I've been on Marks email list for years. I've been to countless sales and they have never disappointed. I got an email yesterday at 7 PM, after store hours informing me of "Shimano Days Sale" with a huge selection of shimano reels at wholesale prices. I got there this morning right after they opened and there were 2 reels with a sale sticker on them and a cabinet full with MSRP stickers. I asked the salesman where the shimano sale was expecting a table full somewhere, he laughed and said they all sold quick! There were maybe 10-15 guys shopping, only 1 in the fishing department. It's hard to believe Marks has started bait and switch ad campaigns, their emails will now be flagged for junk.

All about the $$$

Disappointing. I got the email as well and thought about running by for that as well. Glad I didn't waste my time.

I'm on the Email list and didn't get anything.

A lot of times I get the emails late.

When was the sale supposed to be?

Did it start the day you got there or maybe the day before?

God Bless,
David B.

I got the email too, at 7:03 pm. Email just indicated it was today.

Did that to me on a pistol except I called a reserved one..Was there next morning as they opened..gosh darn someone musta sold it yesterday..Never went back..

I got the Shimano email and the gun sale one.

There is more high dollar "man bags" and clothing than outdoors gear up there these days.

It's just not the same place that it was before Mark passed that's for sure.

A little over a year ago I stopped by there to pick up some jigs. I went straight in to the jigs got what I needed without speaking to anyone and when I was coming off the jig aisle a lady comes up and tells me I have to leave because they don't allow competitor advertising in their store. I said what the hell are you talking about!! She pointed to my River Rats reel repair shirt and said you can't wear that in here. I handed her the dozen jigs and told her where to put them and walked out. I'll not be back

What stupid policy.
It sounds like Marks when he was alive was one of the best gun shops in the South East.

I quit going in there. Nothing I ever wanted at prices I wasn't paying. Go to Simmons.

That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard

You got that right.."pretty stuff"

I used to go in there once a week. I bet I haven't been in there in over a year. Not the same place as it used to be and the employees act like they are doing you a favor if they help you with anything.

Srew that. Guess they'll wanna throw ya out if you're wearing a Bass pro or Cabela shirt also. LMAO buncha Idots..

Mark was always nice to me and helped me in several ways. Jeremy, Dave and a few others are really good people in my opinion so I will continue to shop with them when I need something! The store will never be what it was when Mark ran it but it is still a good store imo.

They'll run there self out of buisness like that. I'll never darken a door that jas a attitude like that. A shirt is a shirt 90% of my t shirts have something one them. That i buy when i go some where or they give me with a purchase etc. Ot would have been different if you was talling people the place on your shirt does better job, better prices etc, but just for wearing a shirt is a bit ridiculous

I walked in Marks about 15yrs ago with a competitors T-shirt on. Mark saw me walk in and told me to go pick out a Marks Outdoors T-shirt! He didn't ask me to put it on or take my shirt off, but I did at the T-shirt rack. A retail store could not do any better than Marks while he was around. Man I miss that place!!

Yep hell I wear our company shirts to home improvement stores and places that do the same stuff we do. And I've never had an issue hell I'm there purchasing products from them lol...

Should of pulled it off right there and asked for one of theirs for free. Then said my underwire has Hanes on it, do want to see them

Don't kid yourself, there inventory is still way better than most. Where else can you buy a like new set of Meostar 10-42 for under $400?? I did last fall.

Just for the record, I am not affiliated. Now stop sending me hate mail.

ill never buy anything from them. i called and asked if they had a certain pistol in stock i couldnt find around here. they said they did and would hold it for me. i left right then from tuscaloosa drove up there and they didnt have it. pissed me off

Shelton's in Moulton is the place to buy reels and rods.

I got the gun email a couple weeks ago, so I called and had them set one aside for me. I got there, they did the check, and I left in less than 20 minutes. The fishing email is a different story. I think I got the same email a couple weeks ago. I wonder if it double sent somehow.

Riverrat, that's crazy. We have a small business that customers often wear competitors shirts and hats in to. Our customers will often say something to the effect of " bet you hate seeing this hat/shirt". Our response has always been " I'd much rather you have on their shirt/hat and be here than have on my shirt/hat and be there".

Y'all go too hard on the local guy. It's hard to compete with the interweb business, with free shipping and whatnot. An extra $10 to the local man paying taxes goes a lot further than folks think.

I can testificate and witnesfy this is true. He's just an immigrant hillbilly who don't even own a turkey vest. A serious faux pa in my judgment,

Went in there several years ago to buy a Benelli SBE2.....had a pocket full of hundreds. Couldn't find someone to help me out for the longest time. Finally the jackass at the counter asked what he could help me with and I asked to see the gun. He paused and sighed heavily and got the gun down and handed it to me. As I was looking it over and shouldered it a couple of times, he asked if I was done tire kicking or something to that effect. Showed him the wad of hundreds, told him to kiss my ass and ended up buying a gun from Simmons.

If I ever turned the local news on one morning and there's a story that Marks Outdoors is currently on fire, I would take a day of PTO, drive all the way to Bham, just so I could stand in the parking lot and point and laugh while it burns to the ground.

Simmons is the way to go and it's not even close.

I have shopped there since the beginning and yes, a lot of people miss Mark and Mo but they are still a great store.
The reel sale is the sales Rep demo units, not a truck load, they go fast.

