Water Stone Outdoors — Local services in Fayetteville

I'm in NRG 20+ times a year. I used to love waterstone, and stopped at least once a trip, but the new employees seem much less friendly and welcoming than I remember at this formerly nice local shop. The younger guy with scraggly beard and hat at the register was super unfriendly/unhelpful. Acted very inconvenienced when I asked to try on shoes. Asked to try two sizes, he brought out one which was too small. When I asked if he had the bigger size I had asked to try, he exasperatedly sighed and went in the back again for the second pair. (Which was in stock.... so why not bring it out the first time I asked?). The second pair fit much better, but I decided to buy elsewhere mostly just because I didn't like the guy's additude. Love supporting local business, but not if it means dealing with cranky bros at the counter. Waterstone should get back to hiring fun, helpful people who like to talk climbing with their clientele. The guy I dealt with just seemed super inconvenienced and unhappy to be there. He was ultimately the reason I left the shop without purchasing anything. Two stars for a solid selection, but the customer service experience was really lacking on my last trip in. Would have likely walked out with $200+ of gear if not for my experience with that...

I went to this shop when I was visiting from out of state and tried on some climbing shoes.  I found a pair and decided to buy them for $180.19 from the shop instead of buying them for a cheaper price on the internet simply because I wanted to support a small business during a tough time.  When I got home, I tried them on again and I realized they were too big, but the store will not exchange them.  If I would have bought them online instead, then I wouldn't be stuck with these expensive shoes that I can't wear.

It's just really disappointing because after this experience, I probably will never buy from anyone else but the big online retailers like Backcountry who would exchange the unused, brand new shoes.

I gave the shop 2 stars instead of 1 because they had good merchandise.  Don't know about the coffee because the bar...

Been going here regularly for years now and I have to say I am extremely let down by the new (relatively new) owners.

The products they have been getting in are not as quality as they used to be and are mainly aimed at outdoor "fashion" clothing with less focus on utility and quality. Maybe that's just where the market is, but it is still a bummer. Not only that, but the new owners can be standoffish and unfriendly in the store. They have made some strange comments to friends of mine and seem to only want customers that are exactly like them (ie. white, cis, straight, upper class, etc.). Tough to write this because I like to support small businesses, but not sure I can continue to support this one as much as I would like to. Hopefully things will change, I still stop by here and there to see if it still continues to...