Need new fishing/hunting/outdoor store north end/eastside

[BARCHASER10]

I'm venting a little here, since GI Joes closed up about the only fishing/outdoor stores in the Everett, Lynnwood, Woodinville, north end/eastside area are small shops like Teds, Johns, Three Rivers etc. Those guys are Ok and I shop there but they are small and never have everything I need. They have no clothing, no hunting stuff, not much boating stuff etc. The selection and amount of fishing supplies is very limited. Last week I fished the lower Willamette for Springers and I stopped at Fishermans Supply at Delta Park on they way home. That place is unreal, it is a fishing fanatic Disneyland. I just intended to look around and I spent 120 bucks! The owner of Fishermans had a post on Ifish asking the people on the Ifish Board where they would like a new Fishermans and I suggested the north end, eastside of Seattle. He sent me back a nice email saying thank you, not now, maybe in the future.

Sportco is neat but it is 50 miles from where I live, in lousy I5 traffic. Outdoor Emporium is also good but it is 22 miles and in really crummy traffic. There are vacant GI Joes stores in Lynnwood and Totem Lake. With around 300,000 people in this area you would think there would be a full scale outdoor/fishing/hunting store here. I buy a lot of stuff on line anymore.

Sportco has a contact link and I sent them an email, didnt get a response. Sportco/Outdoor Emporium are the same company now. They should close up that Outdoor Emporium thing and move it to one of the two vacant GI Joes stores.

Maybe I'm the only one that feels this way. Maybe there just arent enough outdoor folks to support a real outdoor store.

If you want to email Sportco, here is the link.

http://www.sportco.com/productcart/pc/contact.asp

[Anonymous]

I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE Hence the caps and underline. Maybe I am living too close to the subject (fishing/hunting) but I completley agree that there is a HUGE hole in the retail market for this stuff in the area of downtown Seattle to Everett. A huge target audience. Of course I will email the link that you gave, for what that is worth. But seriously if anybody has time and cash on their hands I think this would be an investment worth considering.
I live in N. Seattle. I commute past Outdoor Emporium so they are my go to guys. Otherwise that leaves "Angler's Choice" in Shoreline. Decent bass gear, and very nice proprieters (sp?) but limited on trout and salmon. I have heard that the old Joe's at Northgate is now a Sports Authority, and that they carry fishing tackle. I kind of thought that they were all sports associated with ball throwing, etc. I guess you can check it out. I alway thought that Joes sucked on service, and they staffed people who didn't even knew how to tie a hook. But at least they had a little of everything, and they carried all that nice Columbia outdoor clothing.
In the mean time,, shop online and you can find whatever you want.
I feel your pain brutha!!:cheers:

[BentRod]

I'm with you guys. I had a Joes less than a mile down the street from me and the employees there were a joke (and that is being kind), but at least they had a good selection of gear (when they stocked it). It's now been replaced by a Sports Authority and their fishing hunting section sucks. They might as well have left it out of the store. I too go to Outdoor Emporium in Seattle now. Not convenient, but at least I'm happy when I walk in and out the door.

[Dave]

I shop almost exclusively at Holiday Sports in Burlington which I am guessing is too far for most of you who are commenting here to drive. But if you are ever in the Burlington area, it's worth stopping. I find that they not only have a wide range of hunting and fishing equipment including a great selection of fishing tackle and equipment, they also have very reasonable prices. I have never not been able to find a lure or piece of equipment I was looking for there and in fact I just bought a happy troller (large) there for 124.00 which was a very good price. I expected to pay 149.00 for it. Just my 2 cents. I found GI Joe's in Mount Vernon to be expensive so I didn't shop there very often. There is also a Sportsman's Warehouse in Burlington, just north, across the Skagit River bridge from Mount Vernon but they are also very expensive despite their sign that says wholesale sporting goods.

[BARCHASER10]

I'll keep that in mind. From where I live, Burlington is less hassle than driving down to Outdoor Emporium.

[curado]

outdoor wholsale is good one to in burlington. i would have to agree with g on that tho holiday sports is a great place

[jf0]

Dick's Sporting Goods has been taking over a lot of the old Joe's buildings. There is a Dicks in Puyallup (not sure if that used to be Joes or not), but maybe they will start moving more of them here.