I had a similar thing happen to me. I ordered my son a deer rifle, one of the guys I have known for years placed the order for me. I got a call that it was in. When I got up there, someone went in the back and brought it out of me. It wasn't the correct rifle. I started bitching about it and the guy accused me of not knowing what I was talking about. I had ordered it with a youth stock. The youth stocks for the rifle were black and the adult stock was olive despite.

I called over the guy I knew. He ask what was going on and I told him. He looked st the rifle and said that wasn't the one he put my name on that I ordered. Turns out, the guy who brought it to me was married to Mark's daughter and he is a walking window licker. He had a customer who wanted the same rifle with a black stock, idiot didn't know the difference in the youth and adult stock, so he switched the tag and assumed no one would care. I called him every name I could think of and ended up walking out. The guy I knew called me the next day and said they had gotten the correct gun again and ask if I wanted it. I told him I didn't think so, but he ended up knocking $75 off the price for me so I bought it. I don't know if I have been back since then.

Just so you know, Mark's daughter and her husband are no longer working at the store and haven't in several years. There were too many problems with him and the rest of the employees complained enough that Mark's widow, Dana, told him to leave. He is the son of Ronnie Smith who had a TV Hunting show that went off the air several years ago. Kid acted like he was next in line to the throne, but Dana had other ideas.

Dana has always worked behind the scenes at Mark's, and is a big part of the success of the store through the years. Mark was a fantastic businessman and developed the store into one of the best in the Southeast and he worked VERY hard to build the it what it became. I've been shopping there since it opened in the 80's and I concur with some of the above posts that it has changed, and not for the better. I'm always treated well when I go in there because I know a couple of the guys pretty well and seek them out when I'm looking for something. Unfortunately, I hear a lot of stories like the ones above and I hope that someone at Mark's reads this thread and tries to change the environment in the store.

I still shop there on occasion but most of my money gets spent at Simmons Sporting Goods in Bessemer. It's like an old country store where all the people know you by name and treat you like a friend. If I need something that isn't on the shelves, Jeff can usually get it for me by ordering. I should just give the sweet woman at the checkout my Debit Card PIN number to save time at checkout. Simmons is a great store.

I knew who the son in law's daddy is. I remember when he was first hired and worked in Archery. No way I would have let him touch my bow. Glad to know they are gone. I still know a lot of the older employees.

I was very loyal to Mark for a long time. He was very good to my family over the years. After my father had his bypass surgery, he wanted to go to Mark's sporting clay shoot, but couldn't walk that far. Mark called him and told him to please come out that he would take care of him. We got there and Mark came to the truck, picked him up in a Ranger and drove him around all afternoon. That is customer service.

I know it would change when he died. But, good customer service shouldn't die with him.

My wife and I were there yesterday and I was dressed pretty shabbily. I almost felt pestered to be helped at the gun counter. We made a purchase in the not so high dollar section with the help of a nice young man. They were negotiable and we paid about 10% more than a private transaction. Overall a pretty good experience.

Used to be good. Simmons is king these days though. It's a long drive for me but always worth it.

Last year I wanted to buy a new Xbolt. I went into Mark's to see a few versions (nothing crazy). The guy behind the counter lied to me and told me that they didn't make the hunter or a couple of other (cheap) versions anymore. Only the Hell's Canyon and the other top end versions that he had on the rack. Total lie. Then he told me that I needed to hurry and buy one because they were about to discontinue those too. There was another guy next to me that asked about them. He wanted one of those nice versions in 270win. The salesman told him that Browning quick making them in that caliber because the 270wsm was so popular now. Of course that was all he had in stock in 270. This was toward the end of last summer. Well I bought a Xbolt Hunter in 270win a couple of weeks later... and they still make them.
Every time I talk to those guys, I feel like they are looking down on me and like I can't trust them.

Simmons in Bessemer is always the opposite. Great guys, very helpful, honest, and easy to deal with. I have bought several guns from them, a nice scope, and some other gear in the last year or so. I just wish they weren't so far away. It's probably best for my wallet though!

When Mark was alive and I first moved to B'ham I was just a 20 year old kid and he knew my name after I bought 2-3 guns from him. He would see me and always talk to me. Some of the others in there wouldn't pay me any attention and still don't. So that is nothing new in there. I could write an essay on the things Mark did for me, called distributors and found me what I was looking for scopes or guns and a lot of time just something average. When I got a little older and had a little more walking around money (still nothing like a lot that shop there) Mark had some dude that would come in there and buy up guns but they would never leave the store. The guy just bought guns to buy them I guess. Never took them home. Anyway maybe 2-3 times I wanted something nice like a Weatherby this guy had habitually swooped in there and purchased some of the nicest stuff Mark had. Well he would call this guy and tell him he was going to sell such and such gun to me and never tell him a price.... I think one time he even left him a message. Mark give me a RACE HORSE deal on those couple. I mean a well used price. He was just a good guy he knew I didn't have deep pockets. He didn't have to do that.

The deals they once had are no longer there on guns, they do get some on scopes but nothing you can't get elsewhere via the internet. The rest of the store is your typical yuppie stuff I can buy cheaper online. I feel real sorry for him and the situation that the store is in. I occasionally walk through and just look at what they've got in the used rack.

I do most all my shopping at Simmons these days.