Shop Review - Westbeach (Vancouver / Whistler)

Westbeach is a Canadian board shop that started up in 1979 in Calgary and now has two main shops in Vancouver (West 4th & Burrard and in Gastown) and Whistler (Market Place, Village North).

http://www.westbeachtheshop.com/



I usually stroll in to Westbeach on a consistent basis to see what’s new and for their Volcom clothes section…I love Volcom jeans. Recently I purchased new snowboard boots, bindings and a board (that I returned due to cosmetic reasons). So without further adieu here is my detailed review of the Westbeach shops.

1) Shop setup / Visual Merch

All Westbeach stores are setup in the same fashion, clothing / shoes up front and gear in the back. The Whistler store has a more artistic flare because in their front windows they have some cool displays that are well thought out. As for the Vancouver store they only have two front windows and now displays. Both stores are descent sizes with the Vancouver one the bigger of the two making able to carry a lot of gear for the particular season.

Also both shops always have a couple of TVs in them playing the latest snowboarding, surfing or skateboarding movies which is always cool to have, it keeps me in the store that much longer.

2) Variety

Westbeach carries a large variety of gear, clothing and accessories, my favourite being the Volcom section. From a snowboarding perspective they stock Burton, Stepchild, Lib Tech, GNU and 32 boots. They also stock the lasted videos, but this year did seem to have all of them like they did in the past.

In the summer months Westbeach transforms they inventory into skateboarding and surfing gear but still keep the snowboarding products out as well.

3) Product Pricing

The price of the merch in the shop is relatively the same as any other shop you might find and Westbeach rarely has sales. Their sales only occur during the thanksgiving weekend (10% off) and at season end (20% to 25% off)

4) Customer Service

I find Westbeach’s customer service hit and miss. Sometimes you get good service when you are browing in their stores but most of the time you are just ignored. This is very evident in the Whistler store, they’re to cool to help you out!

When I was buying all my gear for this season the guy helping me just did want to be there and it was evident in his attitude. Also they work on commission, so I would think that they would get more effort to help you make the right choice.

With respect to product knowledge I think the Westbeach staff does a good job, as most of their employees ride the gear they are sell. But since they do work on commission do your homework before hand because there is always the risk that they will try to push some product on you that you might not want.

One guy at the Vancouver shop, I think his name was Eric, is extremely helpful and doesn’t care about commission so I would suggest asking around to see if he’s there to help out.

5) Overall

Westbeach is descent board shop that can become a really good board shop if they customer service improves in both stores. Really they only reason I shop there is because of their large selection of Volcom clothes, other wise I think you can get better service else where when purchasing gear.