I work in retail and from my perspective AD offers shocking customer service and a terrible customer experience. There shops are untidy and un kept. I have been in quite a few.
Outlaw pro seem to have raised the bar in retail terms and in my opinion will eclipse AD in years to come because of a much better shopping experience and business model.
Outlaw pro seem to have raised the bar in retail terms and in my opinion will eclipse AD in years to come because of a much better shopping experience and business model.
The ever changing face of fishing, cottage industry to a multi million pound block buster industry 
Pluses
We have to be honest they are all well fitted out shops with a good amount of stock. Can't knock the staff, people need jobs ffs!
Minus
The stock is limited and they are pushing what they want to sell, of the shops I have seen they have very little TOP quality gear in stock if that what you are looking for but will try and sell you alternatives
What ever AD want to stock is what you will be having. They have monopolised the market place and they will dictate the future of suppliers, it's our way
They have blow all the competition away with buyouts so when it's Advanta for all and everything is at a premium I will just say, I told you so now shut the **** up
Fishing tackle supermarkets lol
Long live TFT and the likes
Pluses
We have to be honest they are all well fitted out shops with a good amount of stock. Can't knock the staff, people need jobs ffs!
Minus
The stock is limited and they are pushing what they want to sell, of the shops I have seen they have very little TOP quality gear in stock if that what you are looking for but will try and sell you alternatives
What ever AD want to stock is what you will be having. They have monopolised the market place and they will dictate the future of suppliers, it's our way
They have blow all the competition away with buyouts so when it's Advanta for all and everything is at a premium I will just say, I told you so now shut the **** up
Fishing tackle supermarkets lol
Long live TFT and the likes
In reply to Post #31
Do many actually visit shops these days?
Ive not been into a tackle shop for over 15 years now, mainly use Johnson Ross, on line, and i do have a trade account with a tackle company.
Do many actually visit shops these days?
Ive not been into a tackle shop for over 15 years now, mainly use Johnson Ross, on line, and i do have a trade account with a tackle company.
In reply to Post #33
Good point, EBay for most of my gear
TFT and Bobco I have used more recently and shops if I want something for the next day or to look at something before I shell out. If the price is right I will buy it from them
Good point, EBay for most of my gear
TFT and Bobco I have used more recently and shops if I want something for the next day or to look at something before I shell out. If the price is right I will buy it from them
In reply to Post #33
I hadn't been to tackle shop for a number of years but did go to one a week ago to buy some tungsten tubing
I was surprised by the layout, each manufacture had it's own dedicated stand, each stand had rows and rows of plastic packaging, the shop seemed to be just that, sanitised walls of small plastic packets.
It made it difficult to compare each manufacturers version of tungsten tubing.
I was up and down the shop umpteen times just to select one item.
None of this going in for one thing and coming out with loads, I got fed up, selected the ESP version, paid and walked out.
I don't remember shops being so regimented and soulless like that, are all shops like that nowadays?
I hadn't been to tackle shop for a number of years but did go to one a week ago to buy some tungsten tubing
I was surprised by the layout, each manufacture had it's own dedicated stand, each stand had rows and rows of plastic packaging, the shop seemed to be just that, sanitised walls of small plastic packets.
It made it difficult to compare each manufacturers version of tungsten tubing.
I was up and down the shop umpteen times just to select one item.
None of this going in for one thing and coming out with loads, I got fed up, selected the ESP version, paid and walked out.
I don't remember shops being so regimented and soulless like that, are all shops like that nowadays?
In reply to Post #35
pretty much
pretty much
In reply to Post #35
i used to go to the Sportsman Lodge in Northampton most weeks, if not to buy something, more for a catch up and a coffee.
Sadly closed down some years ago.
i used to go to the Sportsman Lodge in Northampton most weeks, if not to buy something, more for a catch up and a coffee.
Sadly closed down some years ago.
In reply to Post #33
I live a 15 min drive from a AD and the same in another direction from a locally owned shop.
I used to dabble between them, as AD had better stock of terminal bits, but the local shop would do a better price on bigger items.
