Are they pretty much identical? Or does each store get to order what they want? For instance, from a tackle perspective: would Texarkana have the same things as Monroe, La ? Pretty much? Thanks

Totally different.
The one in College Station is amazing.
Grapevine..... Not so much.

Longview is amazing, Tyler not so much.

The one closest to me sucks, they are almost always out of whatever it is I went there for so I have to go to another one 25 miles away. I asked a guy in the fishing dept one time if they were going to stop selling fishin stuff because the shelves had been just about bare for about a month. He said that the newer store down the road gets priority over their store. And that new store has a lot of stuff that other stores don�t.

The one I went to in Houston had a lot of salt water baits which it should so yes they are different.

While geographically they are different, Galveston focused on saltwater, DFW focused on bass fishing, they have the same brands represented. Some stores have a bit more selection, but the base tackle is the same in all stores across the state.

Denton has Dobyns rods, never seen them in the stores around me. There clearance items are never the same. I would say they are more different than identical

They have a department manager that orders for the department. The stocked inventory is reflective on each manager. They probably should be stocking the same gear but if one doesn't want to order it or to keep up with his inventory the store will suck.

+1

Yep! Totally Different

The one here in Wichita Falls is a joke, super Wal-Mart across the street has almost an equally disappointing selection. The one here stocks bare necessities and there is NEVER anyone behind the fishing counter.

I�m sorry but this is simply not true. I worked 4 years as an Inventory Control Specialist (ICS) and fishing department lead at two different Academy stores. One was in southern Louisiana and the other in North Fort Worth. For the most part inventories are set by corporate for the store location and size. Each year diagrams are sent out for all department isles. This is what leads to the big spring fishing sale. Following these isle changes and sales there are many open pegs as the warehouses wait for new product inventory. The ICS has a main responsibility of scanning empty or low items and insuring correct present quantity and minimum quantity are set to keep his store fully stocked. Based on these settings the computer system sends inventory when it registers the store has reached the minimum. Some ICS personnel simple suck at managing this at a few stores.

If I noticed a bait stocked in Texas that I wanted in Louisiana I could not simple change the stock levels in my store. That had to be channeled up the chain. I did have the ability to transfer in inventory from other stores however, but only in small quantities.

There was one exception to corporate setting stock quantities. More saltwater based stores had a tackle rep who represented a handful of companies. This guy always tried to get as much inventory in your store for obvious reasons. Leave some pegs un-stocked and they will fill it with some product you did not want. At the same time you could ask for something if they carried it and they would get it to your store. But again this was mainly saltwater.

Grapevine store always looks like they�re going out of business - tons of empty shelves

Go to academy.com and look for the Grapevine location using the store locator.....