UKC

I hear the Fort William-based Nevissport chain has been taken over by Sports Direct. Good news? I doubt it - look out for even more 'lifestyle' stock.

In reply to feepole: i wandered into the Edinburgh 'flagship' store today in Rose St. Only the familiar NF, Berghaus, Sprayway items seemed on display, i remember when it was a climbers shop!

In reply to dek: The Altrincham branch has little of worth.

In reply to dek: Irs a shame. Nevisport has been gradually going downhill for years.

Bring back West Coast. The only decent gear shop in Fort William.

In reply to feepole:
Have heard that the Hathersage branch has already closed down and will reopen next month as a North Face shop

In reply to feepole:

Taken over by Sports Direct !

That will mean piped muzak,grumpy disinterested teenage assistants on the minimum wage. A mass of '70% off' posters covering the window and tons of cheap Chinese made sports casual clothing hanging out of bins.

In reply to dek:
Given climbers will pay fck all for fck all it's hardly surprising that the shops are looking to other markets.

In reply to Removed User:
Troo! " looking for high altitude boots for a solo Everest attempt must be cheap or free as i am on a 'budget'....

In reply to drunken monkey:

Amen to that! How can Fort William advertise itself as "The Outdoor Capital of the UK" and not have proper climbing shop?

Unfortunately though, I've heard that West Coast will not re-open. Anyone else know anything?

In reply to feepole:
Shame, they used to be a good shop. Expanded to quickly about 10 years ago. Not a good move.

In reply to Jonno:

Actually, I work for Field & Trek and we have been part of SportsDirect now for almost 2 months. We have already opened a new shop in carlisle with the money they are investing and if you are thinking its all gobyy know nothing staff, untidy stores and big sale labels selling cheap brands, I very much suggest you pay it a visit.

You may well be pleasantly suprised.

In reply to Anonymous:

Are you on a commission?

In reply to gobsmacker:
NO! I am not on a commission.

I believe that people should wait and see before they judge.
Of course if all you climbers bad mouth it and stop going there, it will have to aim at another market, so there will be less competition for climbing gear and less competition on prices, so in the end it will be you guys who lose out.

In reply to Anonymous:

Sorry, but I wonder whether by using these second person plurals (rather than firsts) you might have inadvertently disclosed that you might not be a climber and that therefore climbers might not be able to receive the specialist, hands-on advice they seek in a proper climbing shop as opposed to one owned by Sports Direct.

Long live the independents!

And before anyone asks, I have no connection with any manufacturer or retailer. I just like to buy my gear from fellow enthusiasts who know what they are talking about.

On the postive side, the prospects for a real climbing shop in Fort William (as West Coast Sports was) seem to be getting better!

In reply to Solaris:

I used to work for Nevisport before they bought Wilderness Ways and expanded massively. Good fun to work for but very disorganised.

I don't think the decline of the "climbing" shop is due to shops though. There has been a massive increase in people who want to sit in "mountain" cafes in their outdoor gear and talk about mortgages and careers. They need servicing!

In reply to Solaris:
Actually, I climb at least once a week indoors and outdoors whenever I csn. All my stff are walkers and climbers and know their stuff, maybe not at a high level but easily enough for 90% of customers who walk in.
We provide ourselves on our service and helpfulness and one thing I guarantee is that the day that is threatened will be the day I leave and go to work elsewhere.

I for one see the investment of Sportsworld as an opportunity for growth and for all of US climbers and walkers that means more choice of brands / styles and more competition on prices, whther the levels of service stay the same in part depends on what the customers expect. If you assume everyone is useless then eventually companies will start to employ useless people because it makes no difference.

In reply to Anonymous:

To help form and further a positive relationship with the UK climbing community, F+T need to advertise at UKClimbing.com.

http://ads.ukclimbing.com/whyukc.html

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Agreed, I thought we already did advertise on here though? sure I saw some not long ago.

In reply to feepole:

My £0.02

I don't think this is a bad thing. Nevisport has over the last few years not been the best stocked store anyway - it always seemed to be full of opportunistic buys (ironically a la SportsWorld).

Mike Ashley is no mug. He knows who his market is, and will want some portfolio effect on his assets. Eg. by recognising that all the chavs wear sports clothes all the time he was able to mass market and bulk buy such products to a large population range, but that if interest rates continue upwards they'll stop spending, but the middle-classes will continue for a bit longer.

