If you were not aware...

[Womble]

I've discovered that the Scout Association has in the last 2 weeks sold its chain of camping equipment shops to Blacks.

Even the staff were not aware of the change until they were told on the day it happened.

At the risk of breaking the "no politics" rule - that I asked for in the first place - just what the frell is the Scout association up to?

 

[tomtom]

if blacks own millets as well (wish i think they do, dont they?)

they are going for world domination :yikes:

 

[Adi007]

I dunno - all I know is that these high street outlets are the most expensive place to buy pretty much anything. OK, handy if you forget something or if you want to take a look at something before buying online but I have to say that I rarely buy anything from these kinds of places now.

 

[Paganwolf]

Blacks in the shopping center near me has been closed for months,now i know why!!

 

[hobbitboy]

Blacks do own Millets (technically its the "Outdoor Group") and Freespirit, and a chain of surf shops called "just add water".
They also bought out Famous Army Stores when it went bump.

they are going for world domination

Yep thats the plan, if i remember rightly they want to own at least 70% of the Outdoor market within 7years or something like that.....scary...... :shock: :yikes:

 

[arctic hobo]

Was it fairly recent? I remember that my local Blacks went rubbish abiut two years back, and Millets has since been terrible too.
Thank the lord for independent shops :You_Rock_

 

[hobbitboy]

Independent shops are fantastic but I can't see many of them lasting that long with multimillion pound companies on the warpath. Shame really, from now on I pledge to only shop at independant retailers.......unless I get my job at Black's back then I'm not turnin down staff discount :roll: ..........

In Blacks defence there are a few stores which sell decent gear and have the staff who know their stuff unfortunatley lots are just glorified Millets stores. Those that are good its generally cos they have a decent manager who sticks their neck out to get the gear independantly....and generally gets a screamin at for it.

 

[Moonraker]

hobbitboy, I agree with you. Unless we make the effort to shop at independent retailers then we will be left with little choices and stuck with poor service generally from larger high street stores.

I really do most of my buying online now and price is important to me but I a always surprised how competitive smaller shops with online site can be.

I however will refuse to pay through the nose for a shop which purely inflates it's price because it has this name or that. In the end it is the service I receive and good value for money (not always the cheapest price) that gets my loyalty.

Here in France there tends to be more smaller shops still but often they are run on a franchise set up which equals basically fixed pricing which I avoid.

Actually I really try now to do this with all my shopping and make the effort to go to the butchers for meat, the corner shop for my cheese and winde, the bakers for decent bread etc etc. I do go to the hypermarchés sometimes but less and less and only if I have no option. I did a test last week and compared prices for some staples of mine like soy sauce and organic flour etc. When I compared the per kilo price it was actually cheaper in the small local wholefood shop for real organic, small scale products, than the mass produced rubbish at the stack it high supermarket!

Well worth checking this out. I was frightened to here a statistic the other day on Radio 4 that Tescos alone now takes £1 out of every £8 spent on groceries in the entire UK :yikes:

And also I try harder to buy well made stuff not tat that collapses after being worn a few times just because it is cheap. In fact I really have got a lot of satisfaction out of tracking down the good buys, often second hand (recycling ) and paying that bit more for good kit from a decent small retailer because I know it will last that much longer.

And I never thought hard about it before recently but I also try to buy European stuff rather than really cheap import stuff. I am no flag waver but the more you look beyond the price and realise the true cost of how these things are produced...

 

[tomtom]

i dont know about everyone else.. but very little of my bushcraft kit comes from "high street shops" precticaly all of it comes from online!

i find most of the things in blacks.. Outdoors centers and many of the independant retailers is to "high tech" for my uses.. sure if i want a light waight high altitude tent or a titanium stove then i they have them coming out of their ears but i cant find a tarp or a decent billy for love nor money! :?:

 

[Andy]

the outdoor group own regatta as well.
The lady at millets couldn't say a good thing about regatta which I thought was a bit odd.

 

[tenbears10]

Actually I really try now to do this with all my shopping and make the effort to go to the butchers for meat, the corner shop for my cheese and winde, the bakers for decent bread etc etc. I do go to the hypermarchés sometimes but less and less and only if I have no option. I did a test last week and compared prices for some staples of mine like soy sauce and organic flour etc. When I compared the per kilo price it was actually cheaper in the small local wholefood shop for real organic, small scale products, than the mass produced rubbish at the stack it high supermarket!

