Showcase Snowboards is a board shop located in Whistler in the Sundial Hotel complex that is owned by Intrawest. It’s one of Whistler most busiest and infamous snowboard shops and the reason for that is obvious….because it’s located right near the main gondolas for Whistler and Blackcomb mountain. Showcase has a couple of other locations within other Intrawest resorts like Colorado's Copper Mountain. Also you can go online to their site, Showcase Snowboards, to get all your snowboard needs.
Showcase even put on a yearly competition on in Whistler called “The Showcase Showdown”, which feature some of Canada’s best riders. This competition is usually nest the end of February and is really good because is kinda like a pipe and park comp mix into one. If you are in Whistler during definitely check it out but go early to get a spot to watch.
I usually stroll into Showcase Whistler once in awhile to check out what’s new and just browse around. I have purchase a couple of items from them and thought it would be good to post a review about the shop to let other know what they can expect.
1) Shop setup / Visual Merch
Showcase Snowboards Whistler is a pretty big shop for Whistler, actually the biggest, with a pretty clean modern setup to it. The shop is well organized with a section for soft goods, gear and even a separate shop for women stuff that right next door. The shop that’s just for woman’s stuff it the Burton woman’s store and I think that it looks better than the main shop does….pretty well designed.
Showcase also features a live DJ Fridays thru Sunday during the evening to give the shop a nightclub type of feel. This is a unique touch. So go get your dance and shop on!!!
2) Product Variety
The shop carries many of the big name snowboarding brands such as Burton, Option and also locally produced Prior snowboards. They also have a large inventory of clothing from Volcom, Burton and Bonfire. But aside from snowboarding related gear Showcase doesn’t have much more. Their main focus is snowboarding. In the summer the shop does sell surfboards but only a handful. But if you’re looking for Burton gear this shop is the one in Whistler.
3) Pricing
As you would expect, the pricing is not much different from other board shops in Whistler. Sales rarely are put up by Showcase even in the summer. The big sales occur at Thanksgiving and in the summer but the price drop are not that significant. Also I find it’s hard to haggle a deal because it’s really a large corporately owned shop and they probably have strict rules about product pricing.
4) Customer Service
Customer service at Showcase is hit and miss. Sometimes you get really good service and other times the shop employees are too cool to help you out.
A couple times I have been in the store wondering around and never was approached by an employee asking if they can help me out. I think that a shop in a tourist local like Whistler should always approach the customer asking if they need help but I guess sometimes they don’t really care but ton of people go in that shop daily. Other times I got really good service and which led me in the right direction as to what to purchase.
I think if Showcase stepped it up on the customer service side and not just on the Turkey Sale weekend, the shop would be the best in Whistler.
5) Overall
Overall Showcase is a good shop with some unique flare, like the DJ thing on the weekends and organization of the yearly competition. But they could improve on their product variety abit, customer service and the shop should be a Burton Collation shop….I can’t believe it’s not.
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2 comments:
showcase in whistler has to be one of the most pathetic places to shop. the staff are helpful enough when you are looking to buy something from their store, but utterly hopeless whenever there's a problem. My bindings lost a small bolt, witch you'd think would be easy enough to replace. Showcase had no spare parts for the binding i bought there, and were unwilling to have any parts sent in. There solution? drill out my 1 month old bindings and retro fit a 3rd party bolt. Now the highback on the same bindings have broken. The store manager suggested I send in the bindings to forum myself, as even he wouldn't ever use the showcase warranty system. apparently its a 48 hour turnaround for forum to replace bindings, but to do the same claim through showcase will take 6-8 weeks. Need i say anymore? my recommendation, NEVER shop at showcase. Ever.
I'm sorry to report customer service at showcase is still bad. My second season here and on each of the five occasions I've gone in intending to buy something - I've been prevented for some reason. Misinformation from staff (someone totally tried to mis-sell a twin stance jib board as a backset powder board?), totally out of stock for popular items or sizes (board, boots, gloves etc) and no clue as when they are getting new stock, overpriced stuff and then surprise other stores actually HAVE items in stock and at a lower prices. Being totally ignored by someone too cool to help out (as mentioned above). I get the feeling this store used to be great but have got used to being number one in the resort for snowboarding and have since let standards slip.
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