He is never going to get the volume play in the outdoor market - while it is an ever growing market, it just doesn't hit the radar in terms of clothing etc. I suspect he's looking at low volume high margin outlets to complement the opposite with SportsPikey, and the intermediate with F&T. At the end of the day he is in this to make money, and the only way he does that with Outdoor stuff is by stocking (and customer supporting) what the customers want. In this case, the middle-income, high-disposable cash group called 'climbers and hikers'.

Having said that, I suspect whatever happens it'll be filled with Karrimor rucksacks...

In reply to Anonymous:

Thanks for your reassuring post. Good to know that you are one of us!

West Coast? Closed! Noooooo. What a shame - superb shop and great staff.
(sorry I've been travelling for a while)

In reply to dcraig: The shop burned down (I believe the fire started in the premises next door). Last time I walked past they still had a sign up saying they hoped to re-open soon. Sorry to hear that's no longer the case (if indeed it is) as it was a good shop.

The Edinburgh Nevisport ceased to carry any decent range of climbing gear a long time ago. The independent shop up Lothian Road (can't remember its name) closed a number of years back, meaning that AFAIAA all we have to serve at least half a million people within an easy weekend's access of most of Scotland's climbing areas, the Lake District and Northumberland is Tisos. Now Tisos is OK - as noted above, they do seem to emply a reasonable proportion of knowledgeable staff - but a bit of choice would be nice.

In reply to Anonymous:


Probably not now that there are only going to be 6 branches left open that he originally purchased.

In reply to corriethepenguin:
According to the internet after Nevissport went into administration, 2 offers were put in for what was left.
It seems that Sportsworlds bid was rejected and the owners of Trespass have won.

In reply to Anonymous: Not according to the reports I've seen. Mike Ashley had already bought in to Nevisport when it went bust. KPMG then found the Trespass people to take on the business. See this thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=265654 and the BBC stories linked from it. Note that corriethepenguin has contacts within Nevisport and knows something about what's going on in there.

In reply to Martin W:
I have read the news reports that Sportworld had bought Nevissport a few weeks ago.
So what exactly happened. Did Sportsworld put it into administration with KPMG and then lose the bid that they then put in (but surely they already owned it) to Trespass.

All slightly confusing.

In reply to Anonymous:
Did Sportsworld put it into administration with KPMG and then lose the bid that they then put in (but surely they already owned it) to Trespass.

Still confused myself. Nevisport put it into liquidation and the liquidators decided sportsworld offer was not a fair price so bids were asked for and Tresspass won!
Still can't work out why we were all made redundant before the deadline of offers for the company had passed

In reply to corriethepenguin:
My guess woul be because there was no money to pay you guys and the companes making offers wouldnt want to honour you pay problems.

did you get anything in the end or have they left you all out of pocket?

In reply to corriethepenguin:
Heard a rumour that some of the stores may reopen under Trespass, any luck for you or are you steering clear now?

If you think this is all confusing... try working for them while this is all going on!

Good news is that the staff are (eventually) going to get paid what they are owed. Basically we (the staff) were told that Sports Direct had bought over Nevisport and were going to keep it open, we would keep our jobs and to expect a pay rise.... all lies!

Turns out that Sports Direct only bought the stock that Nevisport had already ordered for the coming season (expect to see muchos cheap stock in both existing Nevisport shops and probably Soccer world. KPMG bought the name with the debt, liquidated it and so making everyone redundant. Trespass now own all the stores, except the Aberdeen store (as it, along with the Fort William store were the only two stores in the whole Nevisport company to be making money) which is owned by Sports Direct and will probably open up as a Filed and Trek.

Hope that clears everything up. It was a very sad affair and very poorly handled. Alot of work had gone into making the Nevisport company what it was, it may have not been as strong in recent times but i'm sure it will be sorely missed.

In reply to feepole: The Leeds store appears to be open again. It is still branded as Nevisport, and had Tresspass stock in about 1/3 of the shop.

