American Golf- are they safe?

[Oddsocks]

Never fails to amaze me though that retailers complain that there are not enough people going in to stores then continue to promote online only offers. If you are selling the fact that the best deals are online then you cannot expect people to make any effort to go out and visit brick and mortar stores.

This!!!! 200%!

A prime example is popping to my local next or Debenhams as I needed 3 or 4 new work shirts, a standard size 17” neck regular fit which translates to between an XL and XXL, only plain white in stock ( in both stores ) unless I want to order 14-16” collar.

You jump online, next day delivery FOC and better multibuy deals. In my opinion they are setting the shops up to fail. Couple that with the general poor attitude of staff and you can see why online is taking over. As it stood I drove to Croydon shopping centre, £4 on parking, struck out! Then across to Purley way, struck out! A two hour round trip and around a fiver’s worth of fuel plus sitting in all that dam traffic only to address the issue straight away while my coffee cooled down from the comfort of my sofa, oh.... and saved money on the shop prices.

You need to incentivise your foot customers to visit the store but at worst at least have polite staff or the dam stuff in stock!

Rant over.

 

[Dibby]

Visited Rustington American Golf store today. Didn't scour the stock as was visiting the golf facility more than the store, but the stock levels seemed to be decent enough. It is attached to a range though, so maybe this is a preferred store?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

was disappointed to see the Kingston on Thames store closed down. That's been there over 15 years.

Used to be very good as well. Always loads of stock. Bought a load of gear there when I use to work in Kingston, well Norbiton so it Coombe Road was a handy walk. Shame its gone

 

[Reemul]

What's asking the staff member going to do? If he's working in branch I guarantee he has no say over stock so all that does is make his day a bit more difficult. If you want to question it then go on their website and find a complaints section where it might go to someone who can do something about it.

I was a retail store manager for 20 years, any comments like that to me would have been passed onwards and upwards. It was a 30 minute drive to get there and it was a shambles. Not only was it a shambles it was so obviously a rip off. This is a brand new store open less than a year attached to the golf club with a full range of bays and testing and yet the store did not look out of place in a knackered downhill high street.

What was annoying was the 2 idiots standing there trying to justify selling a pile of old crap as if it was the best thing since sliced bread. 6 wedge in store, all fazer, 2 weeks ago they had over 100 of all brands. There were hardly any golf bags, on sale we had Fazer and Wilson and titleist at full price. There was no second hand clubs except irons which they had the temerity of having signs on that said Ping EYE 2, retail price £549 our price £82. They had a set of Titleist clubs 20 year old clubs saying RRP £819 our price £99.

What's so frustrating is I want the store to thrive, have good offers and compete but what you are getting is one of the main reasons why these stores do not last and in fact fail so badly. If this store is reflective of the company as a whole it's going to sink faster than the Titanic.

Like I mentioned I was a retail high street manager for 20 years so do have some idea what's needed and this store doesn't have it at one the times they really should have.

 

[Parsaregood]

Was at the range at playsport east kilbride yesterday , thought I'd go in for a nosey at the attatched AG whilst I was there, have to agree there was not a huge amount of choice of stock, clothing brands have been reduced enormously. There was on sale UA polos for £50 being reduced from £60..Yeah right, this was a common theme throughout the store for sale items. There were a few pairs of shoes at a great price though only in a 7 or 12. If you go to the other local retail golf stores affordable golf, they are making AG look very bad at the present moment. I'll be surprised if they last another 2 years, they just don't offer the same value they once did and cannot compete with online outfits

 

[Kaizer_Soze]

Got a voucher to spend at AG, was browsing their site and they have UA Spieth 2 shoes for £55, unfortunately cannot make any selections or do anything on the page, if they are sold out surely this should either be removed or stated out of stock. Pretty poor show.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Speaking to a few of the guys after golf today and they've been to a number of AG stores withing a 30/40 mile radius of the club over the festive period and all say each store still has very little in terms of clubs and putters and the clothing selection is sparse. I think they somehow need a big first half of the year or they could really be in trouble

 

[brendy]

Store in Boucher, Belfast had plenty of clubs and even more second hand offers (sets starting from 25 quid and there were dozens of them at that price), what annoyed me was the clothing selection which was the main reason for my visit. I'd be an XXL in footjoy etc and they simply had nothing to fit bar CK etc whose XXL is at best a normal Large.
The club and accessories side was fine, clothing looked like a closing sale.

