Big 5

Very friendly and helpful… They made sure I got everything I needed on my list. They also gave me coupons to use and signed me up for another coupon to be sent on my e-​mail. I usually shop at a different location, then I got referred to this location by YMCA and I’ll be coming back…

always has what I need and the prices are great. Never had a bad experience here.

I have been looking for a canopy for personal use & had done quite a bit of research on line & gone to a few places to look at what they had to offer. I have had the opportunity to frequently use & work with the $ 700−800+ commercial canopies so I am quite familiar with construction, usage & assembling canopies. I had a very good idea from there on what I was looking for in a canopy for my personal use.
Unfortunately, I have not found a store that displays all the canopies they sell & they typically only have one canopy erected for examination. I came to this Big 5 in the early stages of looking for canopies. I explained to the manager (maria, I think was her name), that at that time I just wanted to see the actual material the canopy top was made of & the gauge & construction of the legs of the canopy. She opened just the end of one of the boxes that had the canopy I was interested in & allowed me to look without pulling it out of the box completely. Still in the early stages of narrowing my selection down, I thanked her & left.
Having narrowed my selection down, I came back to this Big 5 & approached the manager (maria) to clarify something I needed to know before I actually purchased the canopy. I asked, «What is your return policy on the canopies if I were to buy one, bring it home & opened it up, examined it & felt the construction wasn’t what I was looking for … could I return it?»
Simple enough question.
She then began to question me on why I would need to open it up. I explained that since they did not have one on display I would need to erect one fully open to be able to tell if it was constructed in the manner I was looking for in a canopy & I could not tell that by just looking at it while it was in the box. She then told me that she «showed» it to me so why would I need to bring it home to open it. I asked her if I could open it up here then, and of course she said no.
I asked her again what the return policy was for Big 5 on canopies. She again went off on she couldn’t understand why I needed to open it up & she had «showed» me the canopy. By this time I could tell by her mannerisms of eye rolls, going on to do other things while «talking» to me, her tone of voice that she was being totally condscending & dismissive of me.
Now if you haven’t noticed, she has not even answered my very basic, very simple question that I had posed to her in the very beginning of our conversation.
Of course by this time I had had it. I told her that her managerial skills were terrible. That she clearly demonstrated that she was condescending & dismissive of me & that she never answered my original question. Her reply was that she was «trying to find a solution to my problem.» What?!? She offered no solution & never answered my question, and I told her so.
So in a very «pissy» tone she asks, «How can I help you?»
I asked again, «What is your return policy on the canopies if I were to buy one, bring it home & opened it up, examined it & felt the construction wasn’t what I was looking for … could I return it?»
She said it is store policy I could not return it. I asked, «Is that THIS store’s policy or Big 5s policy?»
She said it was Big 5s policy. OK, got my answer & left.
Since then I spoke with the manager of the IB & El Cajon Big 5 & their immediate response was that I could return the canopy, no problem. I actually bought a canopy from the El Cajon store & after bringing it home & putting it up, felt it was not what I was looking for. I returned it with no hassles, got a different one, took it home & put it up & was satisfied with what I had purchased.
Somebody has some serious negative issues when it comes to dealing with customers and knowing store policies. Or maybe someone was going through a powertrip & felt they could dictate their own rules & policies. Either way, not good.

EVAN STYLES!!! The store Manager there is the nicest, most helpful, eager to please, manager-​employee I have ever met anywhere in my life. Every time and I mean every time we go into this store and he sees the customer he is right there. You will not leave that store unhappy if he is working. I’ve been thinking about Unilocaling about him for a while now and since I was on I had to do it. The store is great and the people working there are always helpful but trust me… Me and others I know go there and drive the drive cause we know Evan will find what we need and make sure we get the right product!

I drive the extra miles just to shop at this store. It’s worth it. Great customer service.

This is a great, friendly, local store. I come here to buy refills for my pellet guns, as well as targets and ammo for my 9 mm.
The manager gives me deal prices even after the deal is over. Very friendly, clean and organized store.
This store made me a regular Big 5 shopper, but sorry, I still prefer Sport Chalet. :)