West Marine — Attraction in Oak Ridge

I visited West Marine today to purchase some fire extinguishers for our business. I found the prices on just about everything in the store - and I spent some time there - to be exorbitant. Upon checkout dealing with Walt, the cashier, I wasnt able to get my AmEx card to swipe. Walt explained that West Marine was unable to manually enter a card. That's fine. I offered another card to swipe. What isn't fine is the way he acted during this process. Not only was he extreemely rude almost instantly when I told him to forget about using any of my cards and that my coworker will be paying for it, he grabbed the extinguishers away from the counter and tossed them behind the desk. It was an incredibly unprofessional gesture - especially for an older gentleman. After this I just couldn't justify spending 60 bucks at a store just to be treated so rudely when I could get a MUCH better deal online. As I walked out with my coworker I told him that we would not be back. He said, "Good!". Good. Great. It's a shame how one bad experience can completely tarnish your view of a company. After working for years in customer service there is no way I would have ever talked to a customer the way he did. I understand West Marine probably does have a lot of good employees, but because of this one rotten apple, I'll never be shopping there again AND trying to convince everyone I know to shop...

With a friend, I visited the store to see items I'm thinking about getting for my new boat. I've sailed for decades, but have never owned. I've used mostly older gear, so I wanted to get a little more up-to-speed on the current toys. My only disappointment is that the store didn't have nearly the in-house selection as I expected, but they kept the shelves stocked with what that store does carry. On the plus side, everything was easy to see, displays were all functioning, and the staff couldn't have been nicer. The gentleman asked the right questions to try to help me find what would be right for the boat, but wasn't trying to sell me the super-deluxe-gazillion-creature-feature model. When I didn't need help, they went on to see about the next customer or straighten things about the store. The young lady was quick to ensure my friend found everything she was looking for in the clothing section. Bottom line, it's a good store with nice,...

Great local boating and water sports shop. I do feel thier online selection is better than their in store selection and prices. Higher cost items seem to be in the store, and the interesting and hard to find in person items like rigid tender boats are normally only online. Those boats are something that is hard to buy without seeing. I was able to see one at the Winter Haven Florida location, but I don't believe it is a normal in stock item for every location. They do offer free shipping to the store, which is a great way to get bigger items, especially. I would rather buy from here because it is more of a local store than just another big box store or online giant. I like supporting local businesses as much as I can. I hope they expand their in store offerings and drive people like me in store more often with lower cost items. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for boating supplies and water sports items in...