[Matt]

I live over in Snohomish and make frequent trips to Burlington. I hit both stores every time I go, and if I'm feeling up to it I will tack on a drive up to Kesselrings gun shop cause that place is AWESOME! Of the two I prefer Holiday sports, and thanks to their payout to relocate due to roadwork the new mega store is SWEET! The staff there are very helpful and they have fair prices.

[BARCHASER10]

Where is Holiday Sports? Burlington exit? Then take a right?

[soulfishhawk]

I always hit Outdoor Emporium, just south of Safeco. They always seem to have what I need, and it's close to work for me, so not too much of a hassle. But I hear ya on the lack of stores up there, seems like there is next to nothing, and g.i. joes was just ok anyway. They did have a Sports Authority up on 196th, not sure if it's still there, also not a great selection though.

[Anonymous]

Im with Dave. Holiday Sports in Burlington is the best sporting goods store. The sales people are the best. Its worth the drive up there for me and I live in South Seattle.2nd is Outdoor Emporium on 4th So.If you catch them in a good mood they are outstanding. They seem to help their buddies out more then your average customer.Holiday Sports in my number 1 sporting good store.Plus they are locally owned and operated.

[Matt]

Where is Holiday Sports? Burlington exit? Then take a right?

Take the Anacortes/HWY 20 Exit, take a left off the exit and go under the overpass, Holiday is on the left, can't miss it.

They did have a Sports Authority up on 196th, not sure if it's still there, also not a great selection though.

Sports Authority is TERRIBLE. The one up this way in Lake Stevens at least has somewhat of a selection but man are their prices horrible. Like 6$ for a Vibrax Spinner, PLEASE!

[Maurice]

I cant complain but I will, I live in the puyallup are and we have Dicks( they are kind of like a joes in the selections department) Then not to far away about 10 miles is outdoor emporium/Sportco in Fife and then Wholesale sports(AKA Sportmesn Warehouse) in Federal Way.

ButWent went up north a few weeks back to fish the Sky and there was no whaere to get extra gear I wanted. so now I am making the trip again and making all my purchases ahead of time....

[pugnaciouspete]

Hey guys, I agree with you all 100% about Sports Authority.

If you don't mind going to Lynnwood I would check out TedsSportsCenter. Very very helpful and knowledgeable...well at least in my opinion. Has anyone else gone here? Thoughts?

[BARCHASER10]

I've been shopping at Teds for 20 years and I've got to know Mike Chamberlain (the owner) pretty well. It's a decent store, but very small and they just dont have a lot of stuff. If you just want the standard things, its OK, but there isnt a wide range of selections, lures, colors, hook sizes etc. Their stock gets low sometimes and they are sometimes out of faster moving stock. No clothing, waders, little boat stuff etc. Mostly, its just small.

[The Quadfather]

So I wrote an email to Outdoor Emporium/Sportco. regarding the missing hole in the retail sales of fishing/hunting hear in the Seattle to Everett corridor. I actually got 2 letters back from the President of the company. The following is a cut/paste. It wasn't like he said it is happening tomorrow,, but I thought it was pretty nice to actually see the President of the company take the time to write and say that they are looking at these options.

"Chris. Thanks for taking the time to communicate with us regarding your
frustration in not having a good location to go to North of Seattle. We
have taken lots of thought at looking the feasibility of expanding into the
Everett area (and get the same type letters from the Eastside as well).

Obviously with the economy being the reason Joe's is no longer there and
Sportsmen's having filed bankruptcy and resold it takes a lot of gamble,
financing, and good people power to be able to pull a store opening off like
we would want to do. Each of our present stores easily require about $10
million per store in inventory, equipment, improvements, etc. Obviously that
is a huge decision and the situation and timing has to be perfect along with
banking situations and all. We are well aware that the North area is
seriously vacant of a good hunting & fishing presence and we certainly keep
our options open for the right doors to open and shut.

You mentioned you were going to go on-line to order. I hope you remember
that you can do so with Sportco.com or Outdooremporium.net and still support
the local boys who've been around and serviced our customers long before all
the new boys came to town. You can get the same pricing on-line as you can
in the store and obviously save driving to Seattle.

We do appreciate your comments and business and ... who knows.. when you
least expect it we may show up in the North but nothing planned in the real
near future.

Thanks again.

Lon Schmidt
President"