Over the last several months I have shopped at a few Michigan stores, and none of them had the reels or other items I was looking for. Not a big deal, as a lefty/01 reel user and a swimbait fisherman in the mid-west you get used to that. What blew my mind was not one salesperson offered to order the $200-$300 reels, or any of the lures I was asking about. I had to bring up ordering in to the store each time and the responses were "Yeah, we *can* order that for you, but who knows when it will get here. Have you tried X-big box website?" or the like. I could understand if it were bass pro or some national chain as they have little to no input on what is stocked in their stores, but these are established local outfitters. Is this honestly the way it is now? If it isn't in store, tough cookies order from x,y,z online?

Many of the suppliers don’t cater to small businesses very well.  The local shop that I use has several suppliers who won’t honor an order unless it exceeds $1000.  He usually orders twice a year.  So for those things I really want I have to plan ahead or order online.

39 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

Many of the suppliers don’t cater to small businesses very well.  The local shop that I use has several suppliers who won’t honor an order unless it exceeds $1000.  He usually orders twice a year.  So for those things I really want I have to plan ahead or order online.

i totally follow and respect that supplier minimums are a thing.  brooming customers out the door still seems like a poor, long term,  strategy.

A lot of the distributors are over the barrel just as much as the small retailers.

 

With all the buyouts/consolidation in the industry, individualized customer service has become something of a foreign concept.

i am confused as to why this was moved. i am not upset, but this is a general conversation about the fishing industry, not about tackle in specific. Would a mod be willing to dm me to explain so that i can place my posts in the correct forums in the future? (100% serious, 0% sarcasm)

@wolfe_ohara  I'm sure special ordering is not an easy request for small shops, but I certainly appreciate when they work for their customers.  If you're in SW MI, Clear H2O Tackle has a good selection and will order for you, they have for me in the past.

 

scott

I'm curious why you wouldn't just order from an online retailer? I'm all for supporting my local tackle shops (pretty sure I paid for at least one kid's college education with the money I've spent in Ocean's East), but I also love saving a buck. Sounds like you tried to do the right thing by supporting local and they gave you the green light to save yourself a few bucks online and not feel guilty about it.

19 minutes ago, JHoss said:

Sounds like you tried to do the right thing by supporting local and they gave you the green light to save yourself a few bucks online and not feel guilty about it.

 

I did this when I bought Costa Sunglasses years ago.  I went to a Scheels location to try them on and pick out the lens type I preferred in person.  When I found what I wanted, I asked the associate if they would price match the online cost.  He said nope.

 

I'm not about to spend an extra 100 bucks on shades in a situation like this.  They have the ability to price match and flat out refused.  I'll take my business elsewhere.

 

I am also having trouble getting the lures I want. I am finding that I have to order them online now because all local stores no longer carry some of the items I want.

 

So when I inquired to store employees I was told that because they sell their own line of custom rubber lures, they want to sell theirs above all others.

 

And so over the years at my local tackle store what has happened is their store brand has taken over the store and other brand names have been getting less and less shelf space and when I inquired about a particular lure I wanted to purchase I was told they would no longer be ordering it because it competes with their store brand which I don't want.

 

So my local store has pushed my brands out steadily to the point that today I only go into that store for convenient must have's and everything is now coming from somewhere else.

 

What are we to do?

 

So I have decided that at some point in the future I plan on getting into making moulds and pouring my own rubber lures with designs tweaked for my choices. Just how it goes sometimes I suppose.

 

Tackle shops only want to stock what flies off the shelves. When it stops flying. They stop ordering it. So I am stuck!

 

I tried contacting the lure company and no one would bother to return a reply. They lost a customer. I have moved on.

I try to view it as a good thing when I can't find a go-to lure locally. Means the fish might not be seeing it as much as the lures everyone can find locally. I've gotten on a few trends before they got popular and it always sucks when you walk into a local shop and see your secret bait on the shelves.