This all stopped when covid hit and i heard that AD tried to buy up all the stock from the major tackle manufacturers (talking several million quid per stockist). IMO this was a play to kill off the local shops and get a monopoly.
Luckily some of the bigger brands ( i know of two) knocked them back and prioritised the local tackle shops.
Since then, they haven't had a penny from me. And i go to the local one (which has gone from strength to strength since covid) about once a month
I live a 15 min drive from a AD and the same in another direction from a locally owned shop.
I used to dabble between them, as AD had better stock of terminal bits, but the local shop would do a better price on bigger items.
This all stopped when covid hit and i heard that AD tried to buy up all the stock from the major tackle manufacturers (talking several million quid per stockist). IMO this was a play to kill off the local shops and get a monopoly.
Luckily some of the bigger brands ( i know of two) knocked them back and prioritised the local tackle shops.
Since then, they haven't had a penny from me. And i go to the local one (which has gone from strength to strength since covid) about once a month
The only gripe i have about Angling Direct is there business men not fishermen.
I could go into my old local shop and ask for advice on tackle/venues, now I'm just being blagged with what makes them the most profit.
I could go into my old local shop and ask for advice on tackle/venues, now I'm just being blagged with what makes them the most profit.
In reply to Post #39
Id have thought every tackle shop owners are business men first and foremost
Id have thought every tackle shop owners are business men first and foremost
In reply to Post #29
Turn over =vanity profit = sanity
Turn over =vanity profit = sanity
In reply to Post #35
soulless
Exactly that
soulless
Exactly that
In reply to Post #35
soulless ???
sorry mate what bollix ? (no offence intended)
I think its efficient and brilliant I know if I want to look at something made by say ESP its great to see all its products in one space Im bad enough going in to buy one item and walking out with a £40 bag in my hand lol
I really do not understand how you would make it soul full in your words ?
jumble everything up ? and play a soul singer like Aretha Franklin as background music
so Cmon please explain how you would display small packet products from these
manufactures
like for example
products from
Nash ,Trakker ,ESP,Solar, Korum, Cygnet ,Avid ,Enterprise Tackle,Fox,Gardner,Gamakatsu,Guru,Greys,JRC,Korda,Mustad,PB Products,Thinking Anglers,and Wychwood to name the ones I can think of
soulless ???
sorry mate what bollix ? (no offence intended) I think its efficient and brilliant I know if I want to look at something made by say ESP its great to see all its products in one space Im bad enough going in to buy one item and walking out with a £40 bag in my hand lol
I really do not understand how you would make it soul full in your words ?
jumble everything up ? and play a soul singer like Aretha Franklin as background music
so Cmon please explain how you would display small packet products from these
manufactures
like for example
products from
Nash ,Trakker ,ESP,Solar, Korum, Cygnet ,Avid ,Enterprise Tackle,Fox,Gardner,Gamakatsu,Guru,Greys,JRC,Korda,Mustad,PB Products,Thinking Anglers,and Wychwood to name the ones I can think of
In reply to Post #43
Soulless as in you go in one you have been in them all, soulless as in close knit community's gone, fishing friends, pop in for a coffee and good chat, character, zero
What will they do now, open coffee shops to make it more real, Starbucks?
It's a money making machine. Small shops were about people, you got top advise, friendships were built and in turn they had loyal customers, all that gone or on its way out
Soulless as in you go in one you have been in them all, soulless as in close knit community's gone, fishing friends, pop in for a coffee and good chat, character, zero
What will they do now, open coffee shops to make it more real, Starbucks?
It's a money making machine. Small shops were about people, you got top advise, friendships were built and in turn they had loyal customers, all that gone or on its way out
In reply to Post #40
You know what i mean, the old school fishing shop that you can speak to people and get information, fishermen who have experience unlike the new retail side of Angling Direct that just get managers in who know nothing about fishing.
You know what i mean, the old school fishing shop that you can speak to people and get information, fishermen who have experience unlike the new retail side of Angling Direct that just get managers in who know nothing about fishing.