Just announced, Sail is coming to London, Start saving your pennies
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Just announced, Sail is coming to London, Start saving your pennies
Any details? My buddy in London hasn't heard anything.
Hope the customer service is better then the other sail stores I have been to.
They (LeBaron) folded their store here in Ottawa because they wouldn't or couldn't compete once SAIL opened and they were no longer the only game in town. Lost all their customers because they had a lousy store with terrible staff.
Mike the Sail Trainyards Ottawa is closed?
I haven't been there in awhile, haven't heard if they have.Quote:
Originally Posted by bardern
Their website still is up...they say there closed today for inventory...what have you heard ?
Hey Mike is that an age thing or what. You said they were closed or were you thinking of Le Baron.
The couple locations I've been to had very friendly and helpful staff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowwalker
Quit messing with my mind, it has a hard enough time..LOL...LeBaron closed, many years...SAIL is still open as far as know..fixed the text in post #5.Quote:
Originally Posted by laker taker
If they open one in Windsor I'm in trouble>>> lol
I agree never a problem with staff or inventory.Quote:
Originally Posted by dreblt
Even though there is a Sail Store in Cambridge, I still would rather drive to Cabelas' in Barrie for various reasons , very friendly and helpful clerks, prices , variety, quality and their return policy , no questions asked, replace or refund.
Just one case:Quote:
Originally Posted by delmer
Went into the location off Hwy 7 and the 400 ( York) and waited for over a hour and 20 minutes for someone to open a locked draw so they could sell me a Garmin GPS and a bunch of accessories for it. Out of the five staff I talked to no one had a key. The storage draw was behind and under the display counter. At the hour and a half mark I left drove to bass pro and bought everything I wanted for about $60 to $80 more then I would have payed at Sail. Having all the stuff and prices lower then the competition does you no good if there is no staff that can get stuff out of a draw to sell it.
I have purchased a couple of rifles and a shotgun @ Sail in the past 3 years or so. They used to have great service, a decent level of inventory and competitive pricing. I've found that this has changed recently - since the demise of LeBaron's just over a year ago, the pricing (it seems to me) has crept upwards, close to or at the same as Bass Pro, and/or Cabelas, for essentially the same products/line items. Their "promotions" aren't nearly as aggressive/appealing. And their website still sort of sucks - in terms of what they can sell online. One Sail associate told me that Vaughn is the only store (in Ontario, at least) which fulfills online orders, which apparently means that if Vaughn has it in stock, or can get it from the distributor, no issue. But if there is no stock at Vaughn, and the importer/distributor is out as well, you ain't going to get what you want even if there is stock at another store.
Case in point - I had a hankering to buy a new Browning X-Bolt Eclipse Varmint heavy barrel in .223, since I've started to help some various farmers clear out groundhogs and at the same time get a bit more into longer range shooting. No stock at Vaughn, no stock at Browning Canada. Cambridge showed one in stock, but Sail's policy is "no cross-store internet orders", meaning they won't sell a product in another store direct to the consumer ordering, I'd have had to drive out to Cambridge and pick it up there (about 1.5 hours each way in good weather. In winter, along the 401, through the snowbelt, that could take hours). If these were franchises, I could understand that policy since there isn't enough incentive for separate billing from a franchised/independent operation, but for corporately owned stores I for the life of me can't figure it out. It wouldn't have cost much more than a couple of extra dollars to ship it to me if I ordered it online, and the customer pays for shipping anyway, so it wouldn't have cost them anything extra.
Just seems strange to me that they'd turn down a 100% confirmed sale of an in-stock product on the off-chance that it'll sell to somebody who wanders in off the street.
I've found another online shop, which was $50 more than Sail's price but that price included shipping, so that's where I'll likely end up spending my ca$h unless I can find another retailer closer to my location who has it in-stock.
In some ways, this type of thing is also what sunk LeBaron's, who had an even worse internet presence and no ordering system to speak of. Compared to Cabelas, or Bass Pro, who I've been told will fulfill orders at the store level, I was surprised. Frankly, they should at least be able to do a store-to-store transfer.
We're not talking a $300 10/22 here, but a $1,200+ rifle. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I don't think so.
O.N.G.
London Free press announced back in 2011 Sail was going to open in the early fall there, never did happen....
You people do know Le Barons and Sails where or are associated ....Brother in-laws I believe ?
Glen
I saw the announcements.
It's going into the area that the Costco south store is located.
Can't wait to have a major retailer, even though I would rather have a cabelas..
My bad I misread your post in that they had closed.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePal
That will be good news if they do open a store down this way. We definitely are missing a store this of TO. I have a couple of choices, drive 4hrs to Cabela's north of TO or 3 hrs to cabelas in MI, but then you have to be careful of what you bring back.
