Well, I was planning on buying skates after my move to Iowa, but I've been informed there isn't really a good pro-shop anywhere nearby (have to go to Chicago) so I'll try while I'm here.

All the skaters at my rink got theirs at the rink pro shop, but they only have Reidells and I wanted to try more than one brand before I shell out a few hundred for skates.

Do you know of any pro-shops near Dayton? Columbus, Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, or Indianapolis are all fine. The Jackson website brought up this- http://www.sportsplusohio.com/pro_shop/ have you heard of it?

Thanks

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I am in cincinnati and i wouldnt buy at sports plus. Everybody i have ever talked to who has bought from there has had problems. Most of the good skaters at our rinks around here go to cleveland for their skates there are some good shops up there and i personally go to canada for my jacksons if you are interested in the jacksons they have almost all of the jacksons includiing the high models in stock. But i definitely would not go to sports plus. and if you are anything but a b width you would have to order skates anyhow becuase all sports plus stocks is b width. I was told of someone who placed an order with them and 4 months later still had no boots they were told over and over that they would be in the next day and the shop never ordered them. I also wouldnt get your skates sharpened there i have heard of them trashing more than one persons blades.

Thanks for the reply! I asked more of the skaters at the rink, and one of them said that a woman at sports plus could custom fit harlicks, but otherwise wouldn't go there.

I did get a card for a good sharpener in the area, but still nowhere to buy skates

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

i would definately avoid the pro shop at sports plus. the people working there do not know anything about fitting figure skates or sharpening them. i know numerous people who have had their blades ruined because of them.

Buying skates in the Cinti area is hit or miss. I got mine at Skater's Edge in Cleveland (Jackson Elite Plusses), but out of laziness I will probably get my next pair at Sports Plus, actually, since that's my home rink. I know exactly what size I need, so this makes things easier. Skater's Edge did not have my size, so it needed to be special ordered from Canada anyway.

Here are a couple of leads, though...
The skating director of the Learn To Skate program at Sports Plus (she doesn't work in the pro shop) is a certified SP Teri fitter and a PSA Master rated coach...and a darned good skater. She can fit SP Teris. Let me know if you want her name.

Miami University's pro shop fits Reidells and Harlicks, both of which are too narrow for my feet. They do an OK job sharpening, but I've had some inconsistent sharpenings lately. Strangely, it was one of the guys at Sports Plus who "saved" my blades last time after a Miami sharpening rendered me unable to enter spins anymore. I certainly wouldn't trust all of the guys at Sports Plus, but there is one guy that I do trust.

There is a person in town NEAR Sports Plus who mounts and sharpens blades. I can give you his name as well. He is not affiliated with sports plus.

What level skater are you? The plus side of getting skates at a local pro shop (as opposed to one far away or online) is that they might have a return policy in case the skates really don't fit once they're ordered. While it is true that the Sports Plus pro shop is completely hockey-centric and you have to really be pushy to get your order taken care of, I have heard of people getting some really good deals there on special orders. Also, I DO know of some high level skaters (Senior moves, Pre-Gold dance, Int freestyle) who get their Jacksons at Sports Plus, so I know it CAN be done. It just might be more effort than you'd want to exert for a local pro shop.

Just my 2 cents.

Actually one of the reasons that i decided it was a bad idea to get my skates at sports plus was becuase they told me if they had to order anything for you that they didnt have in stock that you had to commit to buy them even if they didnt fit and even if they were a boot that they stocked like a jackson freestyle 6.5 b or something. I have also heard of many skaters blades getting trashed at sports plus. I use a guy at northland that does a wonderful job. And as far as havng a return policy the shop i got my skates from in canada i was unsure of the size he was telling me i needed i thought they were too small and i decided to go with what he was suggesting after he told me that if i went with what he thought was right if we had to punch and stretch and do everything else that we could to the boot and they still werent working that they would replace them even after you have used them. And they did a miraculous job fitting my skates i am glad i went with what they suggested once they broke in they felt so great. I have also heard of people ordering boots there and were told they had been ordered and after waiting 4 months found out that they never ordered them. I know most people in this area go to cleveland and i have found a wonderful shop in windsor ontario that mainly does jackson and graf and they have done a great job for me twice now i wont go anywhere else unless i moved. The shop i go to also stocks the wide width skates in most sizes and most brands and have the high end up to the 3500 in stock in sizes a-d full and half so there is a good chance that you wouldnt have to order boots from this place if you wnated a high end boot in a wide or narrow width.

Thanks all for the help. I actually went to sports plus and they offered me a wonderful deal on a Jackson Competitor and a Protege blade- but when I finally settled on the shoe size, the blade was just a bit too big.

They had one guy there who seemed to know what he was doing, and another that kept telling me my foot should feel "nice and comfortable" - I just ignored that guy.

I decided not to place an order (for the Freestyle, which was in my price range- the set above was only because of a great price) because of what the above poster said. If you special order based on their advise it's yours- and I thought that was a crazy policy.

So now I'm just waiting until after the move to get skates.

Thanks all

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)