ice show attitudes

[SUNNYD]

I agree with Huntingmaxima about being impressed with Thorne Brothers. I also enjoyed seeing the Nils Master booth, I am thinking my next auger will be a Nils. I also liked Nils selection of ice fishing jigs. Hope to have a good selection of Nils jigs in my jig both for this ice fishing season.

Take care!

SUNNYD

[arbuck]

I had a great time at the show and also had a great experiance at Thorne Bros.

I went with the intention of looking at the Stone Legacy Revolution to see if it was every thing that it has been bragged up to be. Let me tell you IT IS. If you don't have one you need one. And also wanted to buy hyfax for my FT Guide. All was accomplished at Thorne Bros.

I also met Matt and iowaboy while there. After talking to Matt for awhile he helped set me up with my 1st Thorne Bros. rod (I have a feeling there is more in the future) and a nice Tica reel. I got what I felt to be a great deal on everything and that was the only place I bought any thing durring the show.

All in all I thought it was a good show.

Thanks Matt and hope to see you at one (or more) of the Ice leaders events.

arbuck

[Matt Johnson]

arbuck,

It was nice meeting you at the show. I hope to see you at the Tonka or Medicine event this winter. Make sure you drop me an email and let me know if you're going to make one and we'll have to meet up.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Rosalita]

I am not going to drop any store names because I have a few select privately owned outdoor stores where I can deal, and I do not want to jeopardize my relationship with such owners. I paid a great deal less on my Vexilar FL-18 than "set prices" and was given all of the accessories for free. I can say the same for a lot of other equipment both sporting goods and otherwise.

A few tips:

Get to know the owners and significant managers of privately owned sports shops. They have the power to make a decent offer into one worth being proud of. Avoid chains if you want a great deal because they have no to little power over prices other than company-driven deals and sales.

An arrogant soul at a large sports retailer told me that my deal I got on my Vexilar was not in good standing with the Vexilar company or contractually wrong (something like that). I told him that people are not fools, and to the average Joe, money is money and how a store does a deal is not too large of a concern to the average outdoorsman or woman. I look at the selection and choices at the larger retailers, and then I work on my deal at a place where you can save some serious cash. When I want a deal now, I call owners and managers of private shops who remember my name and loyal patronage.

[Philo]

Interesting posts. One stated that this mapping prohibits better deals on vexilars at larger stores. This must be new, as I bought my FL-18 two years ago for 369.00 at Cabelas, 30.00 under retail.

What about no tax? Why would vexilar care if you paid tax on the item or not? I went to the vexilar booth on Sunday and asked them where to get the best deal. They told me to go to Reeds and they would sell my buddy an FL-18 for 399.99 with no tax. Reeds would not do it. I was told that no one would do the no tax deal in the entire show. The Reeds's salesperson also said they would give me 40.00 for the receipt proving that I got a vexilar without paying tax. Something doesn't make sense here.

[huntingmaxima]

Rosalita, You hit the nail on the head. The big chains have there set price. I also go to the small guy and I get some very good deals. They might not always know your name, but they will reconize your face, and they know who helps to keep thier doors open.

[Big Daddy 14]

People some of the companies have M.A.P. Pricing (minimum advertised pricing) sometimes it goes all season sometimes stops midseason. I am sure that most of you on here have jobs and you get paid xxxx per hour.The people that have stores need to make some money also, there is not a whole lot of profit in some of the things. Consider making a 350 dollar investment to make 50 only to have someone cut your price by 25 and now you are stuck with it til next season. This is why there is minimum pricing on some stuff.

[fishingbuddy]

Waskawood

Wrong answer!!!!!!LOL