Play It Again Sports

I can't believe how poor this store has become. About 5 years ago this place was great! It was clean, full of inventory and had a great staff that were informative and actually wore a Play It Again shirt or something similar. I have had many friends say the exact same thing, that they just don't know what happened since it used to be such a fun store to go in to. I saw a sign inside the store that was a City Pages ""Best of"" candidate. I happened to be associates with the guy who does the voting candidates and he said that it was because of the St. Paul store that Play It Again won the award that year!! They always had the place clean, even with large amounts of used goods. It was fun to walk around the store and read their signs that the employees would write themselves about product, etc. It was clear that it was a fun place to work. It did have it's short-comings as well, but I would be safe in saying that this current store is the single ugliest sports store around. I have been in other Play It Again stores in the Twin Cities and they seem to have a way of doing things, but are far cleaner and friendly than this one on Snelling. I am not one to bash a store unless I get sick or something, but I am just amazed at the lack of care, products and cleanliness at this store. I am not sure what happened along the way (usually in retail its new ownership or loss of employees) that had this large of an impact, but their staff are not identifiable, choose to sit on the computer instead of helping people, and the place is so dirty that there is a layer of skate sharpening dust on almost everything that it has to be unhealthy. Sad. I would never shop there again, unless it were 2005 again. BOOOOOOO!!! more

Hey you guys, I wanted to relay my experience with you about the Play-it-again store up on Snelling Ave. First I wanted to tell you that the location it is in is really cool. There are a bunch of cool shops to walk in an out of, with three different coffee places to stop into for a treat. The Selby Snelling crossroads is very hip. So, my story I am an avid hockey enthusiast and I like to stop into Beohm’s Cycle and Fitness, best skate sharpening in the city (FYI), and when after I stop to shop at Beom’s I stop in at Play-it-again. I digress to share that I think the Play-it-again in West St. Paul is the best place for gently used goalie and hockey equipment! Okay, back to my experience. So, before Christmas I was trolling for a hockey stick for my brother. I go into the Snelling Play-it-again and find a decent Bauer stick, take a few shots with it and give it the bend; anyway I bring it up to the counter to pay for it. One guy is yelling on the phone, the other is training a new hire on the register, I smell buds in the place, and there is stuff all over the place. You cannot walk around the place with tripping over something in that place. Anyway I pay my $25 and take the stick home to wrap it up for the kid brother. I peel off the sticker so he doesn’t know how much I paid for it and come across another price tag. Apparently they increased their prices for Christmas. Not two or five dollars, but ten bucks! Ten bucks for an old style wood hockey stick. I write this today to tell you now go to a different store for anything sports! Do not buy from these maroons, they don’t know anything about sporting goods and they are as dishonest as downtown PAWN SHOP workers! Sincerely Ryan Bobby, RyanWilson@TwinCities.MN more