In reply to Kirsticles:
That makes sense now. I work for F&T in London and had heard that we had bought up a load of stock from 2 companies that were on their way out in order to have enough stock for our growth plan of new stores, as suppliers did not have enough reserve stock.
Sorry to hear that you guys have been on the receiving end of all this business shenanigans, we all were under the impression from what we were told that SWI had bought Nevissport to bring it under the Field & Trek name, so were almost as shocked as you when we were told about the closures and redundancies.

al the best and hope you find something new soon.

In reply to welshdragon:
Cheers! We've all moved on to rival stores who were more than happy to have us!

In reply to feepole:

Well, here we all have a problem. I started out as climber and mountaineer, became a teacher briefly before heading off to found HARBOUR SPORTS. We used to stock a wide range of good climbing kit, but even in the 1980's were hammered by people trying on kit, looking for advice and expertise before finding the nearest mail order discount 'garage' jobbing out kit.
With the Internet things are so much worse and although these days we don't sell climbing kit, we are battered by people trying on wetuits, seeking technical informationand then slithering off to buy on line!
So, ask yourselves what you did to support NEVIS SPORT and what you still do or do not do to support your local climbing shop!
frank sobey

In reply to frank sobey: That is the harsh reality, if a shop is selling a pair of boots for £200 but a website is selling for £100, i know which i'd choose....

In reply to frank sobey:

Nothing much to be honest. I knew the owners and could get a discount, however, when Tiso opened in Glasgow, I could walk off the street and buy stuff cheaper without a discount.

What do you do to help your local muggers?

In reply to frank sobey: I feel your pain, tbh. There were a couple of climbing shops for sale that I considered buying last year but as you say, t'internet has probably been the final nail in the coffin for independent retailers, though ironically I don't use it to buy climbing gear. You're selling to a young(ish), bright(ish) computer literate but careful-with-money sector - it's going to be tough.

In reply to frank sobey:

I sometimes buy online, sometimes buy from the shop. I buy from the shop when they have what I want at a competitive price. I buy online when the site has what I want at a competitive price, and I have confidence that the site will deliver.

If you are finding that people are, as you say, taking up your time and advice, but not buying, what are you doing about it?

Do you offer a loyalty scheme, for example, where customers get a discount that means that the prices compete with online prices, but you are adding the benefit of someone to speak to face to face.

How about taking it a stage further, by introducing a points system based upon the value of products bought, that would result in money off the next purchase. That way your customers would feel like they had a voucher to spend. They are even more likely to come back if they feel that they physically have a voucher rather than a discount.

I take it you do have an online shop to complete directly with these websites? You do, don't you...

Theres also the convenience factor if you work a 9-5 day or nights etc when can you pop down to your local shop? If shops want to compete they have to give people a reason to shop there rather than the internet - loyalty bonuses, convenient opening times, good range of product, expert advice etc. At present non of the shops in Aberdeen (where I live, can't comment on anything else) have any of the above, quite the opposite in some cases!

for example, each of the 3 main shops have at some point offered to order a product in, but for £5 per item extra (lowest cost)!! Why would you pay this extra when it could be ordered online cheaper in the first place.

So if I want poor expertise, lack of product range and to take time off work to go get it, I use the local climbing shops, if not I use the internet and accept that if I get it wrong I have the hassel of sorting it out.

The only one that makes even a token effort up here is Tiso via their club night, but even then the service is poor (too few staff, lack of knowledge/understanding of kit, poor range).

I will add that I usually try to buy clothing/boots etc from shops cause you need to try them on, unless replaceing like for like.

Its all well and good shops complaining about customers using the internet, but how about giving us some reasons to pay the extra and use the highstreet stores??

In reply to frank sobey: I couldnt agree more and i do believe that most companies/suppliers now are doing their bit to try and help by giving us retailers a discount scheme where if you have a business you get x amount then if you have a shop premisis you get and additional discount so you dont have to lose money by competing with the internet.

Also there was a comment about trying to compete with the internet, what people fail to remember is

1, you are likley to be buying from somone who doesnt have shop premisis to pay for or many if any staff,

and 2, Some of these companies dont have insurance to sell climbing gear, so if anyone did have an accident, if they could get hold of who they bought it from it wouldnt be them who pays it would be the Manufactor which then adds cost to the products long term.

If people dont agree then thats your opinon but i have a shop and its a real annoying thing when people waste your time and knowledge by buying of the internet/someones back bedroom and i still have to pay my staff and me and all the bills associated with having a show room for them to abuse.