PGA TOUR Superstore

PGA Tour Superstore, Plano, TX 75&190:

I walk into a huge warehouse golf store full of everything a golfer wants. A golfer paradise? Hopefully. I pass (2) sales associates at the front helping check out a much older couple. No greeting, I walk on. I start to browse the huge selection of clothing. I see a sales associate in the distance, I continue to browse. I eventually make my way to the back of the store where the tennis court is and find a row of caps and am passed by another sales associate, not a word. I turn right to head to the golf clubs to see if perhaps I can demo some drivers. I stop in my tracks halfway there to avoid getting run over by a very big and tall sales associate. He literally passes in front of me within several inches. Remember I had to stop to LET him by, not the other way around. Not a word, not even a glance.



I eventually am able to browse the rows of iron sets and drivers. I see a sales associate who seems to be assigned to this area. He take a step or two in my direction and then TURNS AROUND and walks away. Later on I see this same sales associate helping out a couple of other guests.



I eventually find the demo clubs that can be hit in the simulators. But I'm unsure, being my first time at a PGA Tour Super Store, what the correct protocol is. Do I need someone to check me in or set up the simulator? I take several minutes to look over the numerous demo clubs and the mostly empt simulators. Another sales associate passes me within nodding distance without even a glance. I finally make it to 3 sales associates behind the Instructional counter for help. They are helping another customer, so I get in line behind him. One sales associate was talking to the two behind the counter, looks at me and then leaves. Finally the first words from any sales associate is spoken to me after 20 minutes in the store. "May I help you?" Amazing I was beginning to wonder if anyone even spoke English. He tells me that I can hit the demo clubs in any open simulator. I say thank you and proceed to find some drivers to test out. He was it the only sales associate to speak to me and only because I asked him a question first. I guess I forced him to speak to me, otherwise there really would have been a problem if he totally ignored me.



I run across at least three more sales associates in the next 30 minutes. Two in the testing area and one more on my way out in the clothing area again. Not a word from any of them. Knowing this was my last time in the store I decide to make the most of it and take my time before I eventually found the exit and left.



Maybe I'm not old enough, but some other younger guys were getting help? Maybe I'm too short, only stand 5'-7". But some of the sales associates were as short and even shorter? Maybe I wasn't deemed wealthy enough to be taken seriously? But I'm a professional architect, I can afford any club in the store.

Maybe I wasn't white enough? I have a permanent tan and straight black hair. Or maybe I wasn't dressed nice enough to be worthy of helping. Being ignored by that many sales associates with such consistency seemed more than just an individual choice. It seems as if their behavior is either encouraged by management or accepted with indifference.



Whatever the reasons no less than 10 sales associates would not talk to me, with one exception because he had no choice, are unacceptable. I will never go back to PGA Tour Super Store in Plano at 75 & 190. And I will do my best to spread the word about the most stuck-up and rude store I've been in in quite some time.



~( 9-25-2013 visit to each store )