Where is the best place to get sporting goods? Sports is one of those fields (pun intended) where the right equipment can make or break your sporting experience. Whether you're a first-time player, joining a school team, a longtime pro, or just picking up a new-to-you sport for fun, the proper sporting goods are key to having a good time. Sporting goods retailers are popping up all over the place, too, making it easier than ever to find the equipment you need to make your sport a winning experience.
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Academy Sports is a sporting and outdoor website that's known as one of the largest online stores of its kind. On top of having a fully built-out online presence, Academy Sports also offers in-person shopping at 301 locations throughout 21 states in the US. Academy Sports is headquartered in Texas and offers both sporting goods as well as outdoor and camping gear to cover all your "active lifestyle" bases. Whether you need post-exercise recovery tools like foam rollers, workout gear, or sport-specific must-haves, Academy Sports offers a competitive inventory.
9 popular brands and thousands of options
Speaking of inventory, you'll find plenty of top sporting goods brands at Academy Sports, including Nike, Jordan, Rawlings, Easton, Wilson, Under Armour, EvoShield, Battle, and Riddell. As for sports, you can find gear for baseball, basketball, football, softball, soccer, golf, tennis, volleyball, lacrosse, track and field, gymnastics, and wrestling. As a comparison, we looked at the inventory listings for three popular sports: baseball, football, and softball. For baseball, Academy Sports offered 2,548 items. For football, we found 3,370 items in stock, and for softball, there were 1,023 items total. We also looked at less popular sports like gymnastics and found 138 items available at Academy Sports.
Helpful filters and at-a-glance listings
Browsing sporting goods at Academy Sports is simple. You can either search using the top bar to find gear right away or use the helpful filters to narrow down your options. Academy Sports will automatically sync to your nearest brick-and-mortar location for shipping or pick-up options. You can limit your searches by brand, product type, style, color, and whether or not the item is available through same-day delivery. All of the listings have the prices (and discounts for those that are eligible) and color options that you can mouse through without clicking into the listing page. It makes browsing quite simple and fast if you're looking through tons of items at once.
Prices from $6.97 to $599.99 on researched items
To do our price comparison at Academy Sports, we looked at pricing in three ways: first, we looked at the total price range for the popular brand Nike (all Nike items). Second, we looked at sport-specific items: Easton bats (baseball and softball included), and the price range for football helmets. This is the same comparison we do at every sporting goods store to see the price ranges side-by-side. Here's what we found:
Free shipping and 60-day returns
Most of the sporting goods offered at Academy Sports include free shipping with your order. You'll be able to see if an item qualifies by looking at the listing. All sporting goods that include free shipping have a "Free Shipping" label along the bottom with a check mark. If you'd like faster shipping, you can score free 2-day shipping on orders $150+ if you have a myAcademy account. As for returns, you can ship back your items from Academy Sports within 60 days of your purchase. The site accepts returns with or without a receipt, though if you don't have a receipt, you must have your original form of payment ready for the refund to process. If you want to make your return online, you can grab a packing slip from Academy Sports' website.
Missing shipments and poor customer service
Regrettably, Academy Sports is not rated by the Better Business Bureau, and it doesn't have particularly good scores on third-party review sites like Trustpilot and Sitejabber. At the time of our latest visit, Academy Sports held a dismal 1.5 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot and an equally concerning 1.3 stars out of 5 on Sitejabber. Recent reviews included those within a few hours of our evaluation. One comment complained that despite Academy Sports advertising a tax holiday for its sporting goods, the customer was charged tax. Further, there are repeated reviews about issues with ordering online. For example, one woman's order never came after ordering online, and Academy Sports said that she couldn't secure a refund until the order actually arrived (?!). Academy Sports also has negative reviews for the quality of the customer service and a lack of helpful representatives when things go wrong.
Not worth the worry that you'll never receive what you buy
While the large inventory and helpful filters are a huge selling point for Academy Sports, the concerns about shipments and customer service keep this site from being as competitive as it should be. Academy Sports has a great inventory, but if your items never arrive and you can't get your money back, there isn't much point to the massive inventory. With concerningly low reviews on third-party review sites and no rating to speak of from the Better Business Bureau, it falls near the bottom of our list.
Continued from above...
Sports is one of those fields (pun intended) where the right equipment can make or break your sporting experience. Whether you're a first-time player, joining a school team, a longtime pro, or just picking up a new-to-you sport for fun, the proper sporting goods are key to having a good time. Sporting goods retailers are popping up all over the place, too, making it easier than ever to find the equipment you need to make your sport a winning experience.
Choosing an online sporting goods store is a great idea if you're looking for a place where you can buy it all. Sports don't just require the big stuff like baseball bats or hockey masks. You'll also need to buy the basics: socks, pants, golf balls, warm-up gear, and more. The best sporting goods stores will be a one-stop shop with everything you need in one place.
Have kids who play different sports? No problem. Need extras like water bottles or workout gear on top of your sport-specific goods? They've got it. Some sporting goods stores have more specialized inventory (which would be great if you're a pro in that particular sport), but for most customers, having a wide variety is going to help you across all your various sports requirements.
The best part? Most sporting goods stores offer impressive deals. Since the sites are mostly online (though there are still a few brick-and-mortar stores if you're someone who likes to try things on), you won't run into overhead costs all the time. Plus, you can browse through clearance and seasonal promotions you won't find elsewhere when you shop at a sporting goods store online. Plus, the top competitors will have solid policies for both shipping and returns, resulting in high customer satisfaction and also great for keeping the total price in your cart down.
Whether you're buying varsity football gear for your student athlete, grabbing some new leotards for a new gymnast, or ordering some new shoes to try out running for the first time (good luck), there's a sporting goods store out there to meet your needs. No matter your budget, you'll be able to find a sporting goods store that ticks all the boxes.
But, with so many options, it can be hard to decide which sporting goods store deserves your business. There are so many things to consider, so we made it simple with a quick list of factors that can help you decide:
You don't need to worry about finding the best sporting goods stores out there: with our detailed research and rankings, Top Consumer Reviews has identified the top sporting goods stores online today. This way, you can get your head in the game and enjoy your sport (or cheer on a loved one who's playing). Let's play ball!
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