Comparison Between Two Stores

A decision that I am very frequently encountered with would have to be what sporting goods store to go to. I am a very big hunter, fisher, and overall outdoorsman so I frequent a variety of these stores. Some of the main ones that are around town are the Sportsman's Warehouse, Gander Mountain, and obviously Scheels. I often half to choose between these stores and I do take quite a bit of time in making my decisions. Some stores would offer a case of shotgun shells for 75 dollars when the other could be selling it for a 100 dollars. I'll use Scheels and Sportsman's Warehouse as the examples for this purpose. Obviously I think most people have either seen or been in the new Scheels. Now on the other hand, some people might not have even heard of the Sportman's Warehouse. I like going to the smaller stores because I feel like all the big businesses are kind of ruining things for them. It seems tougher for them to make it with competition like Scheels. Now I'm not saying I won't go and buy items from Scheels, but for the most part I usually shop at the Sportsman's Warehouse for all my outdoor needs. They seem to have the same quality of products as well as customer service. This customer service is also very important to me because if I'm not treated good or have a bad experience at the store, I probably won't go back any time soon. The prices of these stores are pretty similar, but the decisions that require more extensive searching are for those higher priced items. I tend to go from store to store, and then back to the original store when I'm making a big purchase, like a gun, or a hunting blind. Overall, I think these smaller businesses are going to have a tough time competing with the big ones, but hopefully with my support they can survive!

Comparing Stores

When I shop for anything electronic I will usually start out the hunt with Best Buy. I also like to check similar products at Radio Shack. I check to see if the similar products are of same quality, then if they are I will check prices to make sure that I'm not getting a bad deal. In a comparison the Acer 22" monitor at Radio Shack is $339.99 with similar options of the Westinghouse 22" monitor at Best Buy, but Best Buy has their monitor for only $259.99.
In any situation though I tend to buy from Best Buy for electronics. This could be in part from my parents shopping there for most of their electronics. I feel there products are tried and true, there is no worry of if they will break or quit working any time soon. All of the electronics that I have bought from them have lasted longer than they were expected too. The customer support of Best Buy is far surpassing any other electronic stores that I have been around here.
My choice for choosing one store over the other may not always be a logical decision. Radio Shack could have the product that I want for a cheaper price but I would most likely still buy from Best Buy. Mainly because i believe that Best Buy is a better store overall. It has everything I need for electronics and has quality name brands that are widely trusted.

Vacation

My son and I are planning on taking a vacation over Thanksgiving and we had two main choices, California or Texas. I wanted to go somewhere warm that was for sure since I can not stand winter. When deciding where to go I had to not only think about what I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, but I also had to keep in mind what my son would want to do and enjoy.
I thought about going to San Diego because it has an amazing beach and a huge zoo. I would love nothing more to be on the beach in November but I thought maybe this wasn't the best vacation place to take my 3 year old son. He loves to run around and is all boy so this made me worry about what might happen on the beach. I would be too worried about him drowning that I wouldn't fully get to enjoy my vacation. Also we would have to rent a car and find a place to stay and that would take away money we could use for other entertainment.
The other option we had was to go to Texas and visit family. At this time I figured it would be a better choice because we had family that lived there that could give us a place to stay and drive us around and that would give us an opportunity to spend money on other entertainment. They also know what kind of entertainment we would enjoy and where everything is located which would help out alot. Also, my family hasn't met my son yet so this would be a good opportunity for this before he gets too old and they don't get to see him as a young child.
All in all I would much rather have gone to San Diego and enjoyed the beach but I can put that off for another vacation either without my son or when he is older and won't be such a hassle to bring along.