City Sports

I’ve been coming to this location for nearly four years. Things were fine until about two and a half years ago when they hired an androgynous purple-​haired Asian named, unhelpfully, «Sam.» Although I eventually discovered that «Sam» is a girl, this did nothing to alleviate the sheer torture of having to deal with her. She is incapable of getting through a single conversation without insulting me, and she has repeatedly threatened to «kill» and «murder» me while I am shopping. One time she threw a shoe at me. She has also insulted my mother, cast an evil voodoo spell on me, stolen a bite of my hamburger, tied my shoelaces together while I was sitting down so I fell over when I tried to walk, attempted to poison me by lacing my food with peanuts (to which I am deathly allergic), stood too close to me, told me I looked stupid in a hat, taken only one piece of a 1000 piece puzzle out of the box, refused to take a selfie with me, and gone to the bathroom without washing her hands. Perhaps the most egregious sin of all is the way she always dyes her hair a new color. As soon as I trained myself to associate a flash of purple with pure evil, she dyed it again to be blue. She is a chameleon of darkness, which makes it even harder to shield myself from her when I am shopping.
All in all, I am glad this store is going out of business because it means I will never have to see «Sam» again, IF THAT’S EVEN HER REAL NAME.

The City Sports on Commonwealth is rather small and their selection isn’t that expansive. It’s kind of old so it looks a little run down. It’s in a good location though since it’s right by the Boston University campus so students can easily access the store. I ended up buying a ping pong paddle but there were few options.

I went here because they have a lot of athletic shoes to pick from. The people were nice but they sold me an expensive pair of defective shoes. When I went into return them, they didn’t have anymore in stock and wanted me to pay $ 20 to get them shipped to their store, not even my house! I was appalled and just left the store. That was the last time I will be going there.

Very nice store. I buy my biking equipment from them. You can always find a coupon online. They have other stores too but this one seems to be a good one!

This place is okay. I’ve went multiple times and they have a great selection of workout gear, but for some reason, I always end up leaving without buying anything. The clothes are pricey, and sometimes they don’t fit right, aren’t that comfortable, etc. Can’t really say that’s the store’s fault though. My one problem with this store is that each time I have went, they only have one cashier working, and it literally took me 15 minutes once to buy a water bottle! But overall, I’d say it’s worth checking out.

City Sports is the go-​to place for anything related to athletics in Boston. Best thing about them? They are everywhere!
My friend is an avid shopper here, so I’m always in here serving as the bug in his ear about not buying too much. You can look at it as a problem for your wallet, but they have an incredibly large selection of athletic wear that is daunting but exciting. Their prices are a bit high for my taste, but they always have stuff on clearance, and it’s a pretty good selection of goods, too. I’m the furthest thing from an athlete, but I do find myself browsing the racks for some running gear every time I’m in there. The staff at this specific location isn’t the most help — they’re usually just hanging out at the counter talking with themselves — but the store is self-​explanatory, so you won’t necessarily need them.
If I ever become a sports junkie, I know where my fixes will come from!

Great selection of adult athletic wear. Sometimes hard to park on Comm Ave. The real drawback is their very limited selection of children’s gear. There are definitely better sports stores (like Dick’s!), but it’s convenient and they usually have what you need (unless it’s for kids!).

I recently tried on a pair of shoes at City Sports, which I later bought online on their website because of an web specific sale. I made the error of ordering my shoes a half size too big and as a result got blisters when training. After a week of running I brought the shoes back to see if I could return them (I didn’t know if this was possible but I decided to give it a shot).
Despite not having the original box and minimal use, they let me exchange the shoes for the right size. I was helped by Frankie, he was super helpful when resizing the shoe and did his best to ensure I could do an exchange. I plan on buying all my future shoes from this city sports because I don’t have to worry about fit issues or returns.

I always have great experiences in this store, so I felt compelled to share. This location on my running route — so I’ve stopped in mid-​run for things like gu or hand-​warmers, and I’ve always received great service as well as help with things like throwing away my extra trash so I don’t have to bring it with me. It’s also super-​close to the Shaw’s /​Star Market so you can take care of a few errands in one trip…
Staff has ALWAYS been very helpful — whether I’m ordering shoes online (so I can take advantage of a discount w/​o paying for shipping), seeking a special size or color, I’ve always dealt with really patient, really pleasant people who are willing to talk me through my decisions. The last time I went in looking for shoes, the manager even agreed to do a price match for me based on a discount I would have gotten at another store. (On top of my student discount!)
Stock is generally very robust, varied, and quality merchandise. Sometimes they are out of a few things but they will always call other stores and order for you. Thank you to the Comm Ave City Sports for making it easier to be sporty in the city. ;)

I’ve only been in here twice for simple things, but each time, I’ve been impressed by the customer service. The staff is friendly, patient, and knowledgeable, and the store is clean and nicely organized.

