Got a Dick's sporting goods opening up pretty close.

Can't say I've ever been in one.

Should I be excited?

Not overly - they are a lot like all of the other "sporting goods" stores these days.

So similar to Gander Mountain or Bass Pro?

Can get some really good stuff on sale, if you don't mind buying from a store that dropped AR's because of public opinion.

No.
Maybe if you like golf clubs and sportswear,
No handguns, no evil black rifles.
Sportsman's Warehouse still rules.

They carry guns & shooting supplies, but they're not in the guns or shooting supply business.

The guns will top-out at Savage Axis / Rem 783. White & green box ammo in .270/.308/.30-06. .22lr exists only in rumors.

Nikon ProStaff is their high-end optics.

And don't get me started on their personnel.

FC

Just another big box....I used to shop at the original "Dick's" on Court street in Binghampton when I lived down that way in the '70 (as my dad used to since they opened in the late '40's. ) That was a great store; lots of guns and reloading stuff, fishing tackle, they'd beat anybody's price on anything.

Yeah,
The gun counter wizard suggested Tru-Glo as "one of the best" red dot sights.

+1.

I scored a pink sleeping bag and a pink tackle box there for my grand-niece last Christmas, which was the only stuff I ever bought there. What does that tell you?

Nothing I can add to this.

They do carry decent hunting stuff...and they put it on incredibly cheap closeout post season. Other than that, not much there I care about.

It's been several years since I visited the Dick's that replaced Sportsman's Warehouse after they abandoned their Las Cruces store. I think that two trips did it for me. Fortunately for us here in this forgotten corner of the nation, Sportsman's is opening a new store in LC next month. Not so good for the independents, but at least there will be a decent variety of guns, powder, bullets, reloading tools, clothing, etc., from which to choose.

Unfortunately, not around here...

Only been in one but it was pretty sad and expensive. My grandkids didnt even buy anything with the money we gave them. Not really much for guns and ammo at all. ED K

over priced junk

Far worse.

Don't waste your time.

I have one about 3 miles from the house, been there once. And I didn't spend a penny there.

The one here does carry handguns and scopes like Zeiss and Leupold but sucks in general.

Basically this. Their golf section is decent.

I will say that you have to REALLY watch them with their ads in store. They LOVE the bait and switch and it takes a while to get them to come around to make things right.

I refuse to shop there anymore because of it.


Example - sign says "4 oz Scent Killer - 3.99" and then the shelf is full of the stuff but it rings up at 9.99. When asked about it they say "sorry, yes Scent Killer but not THAT Scent Killer - we meant the other stuff, 2 aisle over" - sorry not my problem. The sign doesn't specify and this particular bottle was under the sign the last 3 times I was here (used to buy a lot of golf balls there) and I'm the first to all your BS on it.

They eventually let me buy at that price but asked I never come back. I was calm and collected the whole time. Brother went in the following week and same stuff under the same sign for the same price. Wasn't a mistake but a a bait and switch.

This.

Keep an eye peeled for the sales:

aluminum ball bats

Frisbees

underarmor shirts

academe is cheaper and better.

Well, there does seem to be a rare consensus here on the 'fire!

Sounds like there's no need to get excited!

thanks to all...

--

+1

Living in the Vestal / Binghamton NY Area in the 1970's to 1991 the Pre-corporate Dicks was great, big assortment of guns and deals. Very good archery shop back in those days and gunsmith's.

Their managers would show up and support local gun clubs when we had events with both gifts and to help out.

After old man Dick died and so did that level of service.

Now hunting equipment is limited to low end guns, etc..

Agreed Roger!

They sell fishing gear cheap from time to time. Picked up some Rapala Scatter Raps for $3 each the other day.

It's not for nothing that the head of Dick's is called the Dickhead by hunting and fishing enthusiasts!

Steve

No.

I have never been fond of Dick's generally speaking, but as a savvy shopper I have taken advantage of sale items when it suits me.

Dick's is Pittsburgh based and has been around for quite some time. They are not shooting oriented and have never really identified with anything in particular.

They were big into golf a few years ago and even cut back on that. They cover a lot of sports, in general terms, but nothing stands out. They sell a lot of sports clothing.

I quit going when they decided to fold their tent and not offer a decent array of rifles.

Stick with the other options IMO.

donsm70

Not a huge fan of Dicks, sometimes you will find deals on game cams ect. I was able to buy an off the shelf Benelli M2 for 799.00 this was around December/January time frame so I made out ok.

I bought 2 game cams from them and found them around the same price or better than online. I usually buy my running shoes from them out of convenience even though the selection is small.

Hit them up after the hunting season and you can find mark downs on scent cover, deer attractants, ect. Same with Wally World though.

So it is not my first place to shop but sometimes I run into a deal from them?

That you're a lucky man. Grandpa.

