Scheels

Best customer service ever! Everyone is smiling and offering to help and honestly just nice as can be. Only reason I don’t give 5 stars is that often I can’t find my size and employees aren’t able to order online for me. However, my hubby always finds his size so maybe it’s just me. This place is huge and has tons of stuff! Great shoe selection and according to my Dad, great gun and ammo selection.

We stopped here in our way home to Champaign after seeing it from the side of the road.
Best choice all day!
They have everything here and more! Prices here great! Staff was friendly and helpful!!!
I’ll buy all my outdoor gear here from now on. It’s worth the drive.

This place is real cool! It’s a great place to shop for toys! They have «Hard To Find» Legos! Minecraft legos! This is a store that has games and more! It’s a real good place for shopping and fun activities. I would recommend coming here! It’s like a arcade in Kohls! «This place is fun! And I should stop commenting on Unilocal.»

What a great shopping experience–

Always a staff member available to help if needed. Good selection of gun accessories. I would rate as 5 stars if gun prices were a little more reasonable.

Sporting goods store and an amusement park under one roof. They carry all the sporting name brands and equipment. Plenty of friendly staff with good knowledge of the store and products. They have a double archway near the entrance that is an aquarium with numerous exotic fish and coral.
Ferris wheel ride for $ 1. 10 frame Rollerball for $ 2. Nascar driving simulator ride for $ 5. Golf Swing simulator for $ 1 per hole. Free kids play area with tunnels, slides and small rock climbing wall.
Fun for the shopper, sports fanatic and kids all in one place.

This was kind of an event instead of shopping! We took my nephews as something to do on Friday night and had a great time. We watched the diver clean the giant tank, looking at all the nemo’s and dori’s. Watched the Farris Wheel go round and round. Inspected all of the animals setup on a mountain scape. Took pictures with the giant fish and bear. The kids played in the jungle gym. We didn’t play the mini bowling but it looked fun. We also didn’t do the nascar car games because one of the kids was too short to do it. Had a good time playing around, seemed to be pretty expensive for most of the stuff but a nice store. We bought some $ 10 Cardinals t-​shirts that were on sale.

Let me start by saying I had the worst firearm purchasing experience at this store. I was looking at a glock pistol that was on clearance for a good price. I live in Peoria but I happen to be in Springfield for the day with my wife shopping. This was our second trip at Scheels soon to be our last. The salesman in the firearms that helped me was a good guy with gun knowledge I will admit that, but that’s were the good experience ends. I decided for the good price on the firearm I could stand to drive back down in three days (handgun waiting foid wait time) to get the gun. The sales man said sign up for a scheels card and you could save another $ 15 on the gun, so I did. That could help pay for gas to come back to get the gun. The salesman asked were we were from I said Peoria, no response other than «ok». Filling out the paper work took about double the time than say an actual gun shop. These big sporting goods stores always have more checking. Also the employees that do the actual paper work and register looked in there lower 20’s and had zero knowledge of firearms. The manager came over to check the foid paperwork. The Young man says I didn’t know Peoria is in Peoria county and smiled. We left about an hour and a half later. I return the following Saturday to get the firearm and instantly I had a feeling that something was off. After about 30 minutes the manager comes out and says «I’m sorry but I cant sell this gun to you» I asked why, he says there store policy in Illinois is they cant sell handguns to Peoria or Chicago residents. I asked at what point should someone have realized this? The first young manager didn’t see this, the salesman didn’t know of this, either did any of the multiple people at the gun counter. We went back and forth about this issue. By the way there is no sign of any of this. The manger offered to pay for the transfer cost of the gun to a local dealer. So I called multiple shops and neither wanted anything to do with Scheels. Imagine that, The end result was they paid for my gas to drive down and a credit card to a store I will never go in again. I also wrote this on there customer service website and have not got any response.

I love sporting good and outdoor supply stores and this is an awesome one to visit.
It’s conveniently located off the interstate and has a huge parking lot. The only complaint I have about its location is getting in and out of there isn’t the easiest because the traffic is routed oddly. Pay attention to the signs and road marks and you won’t have a problem.
The store is two floors with a huge selection of items: camping gear, guns and ammo, fishing gear, clothing, archery supplies, and much more. If you can’t find it elsewhere, it’s probably here. However, because there is so much, you might feel overwhelmed.
Associates are plentiful and ready to help. We have always been able to get assistance quickly and they were knowledgable without hovering over you.
There are loads of fun activities in here, from a shooting games, bowling games to the huge ferris wheel in the middle of the store.
Overall, this is a great place to spend time wandering around, or shopping for the things you need (or in some cases finding stuff you don’t need).
Why not 5 stars then? Getting in and out of the parking lot could be improved. Since they have such a huge range of items, certain things you would expect to find (or brands) are left out.

This place is very cool. Think of Dicks Sporting Goods and Cabelas combined into one mega store.
There is a cool aquarium at the front of the store and I believe they do a feeding every day. The Ferris wheel is next — it’s pretty cool although there are longer waits than there should be.
A review on here stated that if u can’t find it here, there’s something wrong with you. That us correct. There is every sporting good you can think of, outdoor equipment, fishing and hunting supplies and multiple simulators for every sport you can think of.
There are several sales items too as well as a play area for kids. This place takes hours to go through-​very cool.

