Sports Basement Campbell — Local services in Campbell

After less than stellar experiences at Helm of Sun Valley, and subpar experiences at Sports Basement Sunnyvale; I can finally say all my future ski-related business, and my network's business will be going to Richard DeBorba and Jasmyn Galvan's team at Sports Basement Sunnyvale.

Today I went to two other ski stores (Helm of Sun Valley; and Sports Basement Sunnyvale) having a simple request of a minor boot punch on the inner right shell of my Salomon S-Lab Touring Ski Boots. Disregarding the competition, upon going to the first location at Sunnyvale, the Senior technician, who I was told was the best technician on the West Coast, Stew; informed me through another associate that my boots were impossible to attempt working on, let alone recommending another option. I never spoke to the technician in the back shop directly, just the one associate working all of the shop repair desk by himself. Note - this occurred after waiting 25 mins just to explain my request to the desk; understandably - given the times, I know staffing at stores is tough.

After asking a second time if the associates or technician would like to PHYSICALLY have me put my boot on so they could do a grease and hammer check on the shell to re-evaluate their opinion, they turned me away. I never put my boot on, or sat down with an associate. I felt I had wasted 40 mins here, plus the 2 hours I wasted at Helm of Sun Valley. Feeling lucky, i figured I would try one more place before abandoning hope that anyone in the Bay Area could do a simple boot punch - so I made my way to Sports Basement Campbell.

As a lifelong skier, with over 25 years of competitive freestyle, and instructional skiing, 10+ years of CSIA-level teaching, and almost a decade in the ski hardgoods retail market I can honestly say that the team at SB Campbell has earned my (and my friends, family and network's) business for life. Shoutout to Richard DeBorba, Jasmyn Galvan, and the two techs/associates Tony and Chris.

I was directed to Jasmyn Galvan, the manager upon explaining my predicament and request for minor boot work at the Shop desk, she immediately evaluated the scope of work and knew the right person to ask was Tony; who was on the floor. She was prompt, clear, and apologized in advance that they were busy. Upon meeting with Tony, her and Jasmyn went above and beyond to accommodate me into their customer queue of less than 20 mins of waiting. Having explained to Tony that I had previously been to an affiliate store in Sunnyvale and turned me away (see above), Tony was determined to take a look at my boots. Him and another associate/tech Chris were both very accommodating to my input and feedback after profiling me as a customer. They quickly realized that my request for minor boot punch work was well-informed and directed (a problem I had at the previous two stores); and they were honest that they may not have the right tools at that location but they'd see what they could do.

I assisted both Tony and Chris is blasting my shell and liner, and assisted with the marking of my shell; and they went as far as using a boot press that wasn't mounted to a proper work bench to still do a punch less than 3 mm to the best of their abilities to relieve me of the pain I was reporting in my touring boots. They did not force additional products, or alternatives solutions while this process happened; and they spent 100% attention to my feedback and ideas to solve this problem, while embracing incoming customers during a busy Saturday afternoon. On top of this, they charged me a fair rate for their time, and appreciated the customer/worker conversation we had during that time.

I made a point to ensure their manager Jasmyn Galvan would give them a thanks from the company; and emailed their corporate account.

10/10 would suggest all experienced, beginner, and general outdoors people go here. Period. I will be taking all my future ski, boarding, and biking business to...

TL;DR: Overpriced, Disorganized, Rude.

I've been to this Sport's Basement several times, and honestly- I am surprised they are still in business even though they haven't been in the Pruneyard very long. The store is always almost empty, and their inventory is hodgepodge, disorganized, and expensive. They do have a bit of everything, which is one good reason to go there... but then again, so does Amazon. And it's both a lot easier to find and cheaper there.

I first visited this store when it was still being renovated, coming in search of some camping supplies (notably propane). I couldn't even find the camping section, had to ask for help- and then found they had two propane canisters, one of which looked used. Well, I figured I took the time to be there and- quite frankly- felt bad if I didn't buy them after bugging the salesperson, so I bought both. Later on I went to the nearby Target and got ten cans for half the price. Well, I figured they were still stocking so things would probably improve when they were done.

