UKC

Ok so I was in liverpool the other day and thought I would take a sqiz at the new Cotswold....I had been in John Lewis and Primark for over an hour so need some light relief.

I need 2 items ...soft shell pants and new rock boots.

not a pant in sight and about 6 pair of shoes ...

so my question is why do these so called outdoor shops have such crap stock...I mean they had technical crampons but nothing more than a walking boot on the shelves.... Climbing videos on every monitor, and displays of people in full "I want to be a climber kit" ..but no real hardwear....

they did have some fluffy hut slippers though.

who is responcible for products in these stores and do you think they actually do anything outdoors.

In reply to mux: Earlier in the year I was looking for a standard zip down fleece and Cotswold didn't have a single one.

In reply to mux:
Last time I checked Cotswold was a business, not a climber's charity

I imagine it stocks products which the mass-market want to buy.

In reply to 2pints:

logic has no place in here!

get yer coat

In reply to mux:

2 theories:

1) Climbers don't shop for hardware at Cotswold because they're generally more expensive than the competition. Cotswold therefore don't need to stock said hardware. Sort of rationalisation by pricing yourself out of the market.

2) You were in Liverpool. All the shiny stuff had already received the 'four finger discount'.

In reply to mux: i've bought mammut softshell pants and salomon sm lites in cotswold

In reply to ebygomm: oh and i get 15 % discount

In reply to 2pints: but as business that caters for outdoor types or thinks it does..you have to question there method.

or do all outdoor shops just provide black north face garb for the masses now ?

In reply to 2pints:
I don't think the OP went in looking for free stuff.

In reply to mux: I found that all the summer stuff is packed away and ski gear is out, then the opposite come spring. It's market forces.

What I did find odd is that they had Everest Boots on the shelf, very specialist stock that I would think didn't sell very often, especially as they didn't have the rest of the everest kit to match, no down suits for instance.

In reply to mux:

I got flamed the other week for suggesting that Outdoor shops like Cotswold are ripping us off. For some reason, outdoor shops stimulated a wave of support and positive opinions.

Personally,I'm still not convinced that a £300 Berghaus gore-tex Kag is ten times better than a thirty quid Decathlon job ?

In reply to mux: I usually just use Cotsold for trying stuff on, for size etc, and then get my small local outdoor shop to get the item for me when its something they don't normally stock. I would never dream of ever actually buying anything from them.

In reply to mux:

When I went to get some new walking boots at Cotswolds Norwich I was after some Meindl Vakuum GTX's as they seemed to fit really nicely, well the ones I tried on in Field and Trek did but where a size too big.

The guy who served me (an ace chap who is also a DofE instructor and MR man) said he tried to order some in ages ago but HQ had bollocked him for attempting to order them as theyre way too expensive for people. Only their flagship stores stock them apparantly.

Either way he fitted me up nicely for a pair of Scarpa Trek GTX's that in the end are way better fitting.

They do seem to have very odd stock selection at times in everything else too.

In reply to mux:
Reasons for lack of stock?
Internet shopping
Available bargains at factory shops and decathlon

I havnt really been to cotswolds, apart from to get my harness, they seemed to know what they were doing when i didnt have a clue. Go outdoors is my shop of choice.

In reply to ebygomm:

AMA discount?

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:
I get 20%
Mwa ha ha ha ha

In reply to mux:

'Outdoor' stuff is fashionable. Fashion means people can charge more. This means shops sell more fashion related goods.

Get to one in a 'climbing area'. The Cotswold is pretty good in Keswick for example.

if i didnt get 15% off (which i do with my bcu membership)then i dont think id ever buy products from cotswolds.

In reply to mux: New Cotswold in Durham has a good range - just bought a new harness and a pair of rock shoes there. Yes there's a lot of fashionable stuff, but in this case it hasn't stopped them stocking a lot of useful things (apart from, annoyingly, the Northumberland bouldering guide).

In reply to cat22:

They didn't stock Harvey's maps last time I went in either which was a bit frustrating. There're better shops out there.

In reply to mux:

I think Cotswolds are great. Keen prices and nice range of gear. I get discounts and the satff are nice.

In reply to Jonno:
oi,wazzock face,you didn't get flamed.You got asked to provide evidence in the form of profits and profit margins to justify your case.this you failed to do.
By the way,I bey the poorly paid sales staff at Cotswold are really impressed by you taking their time when they could be selling to a real customer so you can can shop elsewhere.
Are you always that dishonest?

In reply to Postmanpat:

Use this code...

AF-NATTRA-R2

... now we all get 20% discount.

In reply to mux:

You went to the wrong shop - climbers in the know are going to the big sport shop in L1 (dunno if its JD Sport?) Anyway - they are concentrating on footy and golf gear but tucked away in a back corner like a badly organised jumble sale there is loads of shiney climbing stuff - all massively discounted cos they dont know how to shift the stuff. A lad I know got a set of rocks and a couple of BD cams for about 40% off..........nice.

Re Cotswold.....the 2 stores in Betws are pretty good with the Rock Bottom one having a very extensive range of climbing hardwear and shoes.

I found the Liverpool Cotswold to be just as I expected...full of black TNF for the scallies........but realistically thats its market here.

In reply to mux:
I got really pissed off with cotswold recently because their online stock check facility is crap. I ordered some stuff over their web site that was supposed to be in stock and then when it took ages to come I called them to see where it was and they told me that they hadn't been in stock for ages and would be about 10 days.
I reckon they just wanted my cash asap.

Went into a sports shop the oher day - as they advertised that they did outdoor stuff-
I wanted to laugh at their attempt - so went in....
Ok their range of stock was laughable but it was really cheap-
no self respecting climber would normally be seen dead in said shop....so everything was MASSIVELY reduced
I picked up some bargains - I don't think the shop assistants had a clue what any of the gear was for, I got ever such funny looks when playing with cams.....

In reply to gethin_allen:

Wanted a military compass as a present for someone, from Betws Cotswold last Sunday - they didnt have it in stock but after checking availabilty on their computer promised they would post one this week.

I was a little dubious but it arrived in the post today - excellent customer service.

In reply to David Hooper:
TBH, the shops in Betws seem a lot better than others, it could be that there are so many keen outdoors people in the area that they get better staff and more serious customers.

In reply to gethin_allen:

True dat!

Ive chatted to a good few of the staff and it does seem like they get up to outdoorsy type adventures in their time off

In reply to David Hooper:
with so much excellent climbing and walking just outside their houses it would be rude not to. just like when i moved to sheffield, I had no choice but to start climbing.

In reply to mux: Cotswold are a bit glitsy. The Outdoor Shop in Stoney Stratford just outside Milton Keynes is ace, good range of gear, keen prices, BMC discount and staffed by keen walkers and climbers who really know their stuff. You couldn't do better than pay them a visit, (obviously, not all the way from Liverpool). Joe Brown's in Capel Curig is good too. Outside at Hathersage is not bad but they're not the cheapest and have stopped doing BMC discount so I've been told.

In reply to mux:

Our cotswolds in Kingston has all the climbing hardware one would want, shoes and at least 3 types of softshell trousers.

The only thing I would wish for is more rock shoes as the selection was small, about 7-8 pairs...

In reply to p3t3: not with that code you don't, a random check reveals around 15%,
£166 down to £141 in one check

Better then nothing though, but I guess you can only use it online as they might ask where it came form in the shop