In my entry, Competing Against Big Box Retailers, I told the story of how Omega Sports, a local sporting goods chain, was able, through shrewd merchandising and great service, to win me over from the big box national chain, Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Well, in just the last week, I’ve run across two other people who have had the same experience with Dick’s, showing once again that it is possible for David to beat Goliath.

The first response came from Dean in Wilmington, NC, which is about 150 miles from Chapel Hill:

“Hey Warren! The same thing happened to me. There's a Dick's and Omega Sports 3 miles from each other here in Wilmington. I switched from Dick's to Omega Sports when I was involved in local triathlons because the Dick's associate was, for lack of a better word, a _____ (well, you get the idea), and knew nothing about running shoes. They also do not carry a special speed stick to help prevent chafing called Body Glide. I went over to Omega Sports and not only did they have Body Glide, but the guy selling the shoes was a long distance runner. Let's just say I've purchased a boatload of shoes from Omega over the years. So this was an apt comparison!!!"

The second response happened on my recent trip to Junction City, Kansas, where I spoke to 300 agents from American Family Insurance Company. I told the audience my Omega Sports vs. Dick’s story. Afterwards, a woman from the audience came up to me to say she had a similar bad experience with Dick’s.

Like me, she was also looking for swimsuits and other swimming equipment as her son is a swimmer. After dealing with Dick’s famous “No selection, no service,” policy, she went to a local downtown store in her small Kansas town and found the same great selection and service I found at Omega Sports.

As a small retailer, trying to compete with a large national chain is not easy, but if it were, everyone would do it. You have to be willing to change the way you do business, or at least get a lot better at it. But, as Omega Sports and others have shown, it can be done and done quite well.