Fairly uninteresting hunting offerings, generally speaking. Lots of Chinajunk. They've had some deals. For years they've had non-catalogged 700s, and regular sales that are a bargain. ADL Varmint, ADL SS, an oddball matte black wood stocked one I don't recall the details of... They were getting out of SS Tikka T3s and IIRC, agreed to order me another caliber at the posted clearance price, $517. They were offloading Vortex, got a Ranger 1000 for cheap. Got a Prostaff to try for $99 once. Glad I didn't pay more. Not sure if they still have the 700 SS ADLs but BiMart a local chain stopped carrying Remingtons and the Dick might be the only local outlet? I drop by one occasionally as it's next to my least favorite local outdoor store. With extremely low expectations, I'm often left satisfied.

Not even close, more like Academy.

Reassuring.




Hey, Travis ain't here!

Except that it's all wrong. Dicks carries Leupold scopes {I bought one there recently} and Vortex and zeiss Terra's. They've also had 22LR's on the shelf in several different brands every single time I've been in there for the past year which is every other week. They also carry Hornady and Federal fusion centerfire rifle ammo as well as Browning, Benelli, Franchi, Remington 700's and Marlin lever guns in several different models. Prices are better on virtually everything than Gander and Bass pro. This is all in the original Dick's on Court street Binghamton NY.

Probably won't run over to Binghamton to find out.

They have the same stuff in the Vestal store so probably others as well. Dickhead.

Last time I purchased from Dick's they had all of the shotgun ammo on sale for like $4.99 a box. I went in and asked if the AA 28 gauge was included and was told yes.
Walked out with 15 flats of 28 gauge ammo.

That was in 2001.

Only time I wander up into the firearms section is during their Thanksgiving night Black Friday sale, when they usually have their 700's marked down cheap and Remington usually runs a rebate. Make great donors at those prices...

We call them "Tallywhacker's" in Alabama. And their firearms dept. pretty much sucks. But they do have very good pre- and post-season sales.

not at all

Once it started to expand it became just another box store, after moving to Pittsburgh from Binghamton they stopped selling handguns and have been down hill since then.

Old Dick Stack had a great store he started at only 18 with $300 from his Grandmother back in 1948. As with many businesses when it is passed down to the next generation their ideal of making it better sucks.

It's just not in your DNA to have an adult discussion without name calling, is it?

I had a Dick ... or, at least, had one when I was younger.

kd

My son marched in there & told a staff member, "I just typed your store into Google, and it sure didn't have anything to do with sporting goods!"

Anymore, I just refer to it as, "Richard's" when in polite company.

FC

I always thought you were a dickhead since way back in the Huntamerica.com days. Nothing's changed.

A buddy of mine got a great deal on a Beretta 686 at a Dick's here in N.C. Heck of a shotgun!

Socks'n'jocks, like Gander or Academy, nothing much to get the excitement flowing. I don't bother going in them any more.

30+ guys all make consistent comments about Dicks. Then you your first comment is Except that it's all wrong. Dicks is great.

Yep, nothing has changed.

When Dick's opened a store near me back in the mid 90's, it was not a bad store. I usually spent money in there around deer and turkey season. However, in fairly short order, it caused the closing of two of my favorite independent stores. One of these had the best gun counter in the county.

When the BassPro opened up 5 miles away, it sucked business off Dick's, and they began de-emphasizing their hunting and fishing departments.

I stopped shopping at Dick's about a decade ago. I was in another part of town and had an hour to kill before an appointment. I went into the Dick's they had at the local mall just to waste time. After a couple of minutes of searching, I could not find the hunting and fishing sections, so I asked a clerk. The clerk got huffy with me and told me they had no such departments in the store.

Since then, Field and Stream has opened a couple stores near me. This is Dick's trying to play to the hunting and fishing crowd, and they come off as sort of BassPro-lite. The prices are outrageous.

Those F&S stores do have an enormous selection... of things I have no use for, no interest in, or both. The gun counter is sizeable. The number of associates and their competence is not.

The last gun store I entered that was truly, "in business" was Whittaker's.

FC

Was not too impressed by Dick's

The one in Lake Charles, Louisiana had a petty good selection of high end baseball gloves. I helped a friend's son buy one.

Try the one in Bangor Maine and get back to Me. In fairness, I haven't stepped foot in there since the Black Rifle fiasco. Maybe it's changed, but I have My doubts. Must admit though, if you are looking for anything Under Armor, that's the place to go.

I suppose I'll have to check out the Vestal & Binghamton stores to see them at their best.

The more-than-a-dozen of their stores I've been to across the midwest have been exactly as described by all the other posters.

FC

Dick's is usually the last place I will go to.

But I do look at their sales flyers when they send them out. Once and a while they will have a killer sale on ammo and gear.
Last fall they had Winchester AA shells for $58.00 a case. I grabbed three cases of 12's and three 20's at that price.
I got some good deals on .22 LR shells too.