Yup, absolutely knew of a relationship - something to do with the wife of the original LeBaron's owner (who later inherited/ran LeBaron's for quite a few years) being, I believe, the sister of the Sail owner/start-up. Reports of some level of acrimony between the two families. The relationship was never crystal clear, though, to anybody outside the inner LeBaron's/Sail circle.Quote:
Originally Posted by G Skinner
I still stand by what my observations are/were......the relationship should have not factored into it, except that with the demise of LeBaron's there was a lower level of competition within the "mini-big-box" Hunting/Fishing/Outdoors retailers (examples: Wholesale Sports out west, LeBaron's, Sail) and with both WSS now gone and LeBaron's passing into the great hunting ground, Sail pretty much "owns" that segment, and therefore has edged closer to the American-based Big Box boys, Bass Pro/Cabelas, in both pricing, marketing, customer service and presence.
Having said that, if Sail wants to be an even larger presence, they should seriously examine their online presentation and sales policies, I believe - or eventually face LeBaron's fate of gradual irrelevance, and certainly a hindrance to a larger brick-and-mortar expansion.
Now, with BP owning Cabelas, the whole "get it all in one place" is pretty much centered on BP and Sail, or will be I believe.
O.N.G.
Bought a Micro at Sail in Vaughan the week after Christmas. Drove past the Burlington store but wanted to compare with the guys across the 400. Same pricing at both stores but Sail had a case thrown into the deal. I'm located halfway between Cambridge and Burlington and have shopped at the Vaughan and Oshawa stores when out that way and have never had an issue with service at any of them. Often if we are looking for something to do the boys and I will head to the Burling store to wander around and to let the young lad fondle the BPS that he is saving up for.
I've only made one trip to the Gabela's here in Ottawa, besides being far to long a drive, I will only be done again if I also include a trip go to the new Princess Auto there, I found that the prices on the Hunting stuff I was looking at were cheaper at the local Canadian Tire 'Hunting/Fishing Store'....factor in the cost of gas ($30 round trip to Cabela's) ....CT was MUCH cheaper.
We lucky here and have a proliferation of 'Mom&Pop" places around that have great stuff..no need to go shop at Box Stores like Sail or Cabela's unless I find a great deal on-line and have them shipped free to my mail Box.
I shop at the Cambridge Sail often because it's a 20 minute drive and they will price match. Service can be spotty but in general I have no major complaints. The nice part is that it's a store I can take my wife to as well. She shops the clothes downstairs and I go up to the hunting and fishing departments. :D
Ya I'm pretty pumped abut the store coming to town, It will be nice to have a vast selection to chose from. Plus they have some good sales on ammo a couple times a year.
Not to mention it will put the local gun shops in check here in London
You'd think Sail would have some information about the new store on their web site.
Baron Sport Center and Le Baron were owned and operated by the feuding Baron family.Quote:
Originally Posted by G Skinner
Sail is the result of Tony Mignacca (1959-2015) leaving as president and COO of Sports Experts (which was eventually bought by the Forzani Group who owned the Atmosphere stores, and are now all owned by Canadian Tire). He left, partnered up, bought Baron Sport Center and then bought Sail.
The Barons are still involved with Sail.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...article545987/
https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...516866291.html
If you go to the Industry Canada website, you'll see the history of the companies and the names of the family members involved.
For what it's worth, I've only had good experiences at the Ottawa location. That said, I only go there if I'm in a bind and if the local mom and pop shops can't get what I'm looking for, which is rare. That Hunting Store in Richmond usually gets my business.
The New Sail Store in London is supposed to have its grand opening late 2018 early 2019- much rather shop there than Bass Pro in Vaughn- at least the sales people in Sail actually hunt and fish
Pricing. When you don't have competition you can charge what ever you want. London only has the 2 shops and I find there gun pricing and ammo pricing a bit high. And there not willing to work with you. With sail in there going to have to be more competitive if they want sales. There's one store in particular that has that if you don't like it tough sh$t attitude.Quote:
Originally Posted by dreblt
It is shop specific, they can get a lot of stuff in and may end up having used as well, it all depends on the shop.Quote:
Originally Posted by dreblt
I liked SAIL in Ottawa but I moved south and they do not do much for reloading. I also found the local guys prices reasonable and the service better, but that happens to be my area, if you area has crappy service like we used to get with Lebaron's then SAIL is where it's at.
i will continue to support all the small local shops in London and Stratford.
The one advantage that smaller stores have is the one to one connection- I have bought a number of firearms from the gun store in Tilsonburg- I had a minor problem with one of the firearms and they exchanged it immediately for me no questions asked--in the long run that is the best way to do business- building that type of a trusting relationship--not easy to do with a large store --but it is the ticket to success