Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:25pm PT
|
I don't know about the REIs in SF, but the ones (3 of them now) out in Sacramento are pitiful for climbing gear. $300 goretex, no problem. But the hardware selection has dwindled. They are obviously catering to the yuppie "want to look cool" crowd and I can't say I blame them (somebody must be buying those high priced pieces of plastic). Instead of 3 REIs, with small gear shops, I wish there was just one with a decent shop. I live near Sacramento and I have to buy all my gear off the internet at full retail like everyone else. But, hey, its a free market.
|
|
up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:25pm PT
|
Bernie is not that warm and friendly with everyone, though. I've bought hundreds of dollars worth of stuff from them each of the past four years and it wasn't until this year that he gave me much more than a grunt or a nod when I asked him a question. He seemed at little less uptight this year, and I think it helped that I did a lil name dropping (dropped yours, in fact) in a couple of conversations with him.
Overall, it's a good shop. You'll pay full retail for stuff, but they are usually well stocked with aid essentials. Not bad for a gear shop in a National Park. I certainly don't think Bernie is a dick, but he's not exactly the most customer friendly manager I've met, either. There are other guys who work there who have been exceptionally cool -- and even if they were all pricks, where else you gonna go to pick up gear you need or forgot while fixed to the top of P2?
Ed
|
|
David
Trad climber
San Rafael, CA
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:32pm PT
|
Mel's right IMHO. There really isn't a gear shop in the Bay Area that has a selection to match what Shoreline had or The Mountain shop has.
You're getting ready for a wall and have a few very specific last minute gear needs. Let's say you need an adjutable daisy, two locking oval biners, a BD Pecker and a couple #2copperheads. I think you would be hard pressed to find 1 our of 4 at REI or Marmot.
On the other hand, if you're looking for the very latest flavors of Gu, REI is your store hands down.
Planning ahead and shopping online seems to be the best option these days.
|
|
'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:43pm PT
|
First of all, if you need heads, don't buy them at the Mountain Shop - pick them up from one of the Valley Masters like Eric Kohl [Klaus]. His craftsmanship, pricing and integrity are faultless. If you email me, I can get you in touch with him. He occasionally posts here.
[rant]
As for the Mountain Shop, while there are a few people there who genuinely seem to care and are helpful, there are also a few people there who need some serious lessons in customer relations!
The problem with the Mountain Shop is that it is "the only game in town", and it just so happens to be located in what is arguably the centre of the rock climbing universe. I have actually been told by the management face-to-face that because they keep their prices competitive, they don't have to be particularly nice or helpful, because people will buy stuff off them anyway! I was told that they REALLY kick ass in sales. They are the concessionaire's plum, for sure, and make pisspots full of money.
If the Mountain Shop [with its often unfriendly and unhelpful service] were located anyplace other than Yosemite, I fear it would fail. I've been in sales for damn near twenty years, and I am hard pressed to think of ANY BUSINESS that treats its customers so poorly at times as some in the Mountain Shop do. I am often angered and amazed at the way I see people treated! "Patronizing" doesn't begin to describe it. And yet it is unfair to tar all the employees with the same brush, because some of them genuinely are nice.
Really poor service has been a perennial problem with this place, and I don't like it one little bit. I find it extremely unprofessional and annoying.
If I treated MY customers and clients the way some people in the Mountain Shop treated theirs, I wouldn't freaking *have* a business!
Sheesh.
[/rant]
|
|
Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:46pm PT
|
You guys bring up good points and exactly why some of you are doing yourself a disservice to knock the mountain shop and the people running it. Like REI, they make the vast majority of their profits by selling fleeces, souvenirs, tevas, and the like. If the shop was not run by climbers, I suspect you'd see a big decrease in that kind of stock. They don't improve their profits a noticeable amount by stocking Vermin hooks or homemade copperheads.
For example, why should Bernie make Max feel at home while he thumbs through an Alpinist that he isn't going to buy, when the nice lady from the Awahnee is filling her basket with a grand worth of Patagonia? It's not good business. He's not impressed with who you know. He doesn't care what you are going to climb.
|
|
'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Oakville, Ontario, Canada, eh?
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 02:47pm PT
|
I am NOT knocking the Mountain Shop, nor am I knocking the people running it.
I am knocking the piss-poor [lack of] service and the "attitude" that comes towards the customers from some of the people working there. This is a comment on their behaviours and not their identities!
It's a pretty good place to buy gear, except some of the people working there have their noses up their asses half the time.
|
|
ricardo
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 03:25pm PT
|
melissa:
.. your experience of bernie seems to be different from mine .. cool .. i'm glad he's not a dick to everyone ..
.. almost everytime i've been there he hasn't been too helpful .. and most of the time he makes himself too busy to help climbers that want to buy gear .. (and who are noobs -- like me) ..
.. there are plenty of helpful people that work at the shop .. so i dont care .. i just wanted to hear wether the story i heard about team mexico beating on bernie was true or not..
 ricardo
what pete talks about is true -- i actually was IN the mtn shop when he got treated pretty poorly (not by bernie) but by the other guy who manages the whole thing (i forget his name) ..