I agree with most of the sentiments here. I think Academy is a better box store, generally, than Dick's.

The exception though is if the store they are building has a "Field and Stream" appendage. They recently opened up a Dick's and Field & Stream a few miles from my house. Really two big stores with an opened wall between them.

Field & Stream focuses entirely on the outdoor sports we love. I was honestly impressed when I went in it the first time. I expected the same tired selection of Savage and low end Remingtons and Marlins. I did not expect to see two long walls of guns, two tiers high, with all action types made under the sun. Bolts, levers, semis...Sig, Benelli, Berretta, they even had a few Weatherby rifles on hand. And not just the Vanguards, honest Mark Vs with the price tag to boot. Even had a case full of handguns too; and not just the plastic stuff. 1911s and even several revolvers.

Their reloading section wasn't robust at all but their ammo selection was impressive. Multiple brands and several oddball cartridges. First time I have ever seen .264WM, .220 Swift, and .35 Whelen in stock at the same place.

Typical knife selection on the shelves, but they had Zero Tolerance, KOA and an assortment of Benchmades in the case, among others.

Lots of good clothing too, including Sitka Gear. And their fishing selection is better than the local Academy too.

I spend a fair amount of money in that store...the Dick's store adjacent to it? Not so much. In fact, it is likely that I will never step foot in that store for the foreseeable future.

Thanks, guys. this has been a very enlightening thread. As a matter of fact there is a Field & Stream going in next door, so perhaps that is worthy of a little cautious optimism.

Changing times. Field and Stream is a store and grown men are discussing their experience with Dick's...

I like field and stream. They run decent sales. Plus, they accept Dick's gift cards which is nice since you can usually pick them up at a discount.

Then go pay more at Gander or bass pro ya stupid f*ck. I've bought over 20,000 rounds of .22 LR at Dicks in the past few months while the shelves have mostly been bare at Gander and bass pro. Was at the Utica bass pro just last weekend and all they had on the shelf was 3 measly 100 packs of CCI standard velocity. The shelves at the Binghanton Dicks were stacked with CCI mini Mags, Remington golden bullet bulk packs, Federal auto match 325's, Winchester 555's, Winchester M-22's and both Remington and Winchester HV .22 shorts when I was in there two weeks ago.

there you go again with the name calling...yes, some things never change.

Blackie, I don't know you from Adam (for which I'm eternally grateful!). But based on your many, and consistent posts, you strike me as a person who:

1) has lived within a small area all his life, doesn't understand that other areas are different and can't grasp that different techniques work better in different areas.

2) has never matured to the point of understanding that reasonable minds can differ. It seems you have very strong opinions based on your experiences, and anyone who has a differing opinion must be stupid, without merit, and worthy of only your disdain and name calling.

At any rate, I've wasted more time on this than it's worth, and hopefully you are different in person. Have a good life

ST,
your favorite dickhead

I was in one 10-12 years ago. Never saw a reason to go back.

.

Jack

Dick's has a couple stores in the Rochester NY area. I'm in one of 'em now and then and even buy stuff sometimes. Last time I was there they had quite an extensive handgun case and a bunch of Leupold scopes but I was tight on time and couldn't stop long enough to check out the prices. I've gotten boots, fishing gear, jackets, etc. there that were all decent quality at a decent price. There's also a Gander Mt. and a Field & Stream in this area so Dick's must have to be competitive with them or they wouldn't be here anymore. There was one good joke going around back when Gander Mt. first opened their store in this area: Q: Why do all the lesbians go to Gander Mt.? .... A: They don't like Dick's....

F#&K Dicks and and their spin off, Field and Stream. After the shafting they gave their AR supplier and then they pulled the AR's from the Dicks stores (only to sell them in Field and Streams at way higher prices during the panic buying) no gun owner in his right mind should support them in any way.

Dale

^^^^^^

Way better than gander. You can actually buy a gun at dicks without taking on another mortgage.

We got a lot of "Dumb Dicks" here at work!!

Pathetic excuse for a store!

Dick's opened a new store near me about 4 years ago and sent out coupons
For $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. I went, thinking I would use the coupon on a couple boxes of shotgun shells. To my surprise this particular store did not have a hunting section.

(That was actually a smart move on their part since this store is about 3 miles from one of the better local gun stores AND an excellent local sporting goods store (hunting, fishing, archery, best inventory and prices of safes in town...)

I walked all over that Dick's store twice and could not find anything I wanted, even with $10 free money. I left and tossed the coupon in the trash.