Well worth checking this out. I was frightened to here a statistic the other day on Radio 4 that Tescos alone now takes £1 out of every £8 spent on groceries in the entire UK :yikes:

A man after my own heart :biggthump Moonraker I have been on a similar crusade myself recently. BigBarn if you have a look at Bill Buys Local including the archive ones you can see in part what I've been trying to do since June. The stories I read about supermarkets were more frightening than just the huge profit they make and it pushed me to try and make a difference in my life even if we can't change the world. Although we are trying

Bill

 

[Moonraker]

and it pushed me to try and make a difference in my life even if we can't change the world. Although we are trying

That is exactly what it is about tb10. I just never truly realised how difficult it was to break down the shopping habits that came from simply having no time to make choices about such things. Now I have moved here and made that time and I just began to see what I was actually doing. And regaining that plain pleasure of actually taking back the decision making for myself. Certainly not perfect but I am trying and I feel better for it.

Perhaps that this has more to do with what The Viking said when he mentioned 'consequences'....

 

[tomtom]

a Regular "bill buys local" reader here.. and another supporter of the cause!
:biggthump

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

i have worked in "Outdoors" and "Blacks"!

whilst working in outdoors (after blacks) i met many people that prefered outdoors purely because of the calm atmousphere, and a few that refused to go in blacks shops on principle, due to the harsh manner they were served by a well known infamous Norwich manager!

the unsaid policy in Blacks, was a salesmans dream, if you can sell it even if they don't need it, then sell it anyway!
there was alot of pressure sales in my branch!
i.e. if you buy shoes, you NEED new socks, new polish, and if you could manage it something else too!
often i would do my sales talk to a customer sell some boots, and they would get the same sales talk for spare polish ect when they got to the till by another staff member!

i always found Outdoors nicer to work in due to far more choice of products, including climbing gear and more traditioinal camping gear.
blacks when i left 4 years ago, was going in a more street fashion direction, now it seems to be destined to continue the same way.

i see it as a great shame about the merger, i only found out when a very "to the point" e-mail was sent telling me my privalege card was now redundant!
don't you think they would have encouraged more custom if the cards were still valid? :?:

Outdoors made a huge amount of money from scout equipment and badges sales, i spoke to my old work colluges, they all were saddened, and were dubious about the future, especially work hours appear to be getting worse!

so lets, back track, scouts aren't happy, public aren't happy, privalege card holders aren't happy and staff aren't happy.......oh dear!
could be a bit of a balls up there! :rolmao:

for those that didn't know already company's like:
Peter storm, wynnster, outdoors(brand), blacks(brand), reggatta, and eurohike, manufacture tents, sleeping gear, rucksacks, clothing etc, they are all made by the same people.
having them all under the same name will save money and possibly bring down the price of some items, the flip side and more likely scenario is that it will save money for "Blacks" but they will keep the prices the same :?: or even raise them as there is no competition.

i'm fairly sure that smaller company's will die off just purely because of funding! like the small independant shops and banks did!
larger companies can afford to give bigger discounts and grab the sales.

unfortunately a shop in norwich called "Venture sport" (the only decent climbing/mountinering/expedition shop in norwich is likely to go in the future because of this merger! :?:

it's all sad, but it is to be expected.

all i can say is support your local businesses!

 

[tomtom]

it certainly looks like a balls up to me.. in plymouth there are no independant retailers that in know of.. there is a black and a millets and scouts outdoors shop.. since the YHA went the outdoors shop was the only one i went in.. IMHO black make awful tents.. everything else there seems to be the more "street wise" products than the functional ranges.. and millets is much the same.. i do hope the outdoors center doesnt go the same way!

 

[bigjackbrass]

unfortunately a shop in norwich called "Venture sport" (the only decent climbing/mountinering/expedition shop in norwich is likely to go in the future because of this merger!

Sad, but then I suppose that call for mountaineering gear in Norwich is rather lower than, say, Ambleside. Or do you just keep the mountains well hidden down there?

 

[Squidders]

I buy a fair bit of stuff online but when it comes to things I have to try on or fit like boots and most clothing I try and find physical local shops. I do shop at blacks because the one local to me is pretty good... They didn't even mind me pitching a tent in their store on a saturday afternoon to have a look.

Although I do have a preference for smaller retailers I sometimes find they mark up higher because they cannot afford the economy of scale. I also will never spend money on delivery charges unless it is something I simply cannot get physically or if the cost is still lower including delivery.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Sad, but then I suppose that call for mountaineering gear in Norwich is rather lower than, say, Ambleside. Or do you just keep the mountains well hidden down there?

yeah, but we do have several climbing walls, and if you want to get gear together for a trip it's nice to be able to try before you buy!

My branch of outdoors had a rope bolted to the celing so you could try out sit harnesses!
also a huge range of climbing boots.

 

[TAZ]

One of the reasons (allegedly) that the Scout Association let outdoors go was that it was costing too much money to maintain, ie they were paying out more than came to them.The last i heard was that they would still sell Scout uniforms, etc but that theory has been proved wrong! :shock:
Am i right in thinking that the blacks empire also includes trek & field?

 

[hobbitboy]

Am i right in thinking that the blacks empire also includes trek & field?

No, i dont think it does, but will undoubtedly be on the purchase list if its not........