Sporting goods stores

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What's behind our sporting goods store Ratings?

The Consumer Reports National Research Center comprises highly trained social scientists, including 9 Ph.D.s, using state-of-the-art techniques to survey more than 1 million consumers each year about products, services, health care and consumer issues.

We look for:

Reader Score
A score of 100 means all respondents were completely satisfied; 80 would mean very satisfied, on average; 60, fairly well satisfied; 40, somewhat dissatisfied.
Value
Value based on price paid and quality of merchandise.
Selection
Selection of available brands or models from retailer.
Service
Average of knowledge and courtesy of sales staff.

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Walk-in sporting goods stores accounted for 79 percent of sporting goods purchases made by our readers who answered a survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. For this sporting goods stores review, we divided the stores into three main types of retail outlets: sporting goods stores, outdoor stores, and major retailers. Read on for more on the best sporting goods stores, the shoppers' experiences with the purchasing process, the types of sporting goods bought, why shoppers chose a particular sporting goods store, their experiences with sales staff, and their satisfaction with the sporting goods store where they made their purchases.