Long story short: things have not improved, if anything it's even worse. My last visit there was with the Mrs. to look for a bike. Walking down the floor center, I was struck once again by how disorganized it was: there was a long line of women's shoes going all the way down the middle of the store, ending in the bike section. But - get this - the bike shoes are on the opposite end of that line, not near the bike section. That's just one example: completely random stuff is scattered all over the place. It really looks like a basement- guess that's the reason they call it that? But the thing is, it's organized like your basement but the prices aren't basement prices- in fact, they're comparable to high end sports stores like REI.

I browsed around for a while, passing several staff members who didn't so much as glance in my direction. Then I decided to go see how my wife's bike search was going and walked down to the end of the store. I couldn't find her in the main bike aisle, and looking left saw what appeared to be another aisle of racked bikes with random other stuff mixed in. Turning in that direction, I was finally engaged by a staff member who asked if I was looking for anything. I said, nope just looking for my wife, and took another step forward. This prompted the most bizarre reaction I have ever seen in a staff member of ANY store: he jumped back, spread his arms and ducked down- literally looking like a football player about to tackle me. I stopped, surprised, wondering what on earth this guy was doing. He literally looked like a silverback gorilla about to charge me. After holding that pose a while, he said "You can't be back here."

Back here? Back... where? It was literally an aisle just like any other in that mess of a sporting goods store. Well apparently it was their employees only area, which he kindly showed me to be demarcated by a faded yellow line with equally faded (and reversed) 'STOP' letters printed behind it. Oh. Sorry Mr. Gorilla, I'll leave your pen now. Want a banana?

I'm pretty sure that's going to be our last visit to this place. Some tips for the management in the unlikely event you read this:

Your organization sucks. It needs to be fixed. Your staff needs to be trained on how to act less like apes and more like salespeople. Your employee only area should be blocked off, not be another aisle of goods. Your prices are way too high; price matching is good and well, but if that was enough I'd still shop at Best Buy. Your inventory (assuming it can be located) is crazy random. It's kind of like going to a garage sale- you find odds and ends of everything, but probably not what you want unless you are really persistent and keep...

I had a latte from Peets, was sitting in the sun, to take a brake from coding. On my way back to the car, I walked in this shop which I usually avoid. I avoided this place in the past because I never see any customers. A shop with no customers means you will encounter a manager that will push you to buy something. Well, I was in the mood and my goal was to do some eye shopping to get an idea for my next short vaca, camping.

I walk in, I see an empty store and tons of products. First item I see - mugs, I love mugs! I look at where they are made: in China. So I put it back.

I keep walking on the right side towards camping. Arriving at the corner, a young guy is approaching me, and suddenly a dog is sniffing me shoes. Do I find everything ok, comes out of his mouth. He doesn't call back his dog, nothing. By then I had checked other products, all of them from China and he starts to look for products that are not from China. I was not interested in an argument. I checked 10 products I liked and every single one of them was from China. End of story.

But this guy kept trying to make an argument out of it and I told him you make me uncomfortable. I walked away and then I stopped. Turned around and told him that making customers feel uncomfortable is not his job.

While saying this I take one step towards him - which he did as well. Felt confrontational. I thought that this was not welcoming. So I walk away, upset. Almost at the door, I decided to report this guy to his supervisor. I turn around and I discover a guy following me and I ask him, is there a supervisor. I raised his hand indicating he was the supervisor.

Initially he tried to gaslight me and negate my perception of the situation till I realized, the encounter with the young gentleman was initiated by him. He had sent his foot soldier to instigate a situation. Both of them didn't give a hoot if I was treated like a customer but more interested to instigate a situation. Selling products was not their priority but staging a situation in which someone had to be wrong or right, a conflict.

Now I know why there are no customers: it is a toxic place. They are not business minded but...