Soooo I have been at this store before but not really a stop for me when I come to the Great Mall…read more My cousins were visiting and they wanted to stop by since there is no Dick's Sporting Goods where they live. Yes, the store is huge. Yes, it looks organized and clean. Yes, there is a lot of sporting items. Yes, there are a lot of brands featured and available.
My cousin wanted some Hoka shoes, she saw some that she liked and wanted to try in her size. In order to get your size to try on, there is a tablet on a stand that has you scan the bar code that is on the inside of the shoe that is on display. Once you scan, the shoe pops up, the colors are on display and the shoe sizes that are available. Using the touchscreen and going through the prompts, you request your shoe to be brought out. You also add your name to the request. On the display it tells you that your shoes will be brought out, less than 5 minutes. Since my cousin had a small infant with her and it was feeding time, I told her that we should sit and wait. A minute passes by, then 2, then 5, then 10, then 20. Meanwhile, I see no sales associates on the shoe floor. No one to ask what is happening. There is an entrance in the back that has signs posted to not enter, employee entrance only. Mind you, we were sitting right on the side of that entrance. Suddenly, an employee comes out, calling the brand and the shoe size of the two boxes that he had. People are scrambling to see if the shoes that are brought out are theirs. Nope. Some people are holding on to the display shoe and asking the associate if they could bring their size. The employee leaves to this illusive wall/door. Waiting, waiting....
Now, I am a very patient person but now we are at the 30 minute mark, another employee (not the 1st one that came out) makes an appearance, once again calling shoe brand and size. Walking a bit and swarming. Who knew that so many people were requesting Hoka shoes at that moment too. Why did the screen bother asking for a name if they were not going to use it. More people swarm the employee asking for their shoe size and they leave before I can say anything. 40 minutes....50 minutes, another 3rd employee walks out and brings another stack of shoe boxes with him. Same show, calls out the brand and the size. Nope, not the Hoka's my cousin wants to try on. Finally, I ask the employee, how long from when I place a request to when someone comes out with the shoe, and he said 5 minutes at the most???!!!!!! The most! I told him that I had been out here for almost an hour and no one has come out, he aplogizes and asks what shoe we want. I told him and he promises that he will be out ASAP with my shoe. Okay....promising.
Another employee comes out....people swarm, my shoe is no where in the stack. Every other customer that is in the shoe dept is trying on their shoes, deciding and walking over to the cash registers to pay for their shoes.
Not joking after waiting over an hour, finally the shoes for cousin to try on comes out. No, they didn't call my name, but since we had prime seating area to this door, i was able to spot the sticker with the shoe style that my cousin wanted. She tried them on....and NOOOOOO! they were too tight, she needed a half size bigger. Ugh, the future did not look fun if we were going to wait soo long to get the bigger shoe size. But, she wanted the shoe and they were leaving the next morning and there was no time to order online or go elsewhere.
I used the tablet kiosk to make another request, I guess I had not learned my lesson. Mind you, I didnt see another kiosk and there was a guy that was perusing and looking like he was online shopping while others had to make their request. I did it and the waiting games continued.
Waiting, waiting....everyone else getting assistance....
10 more minutes....20...30 Finally I asked, where are we on the queue for our shoe to come out. He said well they dont have the size 8, so sorry. Um, we have the size 8, she has tried it on, now we need and 8 1/2, oh, sorry about that, I will be back ASAP. Okay....ASAP means different things for people.
Finally, an associate comes out, not calling out names, brands or sizes and I see the shoe box. I told him that is ours. He gives it to me. My cousin tries them on and they fit.
Long review, yes. But what a nightmare!
Why have a process if it does not work and its not efficient. In a perfect setting, sure I can see instead of harassing the sales associates with wanting your shoe size, there is a system in place for them to get the alert and they come out with what you requested. The sales floor is clean since the only shoes out there are the display and not hundreds of shoe boxes. But, what is in place is not better.
Personally, I will never buy shoes here. I would go somewhere else to try them on. I also wouldn't recommend this experience to anyone. Unless, maybe you have time to kill. Maybe.