Brought my tennis racquet to get restrung here. AWFUL! Within a few months the strings were loosening. I will try to bring the racquet back and see if they will string it again at a reduced price or gratis, but I am very dissatisfied with their stringing service. Sadness.

My first City Sports experience went down at this location as we killed some time (before a sporting event, chance has it). The shop boasted a fairly solid selection, groovy tunes, and shelves well-​maintained by the largely-​student employees.

The people here are pretty unhelpful. I came in once looking for an item in a small size, and the sales person rolled her eyes when I asked more than a couple of questions about it and generally just gave off an air of being hugely inconvenienced. This has been my experience with the female staff here on multiple occasions.
More recently, I stopped in to pick up a Timbuk2 backpack that they were offering for a final sale. About a ½ hour after I bought it (backpack was still in the bag, with all the labels intact) I realized it was last year’s model and that it didn’t have a feature I assumed was on there. They wouldn’t let me return it. I mean, I know it says «final sale,» but I mean, really? 30 minutes after purchase?

I’m at the point where I should call myself a runner… I guess. What that means is that I needed an upgrade – Nike Shox, while cute, were completely inappropriate for attempting to run an alleged half-​marathon. So, the GF dragged me in, and a very nice and patient Emily laughed after I told her about the Shox and fitted me with a stability shoe that is wonderful. She didn’t make me feel awkward or out of shape, and was encouraging and fun. CS was having a sale, but let me show my student ID for an additional 10%. Not bad. The counter help was efficient, friendly and fast as well. I’ll probably return when it’s time to buy another pair.

Bought running shoes here 3 years ago. The staff was very very helpful then in selecting the right shoe and they lasted me 3 whole years. I drive 20 minutes back to that store and was greeted by a very very helpful and knowledgeable person again! I will never buy running shoes anywhere else. Hopefully i will buy new shoes within the next 3 years, because my old ones were really stinky and dirty, kept em wayyyy too long.
They also take your old shoes… so i leave my old shoes there and walk out da sto in my new spiff shoes. Some New Balance 992s or something like that, 20% off cuz of the super coupon from the Shaw’s next door. Man, what a day.

A girl who assessed my feet made critical error. She told me that I was flat footed.
So I believed and got my self two pairs of «stability» shoes which was specifically designed for that.
I wore one day. I kept rolling my left ankle with that new shoes. My left ankle hasn’t recovered from sprain since May so I was really scared. Thankfully I wasn’t running, so I didn’t injure myself with it.
I am at the age it’s hard to heal injuries and have to co-​exist with them. So safety with shoes is critical.
Since I wore once outside, I couldn’t return one of pairs I bought. Now I am stuck with a hazardous pair of running shoe.
Fail!
For selling me a wrong and hazardous pair of shoe!

It seems like they have very good sales and that alone deserves three stars. However, the most helpful advice they gave me was a suggestion to go to EMS instead.
After fruitlessly wandering around searching for a tent, walking through the shoe selection, and looking around the women’s clothing, I asked a staffer for some advice on my future hiking and camping adventure.
He smiled a bit and suggested I go to EMS. Nuff said.

Packard’s Corner Trifecta, Part 2
I really like the City Sports out at Chestnut Hill, but this one seems kind of silly. The floorplan is a pain in the rear, and they carry a pretty strange selection of merchandise — trendy, but not particularly useful or cost-​effective.

For the most part I like the downtown City Sports better than this location but in my experiece I have found that the staff at this location is the most friendy and helpful. This is one of the few places that I can go into and expect to be asked by multiple employees if I need any help.
Based on my impression of the different stores this location tends to have a good selection of bags and running gear. Some of their other locations seem to have a better selection of other sports gear.
For regular sports gear this is the big one in the area. They will have most of the things that you need unless you are looking for more specialized Ski/​snowboard or outdoor gear. pricing isn’t great but there other places around will charge you about the same price.

I am in desperate need of new workout clothes, but I spent twenty minutes in this store, and I still left empty handed. They have plenty of choices, but they were sort of pricey and I couldn’t find something I felt comfortable in.
The workers were very nice, however!