Charlie’s Sporting Goods

I stumbled across Charlie’s a few years ago while in the area on business.
Flying in from Boston my first agenda is to stop by this shop. Love the fly fishing equipment, firearms etc. Reminds me of my local store that I purchase my gear from, the staff is great and very helpful
10 stars for this awesome store.
You’ve got a customer for life
Cheers

I visited Charlie’s Sporting Goods today and left very upset. Although I was friendly and courteous, the older gentleman in the store flat out refused to help me! Do not shop here. They’re overpriced and rude.

My son and I go here frequently. Fishing, it’s all about the fishing for us. The staff is friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and not too pushy. I love to shop local and this place has great quality, selection and hurrah for local.

Went to charlies to look for a new shot gun, and this store is so close to my house I thought Id start my search here.Wrong.They have a great selection of hunting and fishing stuff but there the most expensive in town. Guess I will stick with sportsmens warehouse. I like to keep my money local but cant here.

This is the definitive shotgun sports store in New Mexico.
They have lots of other sporting equipment too, such as what appears to be an expansive fishing department. It looks like they have a reasonable selection of handguns too. However, as sporting clays are my thing this review focuses on their shotgun department.
For shotguns, especially over/​under double barrels, they rock (hard!).
First; they have an excellent selection ranging from «entry level» over/​under guns from CZ through a wide selection of Brownings and well into a variety of niche Italian brands. The range goes from ~$ 500 up to well over $ 5k. They must have good connections with several distributors as they are able to order over/under’s and get them in less than five days in some cases.
Second; the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. They don’t try to upswell you out of your price range and are open with their opinions while not being in anyway judgmental or disapproving of your final choice. They apparently offer a good lay-​away program (I don’t buy guns on lay-​away but have heard good things about their program). They also employee three full time gunsmiths and have been genuinely enthusiastic about various projects I’ve discussed with them; Ron Peterson’s, by contrast, tries to always talk me out of any gun smithing projects and in general is less than enthusiastic about any gunsmith work I bring to them.
They also don’t seem to suffer from the same classicism that too many other stores do; I get the same service whether I come in at lunch from work wearing a suit or on a weekend in cargo shorts & polo with all my tattoos showing.
Third and most important; their prices are good. For new over/under’s commonly below msrp. I suspect that extends to their other shotguns but only have first hand knowledge of over/​under double barrels.
Third, it’s just a cool store. The interior has a sort of «hunting lodge» feel and is well laid out. The store is large by independent store standards. Lots to look at, ogle, fondle, and drool over (gun peeps know what I’m talking about).
I brought my brother in-​law here to buy his first gun (a CZ Canvasback) and readily recommend them to anyone looking into a good shotgun for competition or hunting.

A couple of months back yet another gigantic, warehouse-​style sporting goods outlet opened its doors near Cottonwood mall, joining the ranks of transplants situated all over Albuquerque which don’t know the Gila from Helena of Troy. Every Mega Mart has a sporting goods section these days, where you can question an employee about water levels on the upper Rio Grande and receive a minimum wage answer. Or, you can go to Charlies.
I won’t comment on the firearm selection or price at this neighborhood store, because I have never sought to purchase one. I fish. I used to fish a lot. And a lot of the time I find myself scouring the aisles of the mega-​chains, searching for a particular lure or seasonal bait, sometimes successfully, usually disappointed. Charlie’s is a little out of the way for me, but when I make the effort I always come out on top.
When you enter Charlie’s you’re immediately confronted with a number of maps and charts documenting the fishing and seasonal conditions of our state, every corner of it. Want to know what flies are hitting on the Chama? Check the map. The selection of tackle and equipment, particularly for the fly fisherman, is unparalleled in ABQ. Their employees are exceptionally knowledgeable and open to discuss anything. This is what a neighborhood, local sporting goods shop is supposed to be.
Will you be paying steeper prices? Maybe. Better to go into the wild prepared with not only the stuff to «tackle» the job, but the know-​how to be successful. That’s worth a few extra bucks.

Charlie’s is the most expensive sporting goods store in town. My first experience there was last year, I was going to purchase a gun online and needed a ffl to receive it. They were suggested by the website I bought the gun from so I called them. Their ffl fee is $ 75. Outrageous! That is just absurd… They then asked what the price was that I was getting the gun for online, and they ended up ordering me the gun and charging me the online price plus their ffl which was still a good price. So I went away somewhat happy.
Since then, it has been nothing but frustration with them. Their prices on guns is unbelievably high. I catch myself doing double takes at the price tags all the time. New or used, prices are higher than the highest you could imagine.
I ended up winning a $ 150 gift certificate there, so I have to find something…
They have a 10 month layaway on guns though, so I ended up putting a ruger vaquero on layaway. That gun never got ordered, and I never heard anything about it. Shortly after, I called and inquired about a keltec 9 mm carbine. At first they said they can’t order it, they have bad experiences ordering Kel tecs. Funny cuz I could order it from multiple sites and have it here tomorrow. Then they said they could order it but it would be $ 410. They go for 280 online. I talked to someone else who said $ 380 but they never called me back about ordering it.
I called today asking about a hi point 9 mm carbine. I figured it’s about $ 200 so I’ll use my gift card on that. They said they can’t order a hi point. Theyve had bad experiences. Sound familiar? I said «I’ve tried twice to give you guys money and you just won’t take it» I never told them I had a gift card either.
So I listed the gift card on Craigslist. Hopefully no one reads this and buys it from me