For the sixth year in a row my family has rented skis from the Bahnhoff ski shop. Our experience…read moreis always excellent. The quality of equipment, the correct fitting and the wonderful service keeps bringing us back. This year we had a problem when on our second day of skiing. Our granddaughter hurt her arm late in the day to the extent that the ski patrol snowmobiled her down the hill and we ran her to Spectrum hospital. In the chaos of getting her down the hill and to the hospital we left some rental equipment at Nubs. Bahnhoffs only concern was with the health of my granddaughter, not with the rentals. They showed complete understanding and compassion for the situation. End result, we lost a helmet and set of poles. Their equipment was the least of Bahnhoff's concern. The manager said to not worry that they will work with Nubs in retrieving the equipment. What a great staff Bahnhoff Sports employs, I thank them all. Bill Van Cleve Ann Arbor MI

Enter at your own risk…read more "Guys, come on! It's a holiday. We're closed. You gotta go!", said no business owner angrily to guests that just spent $600 a mere FOUR MINUTES after closing. Just kidding. Don, the new owner of Bahnhof said that to us. CONTEXT: We showed up 75 minutes before closing on New Year's Eve. We immediately asked for support with our selections. An incredibly bright, pleasant, and patient young man did an AMAZING job explaining all the ins and outs of the items we were considering. Item by item, we added to our pile and proceeded to checkout. We loved our experience up to that point and sincerely looked forward to bringing in our four adult children for complete outfitting at the end of January-likely totaling thousands of dollars. THEN it happened! At precisely 7:04 pm, our transaction was finished. We grabbed our bags ready to walk out, and I asked a question about socks. As the young man was answering, the angry old man others complained about in their Google reviews very snottily says, "Guys, come on! It's a holiday. We're closed. You gotta go!" We were dumbfounded. Who speaks to any customer like that? In my experience, someone who lacks gratitude, respect for others, and basic human decency. Supporting this store was a grave error on our part, which is why we promptly returned every item the next day. We then proceeded right next door to Boyne Country Sports, where we received INCREDIBLE service from a staff who clearly RESPECTS and APPRECIATES their clients. As a local resident and life-long entrepreneur that consults with small businesses, I *passionately* support small-local whenever possible. Frankly, that makes writing a negative review more difficult. However, I feel it is a duty to share our experience, so you can choose to spend your hard-earned dollars where they are appreciated. After sharing our experience with many other locals from Boyne City to Petoskey over the last few days, it seems that most who know this character have one common point of knowledge - he does not like out-of-town visitors. This is evidenced by other 1-star Google reviews, Don, shows up as an angry, rude, and spiteful old man. I would go as far as saying he is an utter embarrassment to the local small business community. I feel for his staff (the young man others have mentioned) who are left working for a tyrant, who seemingly likes to bark orders at his employees. And, it may only be a matter of time before the right local business owner comes along and sees the value of this young man and others, and how fortunate they would be to have them represent their store instead. For locals that have been supporting this place for years (most prior to Don's purchase in 2017), perhaps your experience is different. For those of you traveling to the area, I invite you to spend your money anywhere else. From direct experience, I can say that you will receive better service and better selection, at a more competitive price. In my 25 years of helping businesses grow through their challenges, I have learned that some owners know their strengths and weaknesses, and where their talents are best utilized. And then there are some who are clueless. In my experience, Mr. Marszalec is clearly the latter. Otherwise, he would know not to step foot in the retail, customer-facing space. I can't help but wonder what the Smith's think about this type of reputation being created after spending 40 years building such a wonderful business. Unfortunately, having knowledge, experience, or even a passion for an industry does not equate to being a good operator, much less a good leader. As such, despite feedback being a gift and an opportunity to learn and grow, I have little hope of my review creating any actual change in future customer experiences considering he chose to not even offer a heartfelt apology. So enter this store at your own risk - or simply support a different local business instead.

