forget what is on sale. Depending on what you might be interested in, they will likely have it in stock. The gun counter staff is almost always busy but once they help you out, you will understand that they are sincerely there to help you make the right choice. The only downside here is that they short staff during the week so there might only be one guy behind the counter.

Store: Nicely stocked with a great selection of hunting and fishing. I always find great finds in the clearance fishing section (bad habit shopping). They have a great selection of line, lures (jigs, rapala, soft plastic and topwater especially). Not overboard on pricing, pretty fair I think for Michigan.
Location: right next to hooters (obviously a plus)
Staff: 25% very knowledgeable and helpful… 75% out of place college/​high school kids that do not seem to know anything about anything.