.. even though pete gets sh#t from lots of people, i was impressed that as a customer he'd get such lousy service .. he did indeed have dollars to spend that day too.. (it was the day i bought over $600 worth of climbing gear to replace what had been stolen)
.. at any rate -- i'm glad the mtn shop is there -- and i'll continue to buy gear from them because they are convenient .. -- the thing about their service though is that its not he majority of the folks who work there .. its only about 2 of their employees that are snobs ..
------
as far as climbing shops in the bay area ... you can find most of the run-of-the-mill items in between REI, the gear at the climbing gyms (Planet granite, IronWorks, MIssion Cliffs) .. and lombardi sports ... lombardi sports is where i found my adj daisies, the some of the other aid stuff..
if you're looking for no-so-run-of-the-mill stuff .. like heads, ball-nuts, shorties, screamers ... -- i've only found those online, or at the mtn shop in the valley..
|
|
DavisGunkie
Trad climber
Republic of Davis
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 03:31pm PT
|
August,
The gear attic at Granite Arch in Rancho Cordova is pretty good , way better than any of the REI's, They are pretty nice there, last time i went they gave me a free day pass since i didn't climb there
|
|
Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 03:47pm PT
|
There are reasons why Pete would have been "treated badly". I believe that Pete is aware of them.
If it's so important or entertaining for you to know, why don't you ask Bernie about getting beat up by the Mexicans yourself? He's easy to find. You seem like a big talking coward to spread it as a rumor here when he doesn't even have internet access. Of course, he is twice your size, and although I can't imagine him stooping low enough to even spit in your face, I doubt you'd be that confrontational with him in person.
|
|
Demented
climber
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 03:55pm PT
|
Mel.. one fact of life is a double standard applies.
You are a woman (a rare enough species in the climbing world).
Your treatment does not truly reflect how the other 99.9% of us dusty trolls get treated....
|
|
Matt
Trad climber
SF Bay Area
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 04:42pm PT
|
yawn-
if you buy a beer at a ballgame, expect to pay $7 and wait in a long line, but if you plan ahead and manage to bring in whatever you need...
why would you expect anythig different in the valley?
you people are climbing (and apparently shopping?) in a tourist trap and "destination", duh.
the berkeley REI has recently improved their climbing gear selection, but i would seek beter deals on the internet if you plan to buy much at all- there are some outfits out of canada that are very competitive (so i am told).
too bad about shoreline moving (sob, sniff sniff, sob) but i was just on the phone w/ them yesterday and the guys in spokane were very helpful and professional.
|
|
Bilbo
Trad climber
Truckee
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 04:47pm PT
|
Pete probably had a hard time because he went into there asking them to stock rifles so he could shoot all those pesky bears at the base of El Cap, then added he had a supreme way of aiding and they should stock that gear as well.
|
|
ricardo
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 04:53pm PT
|
Not only did shoreline move, but i think they changed ownership .. i liked the way their website used to be organized .. much easier to find the aid stuff .
ricardo
|
|
dave
climber
Oceanside
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 04:53pm PT
|
They sell Curry in the Mountain Shop?
|
|
David
Trad climber
San Rafael, CA
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 04:56pm PT
|
re. "Not only did shoreline move, but i think they changed ownership .. i liked the way their website used to be organized "
Yep. They were very coy about the fact that they were being acquired by MountainGear but compare the inventory, database, etc of both sites and you'll notice some pretty obvious similarities.
|
|
Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 05:28pm PT
|
re: shoreline/mgear...Even their inventory is increasingly skewed towards soft goods and away from climbing gear. :-(
Demented...Bernie is my friend, and I suspect that now that plays into the double standard more than me being a woman. When I first met him and found him so helpful, however, I was with a male partner to whom he was equally curtious.
|
|
Gene
Social climber
Two hours away
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 05:59pm PT
|
Good golly. It's a freakin' store and nothing more. I go there to buy stuff, not to bond with the staff. Who cares about their demeanor, surly or otherwise? Walk in, tell 'em what you want, pay up, and leave. Your should be there to shop for gear, rather than trying to forge meaningful and fulfilling relationships with the employees. I've found the folks to be OK. They have answered my questions, given me advice, and sold me what I wanted to buy. I also call them up on occasion and ask about weather conditions, snow on Half Dome, etc. They treat me just fine.
I go there for gear, not to check if I want to adopt them.
|
|
Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 06:13pm PT
|
"I go there to buy stuff, not to bond with the staff."
I'm sure that has everything to do with why you've received fine service and others have not. That is so funny.
|
|
Melissa
Big Wall climber
oakland, ca
|
|
|
Jul 28, 2004 - 06:34pm PT
|
"wasn't there a thread not to long ago about some guy who peoeple were posting horror stories about (the guy was in jail now or something ..)"
If that guy were my friend and the story was a hurtful lie, I'd have chimed in. As it happens, I didn't read that thread. You'll have to pardon me if I don't think gossip about Bernie getting his ass kicked by a group of men is funny.
I know a few funny stories about you, it just so happens, but I think it would be better if I didn't get my kicks gossiping about you on a public forum...especially one that you didn't have access to. Grow up.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!