We rented bikes for the first time up north, and this place was so wonderful. We called and the…read morewoman on the phone was incredibly nice and told us "not to worry because they had enough bikes to help our whole family, no matter what sizes we needed." Awesome! We came on over and they let us try electric bikes for the first time. They patiently taught us how to use them and let us ride around the parking lot to decide if we wanted those or regular bikes. We decided to try the e-bikes and away we went! They were super helpful, telling us the best paths to take and providing us with a map. Jeff, one of the employees, especially went above and beyond. We rented the bikes for 24 hours and therefore tried to load them in our car, but when we realized that there wasn't enough room, he took the bike rack off of his OWN car and attached it to ours. How sweet is that?! He brought out tools to do it quickly and then wished us a wonderful time. We would've guessed he was the owner by how above and beyond he went but nope -- just a man who is rocking his job. Thank you for a fun time! PS: The inside of this store is great too and has tons of great outdoors clothing and gear. Look around!

My wife and I rented a couple of e-bikes for the day. We rode out to Harbor Springs. On the way…read moreback, I lost control of my bike and ended up on the ground. There was no apparent reason why that happened. I'm a seasoned bike rider with a great safety record. My fall scared the heck out of my wife. Fortunately, I didn't hit my head, but I guess I should have had knee and elbow pads (I have road rash on my forearm and especially on my knee). When I got the bike up, the handlebars were parallel to the frame. That's when I discovered that the handlebars were loose. I was able to straighten them with light pressure. I tested my wife's handlebars and they were tight. Since we didn't really have any options, we carefully rode back to the bike shop (my knee covered in blood the entire way). When we arrived at the rental place, I was surprised at the seeming lack of concern by the staff person. I told him what happened and showed him my injuries. He tested the handlebars and acted like they were barely loose. It was as if he wanted to play down the looseness, and may have gone into CYA mode. He tightened the handlebars and sent us on our way for the rest of our day. It troubled my wife and me how he reacted. We rented bikes that should have been in top safety condition. I don't know if the bike had been recently worked on, but my opinion is the loose handlebar probably played a role in my spill. There was nothing else that that would have likely caused it. The rental place should have had more concern about how one of their bikes went out without being in the safest condition possible. I may have signed a waiver regarding injuries, but there was an implied understanding that I was renting a bike that was functionally safe. Aside from a scuff or two, the bike was undamaged. Wish I could say the same for me.

I called in advance of a visit to HS to reserve bikes for my family for a week - spoke with an…read moreemployee at length, giving him my credit card #, bike sizes for my kids, etc. When my family arrived at the shop, we were told our reservation was "cancelled," it "had been made for just a day anyway," & when I recounted my phone call was told "we wouldn't do that," & "are you sure it was us you called?" Yes, evidenced by my last name written in their reservation book & crossed out. The proprietor was completely unapologetic. The best I can say is he did us the favor of recommending Bahnhof, up the road in Petoskey, where we ultimately rented our bikes and had a great experience - wouldn't rent from anywhere else.

I was undecided between two bikes for a couple months and the staff at Touring Gear did an…read moreexceptional job of answering every single ridiculous question I had. I am just getting back into mountain biking after a few years and they were always able to give me great insight on many different ideas and products. After lots of deliberation I decided on a Trek Stache 5 and was so impressed with the level of attentiveness from the shop that I ultimately went home with not only my bike but also a Trek Dual Sport for my wife and a couple new helmets. I will definitely be a repeat customer. Thanks Ed!

I have gotten a pair of hookah waterproof hikers.. I'm mainly wanted to review my hookah shoes…read more These shoes fit like a glove. The service is excellent and I'll feel more stable now on my hike for that. This value is exceptional and reasonable for high-quality shoes.

We absolutely love shopping at the Outfitter. I have been shopping there for 14 years and my…read morehusband's family for many years before that too. Customer service is amazing and Josh always advises us on the right pick. Prices are about the same at the name brand items. Also, they do have sale area too if you want to bargain hunt. Keep in mind this is a small business and not a corporation.