JL Waters

Super helpful staff! I spent probably 20 minutes discussing the pros and cons of different backpacking stoves and the woman helping me was very patient. Oh, and they are dog friendly!

The staff is so helpful here. They are always willing to make sure you get what you need, and even if they don’t have it, they will order it. They prices are a little bit more expensive, but its a small business and the customer service is excellent.
Also the staff is experienced. They’ve been places around the country and have tips to help you on your trek. Highly recommend.

I used to shop here pretty often, and surely have spent a couple grand over the years. Today I was treated like petty criminal, asked to hand my backpack over as I entered. Staff was condescending, saying, «don’t worry, we won’t look through your stuff.» Frankly, I don’t trust them with my personal property, so I took my bag and abruptly left.
I don’t know why companies do this; treating customers as criminals. Must be falling upon hard times to be so desperate. Just get a theft detection system or cctv like everyone else, rather than insult the customers on whom you depend.
I’ll be going to REI in Castleton from now on. Better experience all around. Otherwise, JL Waters is an ordinary outdoors store selling high end brands at suggested retail prices. 2 stars.

A hometown REI. Very knowledgeable staff.

A very nice outfitter store with a friendly staff. This is probably the best store of it’s type in Bloomington. The prices are a little high but it’s a nice place and that carries good brands.

OK, so I really want to like JL Waters. I want to support a local outdoors store. But, they really blew it recently, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to forgive them.
My husband went into JL Waters just before Christmas and had a lengthy discussion with a salesperson there about how he wanted to buy me a climbing harness as a Christmas present. The salesperson gave some advice on choosing a size, and my husband bought a pretty expensive fancy climbing harness based on that advice.
It didn’t fit. So we tried to return it and/​or exchange it for a larger size. They told us they can’t take returns on climbing gear due to liability. They basically told us to eat the $ 150 expense and get lost.
It makes sense that they can’t take returned climbing gear (although apparently that policy also extends to climbing shoes, which it really shouldn’t).
They should have done several things differently:
1. Any salesperson assisting people in choosing climbing harnesses should insist that a person tries it on before purchasing, and should emphasize that it’s not returnable. Proper fit is also a serious safety and liability issue, so this should be at least as big a deal as refusing to take returns. A person can fall out of a harness that is too big, and die. The salesperson made a really serious error here.
2. The person at the register should make sure the buyer is aware of the return policy. This should be standard practice.
3. When I tried to return the harness, they could probably have come up with some way to make the situation seem a little less shitty for me. Basically all they could come up with was that I should try to sell it on ebay.

$ 70 *gloves*?! That’s just not ok.
I think their business strategy is, just make everything so expensive that they only need to sell one item per day.
I keep forgetting just how expensive this place is, coming back months or years later, and being shocked all over again.

Friendly staff.
Good selection for its size.
Moderate to expensive.
Nice map selection.

Indiana’s oldest outdoor store.
Excellent service and advice for your next outdoor adventure. They have a great selection of gear and clothing, everything from Snowboarding to Kayaking. J.L. Waters also offers a wide range of rental equipment at a decent price.