There's one just up the road from my work which is the only one i've ever been into. Basically like Academy only with a lot less selection and worse quality stuff.

guns selection is pretty much just savage axis or ruger ammo selection is really only .223, .270, 30-06 etc. and most will only have one brand and bullet weight of hunting bullets but do have a lot of 9mm and 223 plinking stuff. they do have some game cameras and feeder motors but most just look like cheap chinese knockoffs.

Well worth it to drive the extra 30 minutes to bass pro or academy.

Dicks will be Dicks.....I don't care for them that much unless I am buying stands, ground blinds or tennis shoes, guns and ammo stink.

Got a great deal on Smartwool socks a few years back because they were priced wrong on the display. They gave me a hassle at the register but the footwear chick admitted the mistake. Generally don't shop there but it was Christmas time and I needed gifts.

Dicks isn't a bad store but it is mostly a sporting goods store i.e. balls, bats , golf clubs etc with a department that sells guns, camping and fishing gear. Outdoor sports are just one of the departments not the focus of the store. They do occasionally have a decent sale on dove loads or maybe tree stands at end of the season. If you want something specific they can probably order it for you as Dicks has a sister company more alongside the Cabelas model called Field and Stream. I don't know if they can cross order inventory.
I bought a stevens 200 from them several years ago. Someone had given me a gift certificate that I needed to burn up. The guy at the gun counter ordered the 308 chambering I wanted price matched the price to $189 then honored my gift certificate and gave me a $15 off coupon. I was about $75 out of pocket.

They are opening 6 big Dick's here in our area.

Best not tell Deflave there's 6 big dick's coming........

You guys in Texas think even your Dick's are bigger than everyone else's.

Dont check out to many of other guys thangs.

Well, that's six new places to buy socks and jocks.


You MIGHT find .22 ammo if you get there early enough.

If you do, it'll be Thunderbolts or Automatch, and neither of them are worth a dime in my book.

They may hurt Academy.

So that is 6 stores to tell the manager "Dick's didn't support gun owners, I refuse to support you" and walk out the door.

PHUGG Dicks (and their spinoff, Field and Stream)

Dale

Might buy a pack of splitshot there on my way outta town, if my regular spot is closed. Certainly wouldn't go for the expertise. Usually some nice looking gals but that is little help on way outta town.

Last time was actually to buy my son some baseball cleats..problem was, no one to help us, no pairs to try on unassisted, and so out the door we went. Bad enough bringing an off the shelf item to the register...

I enjoy purchasing items on clearance there, like primos proof cam 03s for $67 or a family four pack of Motorola radios for $4.95. I figure they ain't making much money on me. I do buy ladder stands with a shooting rail there as well. Usually get them for $69 if I wait for a sale. Their prices are better than the local gander mtn, who has some of the highest prices I have seen for guns and ammo.

How many Dicks are there??

Anyone ever get the crabs at Dick's?

Is Dick's big

I was getting my Dick's mixed up, was thinking of the restaurant Dick's Last Resort. My apology to all.

Getting your dicks mixed up can be a problem!

Yep

One to a customer, thank goodness.

There's a scene in "Texasville", the sequel to "The Last Picture Show", where Duane's wife finds him sitting by the pool pointing a .44 mag at his manhood. He says, "I'm thinking about shooting my dick off. It's caused me nothing but trouble."

"The Last Picture Show" was just on yesterday. I had forgotten about it - good show.

Great movie and even better book.

Haven't seen a Dick's yet

Dick's is like a sporting goods Kmart. Do you shop Kmart?

In the same way ya'll feel about Dick's, I understand a Cabela's opened up about 18 miles from my house. Ain't been, don't plan to go, don't care.

That's just silly, no offense. There is no comparison between Dick's and Cabelas for hunting, camping, firearms, and equipment. Cabelas is top notch. For golf, etc, Dick's is obviously much better.

Duck's aint opened yet.

No guns or ammunition at all in our local stores. I go in about once every 2 years to buy something for a different sport. Every time I let them know that they are missing the boat not carrying hunting gear particularly good boots. They don't care much at all,

I agree. I buy the vast majority of my hunting stuff online, including firearms. But Cabela's has its place and is certainly more firearms friendly than most big box stores.

The local stores in my area and we have 2, don't impress me as far as rifles offerings go. A couple of years ago I did buy a Benelli semi auto shotgun from them (montifeltro was the only choice). They also carry a couple of choices in Beretta semis as well.

They would not be my first stop to check out any gun purchases. Academy Sports would get a visit out of me before Dicks.

+1 ... I have not been in the Dick's nearby in 10+ years.

It is good that many of us avoid dicks.

When I worked there briefly in 2003, inventory decisions were made from afar. We just priced and placed what they sent us. Occasionally, a muckety-muck from On High would come in and tell us everything we were doing wrong. Our stock ranged from barely mid-level stuff to trash. I might be tempted to walk in to one to check on .22 ammo, but that's all.

There's one I can't avoid, though it's caused me no end of trouble.