Best sports store ever. Hands down. PLEASE PUT ONE IN CHICAGO!
I’ve seen smaller airports than this store, which ironically houses a hanging airplane in the lobby. We’re just getting started. Instead of looking at the merchandise we found ourselves riding an indoor Ferris wheel, bowling, checking out the multiple virtual games and letting our son play in the kids area. Then we looked around. If they don’t have what you want, you’re odd. The peak of our trip here came when I found a Nike Steelers Troy Polamalu game jersey ON SALE for HALF PRICE. SOLD! This place just rocks!!!

All I can say is WOW! We stopped by here as we decided to take a little detour on our way back from St. Louis — the building itself was so impressive from the outside, we just had to stop in. This is a sports enthusiasts paradise — and a great playground for the kids… we’re talking ferris wheel, nascar race simulator, bowling lanes, shooting ranges, a restaurant and a beautiful aquarium arch at the entry way. There are also animatronic figures of presidents reciting their famous speeches. I mean, all this and tons of sporting and hunting equipment and apparel. Pricewise, I thought it was on par with Dick’s and Sports Authority (both of which I only shop their sales) — but coming here is so much more than just picking up a pair of sale gym shoes — it truly is an experience and we hope to return very soon.
Store is immaculate — it’s been open for about 3 years, but if you didn’t know that, you’d think they just opened — it is pristine!
Thank goodness for taking a different road home. It’s these times that we’ve discovered some of the best places — like Scheels.

Big fan of the selection, prices and family activities. I’ve never left dissatisfied.

This place is over the top. From the fish tanks at the entrance to displays with animals and famous people and the Ferris wheel inside… There is a lot going on here. Pretty much every sport is represented — golf, bowling, shooting, running — you name it. There’s a place where you can practice golf and a little mini bowling alley. They also have a pretty sizable section for pets which I really liked and a toy section, too. Prices seem comparable to what we pay for stuff in the Chicago area so it’s not exactly a great deal but there is a lot to choose from so it is really convenient. It’s the kind of place I would find myself wandering around in for hours even if I don’t need anything specific!

Lets just say someone spent a lot of money into making this store awesome!
It’s obvious when first pulling up to Sheels that’s its going to be nice. Big bronze statues of adventurist dawn the store front, along with smaller statues of presidents lounging about causally reading the Declaration of Independence and such.
An amazing salt water fish tank catches the eye when you first walk in… Then my gaze was dragged away by a huge Ferris wheel in the middle of the building! Walking up the stairs you find the stores obsession with former presidents, (especially Lincoln). The mechanical former presidents recite there eerie monologs. There is a huge mountain with a bunch of stuffed wild animals all over it, honey badgers, bald eagles, yogi the bear, etc. This place could be the new set for a Night at the Muesum movie… Sporting goods style.
It really caters to the area it’s in. If REI and Dicks sporting goods had a love child this is it. It has a mixture of outdoor activities such as kayaking and fishing. One of the biggest departments is hunting… Yes they have crossbows for your zombie apocalypse needs!
There are your general sports stuff; including wrestling, football, etc.
Then there are sports team items, area specific of course ;-) cardinals, packers and such.
There is a restaurant/​food place in the building but I can’t remember anything else about it other than they have the best fudge ever… I’m sure they had other stuff… I can only remember fudge and gelato.
My only disappointment was the lack of rock climbing gear. It was a sad and dismal little section.

OKAY I LOVE THIS PLACE!
This is a full service sporting store that has everything from hunting to running gear and so on. It is like Dick’s sports on steroids. The gun section is nice. The store has a Ferris wheel smack dab in the middle, Nascar simulators, shooting gallery, golf simulator, archery range, and more. Holy Moly! The store is a family owned chain and has Midwestern values. You won’t find them in a big city and they seem to do just fine that way. If you are going to Springfield, do yourself a favor and stop here.

This is by far the biggest, most over the top sporting goods store I’ve ever seen! It puts Sports Authority, Dicks, and Modells to shame. They have everything you can imagine for every sport.
They can be a bit on the pricey side, but they do have lots of items on sale if you have the time to check often. As an out-​of-​towner, I just have to take what I can get. If you are looking for something specific, you’ll definitely find it here.
They also have lots of fun games and stuff for the kids, and a nice café.

This store is cool, it’s insanely expensive however. I once ran in a treadmill marathon in there which was cool, except my team which consisted of about 8 people lost to a single guy by over an hour. I also forgot my iPod armband there, but no big deal, I’ll just sell my first born to buy a new one from them.
For the most part the people are pretty knowledgable that work there, and I say most part because the guy who sold me my golf clubs, also happen to sell me my skis about 6months later and after dropping a couple paychecks there, he proceeded to tell me he’s only been skiing once in his life. Awesome.
However the reason they only get 4 stars is because there is a section in the store for country/​cabin/​grizzly bear household items. I understand all the hunting stuff, cause who doesn’t like to shoot things? But the housewares department? Come on man!

This place is out of control and over the top. I think that they have everything you need for sporting equipment and posing with past presidents all in one store. Seriously. There’s a ferris wheel. Need I say more?

I moved out of Illinois in summer 2010 so when I visited for the first time this past holiday season I was pleasantly surprised by Scheels. I found my new favorite gym pants here! And a Billabong coat on sale for less than half of what you’d find in California where everyone and their mom wears Billabong so prices are sky high (*sigh* I miss springfield). And a whole bunch of other cute stuff that I couldn’t buy without becoming poor so I refrained.
Their gelato and fudge is AMAZING. Love the aquarium arch with all the fish right inside too, haha. The only problem is that most of the clientele seemed to be, err, small-​town white people (what’s the proper word – rednecks?) who kept staring at my half-​Indian husband as if he had a third eyeball on his forehead.