Lebaron Ottawa mass restructuring (i.e.closing)

I almost don't want to go in there and get any deals, I suspect that their sale will be 5% off.

I remember being in there and had a list of about 50 items, not 1 was in stock and since I lived in the city that a store was in then refused to sell it online for me and would not put through a store order for me. On top of that I wanted a paper copy of the catalog for the hunt camp and they had the nerve to tell me there was a $2 charge on the catalog.

They can beg me to come in there and take their stuff away but I don't think they will get a dime of my money.

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Originally Posted by Oddmott

Long live the other smaller stores who truly do their best to put the customer first.

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Just don't be looking for Mrs Cabela to provide that

Lebaron certainly had issues, but I am sad to see them go. Some of their deals could not be beat (if the item was in stock). I've had poor service there and great service there, just like almost every other chain store.
Anytime competition is reduced, it is bad for the customers.

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Originally Posted by rf2

Lebaron certainly had issues, but I am sad to see them go. Some of their deals could not be beat (if the item was in stock). I've had poor service there and great service there, just like almost every other chain store.
Anytime competition is reduced, it is bad for the customers.

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I second that. Le Baron service was never great but I've gotten some awesome deals there that no other retailer would match. Went to the Cabelas VIP opening on the 21st and found it underwhelming. Half the stuff I was interested in wasn't there and I walked out with a neck gaiter and reloading dies I coulnd't find elsewhere.

Oh well, I guess I'll stick to the smaller shops around me. Keep my money local.

We will have to wait and see what Lebarons does.

Ya, I've got to admit that my favorite place to shop is LeBaron's Markham. Like so many stores you have to get used to their quirks like being sold out but the people at that location are great. Lots of people have had neg things to say about the gun room but I did very little business there. What I liked about the place is that the people who work there are REAL employees, you see the same people there every time and I've built a relationship with them over the years, they are knowledgeable good people to deal with, the turnover is very low. I've gotten great service from the camping and fishing sections over the years and find them to have the best prices overall. Great on exchanges and warranty and I've found them always willing to transfer items from one store to another. Their online format is terrible and not a big fan of having to pay for a catalogue BUT I assume that's the type of thing they do to keep prices down. I will surely miss them if they go and truly hope that this is just the same type of nasty rumour that crept out when BPS opened in Vaughn. The prices won't be better at Cabela's outside of some good sales and the service is what it is, probably will be better at the beginning but...

Just got back from the Markham store. The sale is on already.

I did get some deals on ammo and my friends bought boots at 50% off.

No real "deals" as mentioned here already and I did not expect anything huge myself.
As the week progresses there MIGHT be more deals appearing on hard-to-sell items.

Right now they have 20% off fishing and hunting stuff, 10% off ammunition.

I got a couple of good deals there.

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Originally Posted by Rugger

Ya, I've got to admit that my favorite place to shop is LeBaron's Markham. Like so many stores you have to get used to their quirks like being sold out but the people at that location are great. Lots of people have had neg things to say about the gun room but I did very little business there. What I liked about the place is that the people who work there are REAL employees, you see the same people there every time and I've built a relationship with them over the years, they are knowledgeable good people to deal with, the turnover is very low. I've gotten great service from the camping and fishing sections over the years and find them to have the best prices overall. Great on exchanges and warranty and I've found them always willing to transfer items from one store to another. Their online format is terrible and not a big fan of having to pay for a catalogue BUT I assume that's the type of thing they do to keep prices down. I will surely miss them if they go and truly hope that this is just the same type of nasty rumour that crept out when BPS opened in Vaughn. The prices won't be better at Cabela's outside of some good sales and the service is what it is, probably will be better at the beginning but...

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I'm forced to agree with most of the comments made about LeBaron's (at least the Markham location).....Vince and Bing have been there since Pontius was just an air cadet, Vince in particular is great to talk to, if he doesn't know the answer to a question, he'll say so, and then try to find out for you. I have purchased quite a few rifles and shotguns from him.

My biggest beef about LeBarons (besides the jokes about the English translation of LeBaron being "sorry we're out of stock") was their Club LeBaron schtick.....offering a discount on regular priced products. The problem was that anything of any interest, at least to me, was always "on special", so the discounts never applied, and frankly that discount from their regular pricing ALMOST made the price as low as, say, SAIL, or the LGS, for the identical products. I would do the math, and if they had a regular priced rifle, for example, which would be substantially less expensive than elsewhere once the Club discount applied, I would go join up for a year at the front counter prior to purchase.

The LeBarons in Mississauga had a very knowledgeable lady in the gun room, who could recite specs and pros/cons about almost all the firearms that were there - without drama and it seemed from experience. I never caught her in an error on what she told me.

If LeBarons does close up, I will miss them, and we'll all undoubtedly see a subtle increase in prices in most other retailers with the continuing reduction in competition.

O.N.G.

LeBarons should have invested in technology years ago... its not just that they stuck to a catalog model in the face of competitors that are fully invested in the e-commerce game, but also their oft-cited problems with not having what you need in stock. That's just poor inventory management. Either you're running the local gun shop or you're playing on the national field, and you have to decided which is which and invest appropriately.

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