Academy Sports & Outdoors

I shop at Academy for all my sports needs big and small. The staff isn’t the most knowledgeable but I feel they really do try to help out the customers. The soccer and basketball shoe sections could really use an upgrade. They usually just have very basic shoes in stock for both sports, I would love to see a few premium level shoes in to store. Also the camping section could be upgraded to be more competitive with some of the stores in town.

Needed some tennis balls and they were out. We asked an associate for help and he helped us get some tennis balls down from the top shelf that we didn’t see. Very friendly and willing to help.

I give this place a lot of my money. I get all of my fishing tackle here. Lures on average 1 – 2 dollars cheaper per lure than at other places. I’ve gotten my fishing licenses here yearly as well as a firearm. Go price shopping on fishing tackle and you will see what I’m talking about. Not to mention sports equipment for my son who plays every sport there is.

I’ve shopped here on a number of occasions over the last several years. My wife an I occasionally buy shoes for our kids here, and we’ve purchased some camping, swimming, and BBQ gear on a couple occasions.
Overall, the prices are «okay» but the staff is typically not very helpful.
However, I did have one over-​the-​top experience that I would like to share.
My wife and I bought a new, rather expensive BBQ grill for Memorial Day weekend in 2011. We were expecting to buy a grill that we had to assemble, but the model we wanted was out of stock, except for the already-​assembled floor model. The manager offered us the floor model for a small discount, and we decided to take it.
Two staff members helped me load it in my pickup truck, but didn’t have anything to help me tie it down with. I didn’t bring any tie-​down straps when I came to the store, because I was expecting to buy an unassembled grill in a box. I was a little nervous, as the grill was very top-​heavy.
I’m not exactly sure HOW it happened, but on the drive home we had to swerve to avoid something in the road, and the grill tipped over, fell out of the truck, and smashed into the roadway. It was badly mangled and completely ruined. We assumed that we were completely out of luck.
When we got home, my wife called up the store manager to tell him that we wanted to order another grill. She explained what happened, and the manager said he would replace the grill at no cost to us. We weren’t expecting that, but he insisted that his employees should have tied down the grill in the back of the truck before we left.
It took about a week for the new grill to arrive (in a box this time), and as promised, the store replaced it without any problems.
Now that’s what I call customer service!

We enjoy the BBQ stuff, they have some great lump charcoal for a great price year round. No plus size clothes so if your not already skinny I guess they think you don’t want to try. The people who work here occasionally ask if I need help.

I was recommended Academy Sports by one of my Jazzercise instructors for buying sports bras for girls who have real boobs. :) Happily, she told me what brand, model and details to look for because at no point EVER did I speak to anyone who worked in the store. Oh, that’s not true… when I brought out the clothes from the dressing room that I was not going to purchase, the poor attendant on duty asked me if I could just hang them back up on the rack. To her credit, those rooms were swamped… I had apparently picked small people school shopping day and it was a mess. There were repeated calls to have all employees at the checkouts during the hour that I was there.
That said, the sports bra I wanted wasn’t there. The tags from Academy were mistagged; I brought in three sports bras that were tagged by Academy in my size, but when I looked at the actual clothing tag, they were four sizes too small, which mandated another trip out to now look at the actual clothing tags, not just the price tags. The clothing was horribly mismatched and out of order; sizes, styles, brands were all a crapshoot (despite a very clear Champion® layout provided by the company).
All of the sports bras (for which I could possibly buy) were at least $ 45.00; this is a price I’d happily pay for something that fit me well or some customer service to guide me to a good bra.
All I got was a dirty look from the gentleman at the exit doors, who was clearly watching for shoplifters and didn’t like that I had a very big purse, but nothing in my hands. I think the look of frustration on my face told him not to mess with me.
So, if you know exactly what you want, don’t mind digging around to get to it, don’t mind doing this wholly on your own and don’t mind paying what I thought were high prices (some of the clothing was much better priced); you’ll be fine here.