Scheels — Local services in West Des Moines

I purchased an antique Colt .25 ACP pistol from Scheels vintage firearms inventory. I always loved visiting their classics room, and spent many hours and dollars in the shooting section. The slide safety was loose, but the salesman assured me the in-store gunsmith had inspected the firearm, and endorsed its function. I took it home, and put it in a safe. An investment, really. I have a lot of these vest-pocket pistols, kinda my “art” collection. Time went by, and the loose slide safety bugged me more and more. But, busy life like most people - kids, new job, new state …I never got around to revisiting the issue. I finally did, and took the weapon back to Scheels, figured I’d see what they’d give me for it…probably reject the offer, no need to take a loss, but I’d get an idea of the current value. Just having fun, really, I mostly never sell guns. I shared the history of the piece, and the salesman had their in-store gunsmith inspect it. He returned, and explained they wouldn’t even consider it. It was not in good order, the slide safety was malfunctioning. So, great - expensive paperweight. Now this just didn’t sit well with me, and I began to look into fixing it. After many hours of research, and having some experience with these old pistols, I did a full take-down and determined that the slide safety was not the correct part. It was a Version 2 part, where my pistol was an older Version 1. Just guessing really, I’m no gunsmith, but I had a feeling I was right. With nothing to lose, I went in search of the 110-year-old part. Found it – last one on earth, it seems. I removed the wrong part and replaced it with the right part, and the slide safety function was fixed. Test fired successfully. So now, very disappointed, and complaining to Scheels, a Store Leader listened to my complaint and sent me a $50 gift card. Of course, that didn’t even cover the cost of the replacement part, and of course, with their mark-up, my guess is they compensated me about 10 bucks. I’m done with them. Lessons Learned: Scheels in-store gunsmith does not inspect their classic firearms, or - Scheels in-store gunsmith is not competent, or - Scheels knowingly sold me a defective firearm. (ding ding ding) Scheels keeps a record of firearms purchases forever. They knew they’d sold it to me. Scheels doesn’t care, but says “Sorry” whenever appropriate. Scheels is a department store, not a shooter’s...

Everybody in each section of this store is very knowledgeable, friendly, and encouraging. I am not a slim woman and I was nervous I might be treated like a Dummy for asking for help in the cycling area to find a new helmet (I just purchased a new/refurbished bicycle), but I didn't have anything I needed to worry about, fortunately. The salesperson at Scheels was so kind, and so was everyone else I was yet to meet. The Cycling Guy was nice, and I was so impressed that I even asked him to help me find biking shorts to buy. He encouraged me to try them on to see if I had the right size when I informed him I had recently lost a lot of weight and I wasn't sure which size would fit me.

While I was there, I meandered around the store and decided I might as well buy some new/supportive sports bras, as well, since none of my old sports bras were fitting anymore, either. There are sports bras all OVER the store (really it depends on what kind you want/color/style/and for which sport), so I had to ask another salesperson for help. And even though I asked a MAN, he didn't take the question awkwardly at all, and he passed me along to a sales lady who could field the question and help me find my size. Once again, I tried on a few different sizes/brands after I got personalized recommendations. When I told the "Sports Bra Lady" about my reason for needing new attire, she was so impressed by my story of losing 80 pounds (and counting ....and not at all judgmental of still being clinically overweight), that she literally gave me a high five. She went with me to get me the "fast pass" to the Customer Service lane with my basket of merchandise so I could check out ASAP and bypass the big lines (partly because I asked if I could wear some of the clothing out of the store that I intended to buy, and she wanted to show the cashier that I was wearing that clothing and she had the tags for it to scan). She was giddy and asked if it was okay with me to share my "story" with the cashier, and I said go right ahead, and it made my day!

It was a great experience...I had been shopping at Scheels prior to this, but I had never interacted with the staff to ask for help shopping around the store. Now I know that they hire really great people who know their specific "zones" inside...

Customer Service there is pretty decent. Last couple of times I have been there, they are more than willing to look around the store with you for what you are looking for.....so they don't really know what they have in stock or where it might be, but still try to help. As for the hunting, fishing, and gun areas, find one of the older guys there. Every older gentlemen that has helped me has been very knowledgeable and given great advice. The younger people seem to be there to just sell, whether you need it or not. I was looking at shotgun chokes and after I had scoured the whole selection looking for a specific brand and type of choke for a Mossberg, I asked a younger associate if there was any stock in the back for the brand and type of choke I was looking for, since there wasn't any on the shelf. He looked at the shelf stock, found the correct brand and handed it to me like "Um....duh, it was right here the whole time." It was the right brand but wasn't the right type of choke nor was if for applicable for a Mossberg (think it might of been for a Benelli). I just chuckled and said thanks and walked away. Found a older gentlemen associate and asked the same question, he went back and checked and came back with none, but then showed me some different options and different brands and also knew the difference in the type of chokes and the limits and was able to sell me a choke that would work.

As for service in the firearm area, and some of the other comments I read before writing this, whether you are male or female, you can't just stand there and expect them to know you want to buy a gun today. Most times, there are about 4 sales people and about 50 customers in that area. I, too, have just stood there waiting for a scheels employee to approach me and ask what I need. Truth is, they are so damn busy and probably hear "Nope, just looking" so many times a day, they figure a person who truly is going to buy it, will come up to them and ask to see a gun. So take a little initiative and go after what you want, and don't expect it to fall...