Eastern Mountain Sports — Local services in Lebanon

I went to this location yesterday to purchase 2 pair of shoes. After having been in the store for about 10 minutes looking at the hiking boots and trail running sneakers, I made my selection and was waiting for assistance to retrieve the shoes from the backroom. Thats when an employee( manager?) who had very little on in the of identification ( no badge, no lanyard, no corporate uniform etc) came up behind me and demanded I wear a mask. I declined with a simple 'nope' He then fished about in his person and produced from somewhere a crumpled, beat up paper mask and began wagging it in my face demanding incessantly that I now take that mask and put it on. Again, I said no. All done with that game. He then began stuttering and scanning the store presumably to call for backup. That's when I assured him back up was not needed as I was leaving. Dude begins to follow me out all the while running his mouth from behind me. He only stopped once he came upon another criminal who was wanted for not wearing a mask. His little show was then directed at that unsuspecting customer. I like EMS and will continue to shop at their other locations but I will never return to this one. If you've read this review and the other not so positive reviews of how this store is being managed, I would encourage you to...

Shopped yesterday for a pair of xc boots for my wife. We were the only customers in the store and ignored by sales staff until I approached one for assistance. He could be best described as moderately friendly but abrupt in manner. He brought out two pairs of boots, lead us to a fitting area, set the boxes down and left to attend to...?? Again, no other customers in the store. While my wife was trying on the boots another young, clearly disinterested staff member approached and said, “if they don’t fit, maybe there are some others” and walked away to attend to other...oh, wait, there were NO OTHER customers. This isn’t the first time I have had negative experiences in this EMS branch but I have brushed them off thinking it not worth my time to write a review. This time, however, was simply too much to let the poorly trained and unmotivated staff escape a bit of reality therapy from a dissatisfied customer. I will not be returning to this store and suggest that others...

NEVER EVER buy anything from Eastern Mountain Sports! Their return policy states that you can only return for merchandise credit. That would be fine if you could see the sign or if the sales associate tells you this when you make a purchase. The store has a tiny sign up between the registers that states the return policy but it is not directly where any normal human can see the policy upon checkout. It is all but covered up by all the "impulse" buy items stacked all over the counter and the policy is not pointed out by anyone when you make the purchase. It is only when you go back to try and return something that they tell you the policy. My husband would have never ever ever bought me a set of $200 wool long johns as a gift if he had known that we couldn't return them for a full refund. Bye Bye EMS. We won't ever shop there again and I will make it my personal mission to be sure everyone I know is aware. If there was a rating below 1 star I would post...