 

[Bobby19]

Store in Boucher, Belfast had plenty of clubs and even more second hand offers (sets starting from 25 quid and there were dozens of them at that price), what annoyed me was the clothing selection which was the main reason for my visit. I'd be an XXL in footjoy etc and they simply had nothing to fit bar CK etc whose XXL is at best a normal Large.
The club and accessories side was fine, clothing looked like a closing sale.

Was there any decent sets of irons in the sale or second hand ?!! Might have to pay a wee visit

 

[Imurg]

Safe or not, judging by posts on here, consumer confidence in AG seems to be pretty low at the moment.
And it takes time to re-establish ..

 

[need_my_wedge]

Safe or not, judging by posts on here, consumer confidence in AG seems to be pretty low at the moment.
And it takes time to re-establish ..

I’ve posted on here a few times about this. The company that has taken them over has a good reputation for turning business around. My best mate worked for a company picked up by them for peanuts, turned around and sold for £400 million. Everyone seems to think the turn around will be overnight, it won’t, it will take some time. Pretty sure they’re trying to get rid of as much of the old stock as possible before replenishing with new season.

I’m sure the new owners want to take them up market a but as they’ve added J Lindberg, Ralph Lauren and Lyle & Scott as new clothing ranges already in store.

There’s still a few bargains to be had in the iron sets, and custom orders can be placed as well.

It’s going to take a little time to restore customer confidence but the new owners will be aware of that. Let’s see what they do over the next few months before writing them off.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I’ve posted on here a few times about this. The company that has taken them over has a good reputation for turning business around. My best mate worked for a company picked up by them for peanuts, turned around and sold for £400 million. Everyone seems to think the turn around will be overnight, it won’t, it will take some time. Pretty sure they’re trying to get rid of as much of the old stock as possible before replenishing with new season.

I’m sure the new owners want to take them up market a but as they’ve added J Lindberg, Ralph Lauren and Lyle & Scott as new clothing ranges already in store.

There’s still a few bargains to be had in the iron sets, and custom orders can be placed as well.

It’s going to take a little time to restore customer confidence but the new owners will be aware of that. Let’s see what they do over the next few months before writing them off.

AG are a retail golf superstore a lot of people using it will be nomads and society golfers - they aren’t the type to spend money on Ralph Lauren etc hence why in the MK you could see no one was buying them or going near them because they are priced far too highly for your average AG customer

 

[Homer]

JL, RL and L&S are probably the only ones they didn’t/don’t owe money to! They need to clear all the cr@p to pay off the debts and be able to restock.

Shop closures coming - I reckon they need to shift about 40/50. Wouldn’t surprise me if it started in Jan.

 

[shortgame]

Speaking to a few of the guys after golf today and they've been to a number of AG stores withing a 30/40 mile radius of the club over the festive period and all say each store still has very little in terms of clubs and putters and the clothing selection is sparse. I think they somehow need a big first half of the year or they could really be in trouble

Visited my local one today, a 'flagship' store. Very few clubs, almost no balls and about 1/3 of the 'usual' range of clothes. Very sad state of affairs. Usually the store is absolutely crammed with a great selection in the sales but not this year!

 

[User2021]

Store in Boucher, Belfast had plenty of clubs and even more second hand offers (sets starting from 25 quid and there were dozens of them at that price), what annoyed me was the clothing selection which was the main reason for my visit. I'd be an XXL in footjoy etc and they simply had nothing to fit bar CK etc whose XXL is at best a normal Large.
The club and accessories side was fine, clothing looked like a closing sale.

Isn't Boucher Rd earmarked for closure?

 

[Oddsocks]

From what I’ve been told the original owners did not order the winter range on as their future was unknown, this is why current ranges and stock is depleted

 

[Hammertoe]

Isn't Boucher Rd earmarked for closure?

There are 2 in Belfast, Boucher Road and Connswater, with Boucher being the bigger and more modern of the 2. I heard Connswater was the one being closed with Boucher staying.

 

[Maninblack4612]

JL, RL and L&S are probably the only ones they didn’t/don’t owe money to! They need to clear all the cr@p to pay off the debts and be able to restock.

Shop closures coming - I reckon they need to shift about 40/50. Wouldn’t surprise me if it started in Jan.

The debts disappeared with the administration

 

[Homer]

The debts disappeared with the administration

As did their accounts with the manufacturers!

 

[need_my_wedge]

As did their accounts with the manufacturers!

The new company cleared the debts and have all their club suppliers back on board.