Low inventory

[Abraham Simpson]

I’ve been buying goalie gear for 12 years, and usually start snooping-around stores in the spring to snag deeply-discounted gear that is about to replaced by the new lines, which are typically released by May.

I’ve never seen the existing inventory this low before, both on-line and in-store. I could actually see the colour of the walls in some stores, where normally I’d see a wall of pads, sticks or gloves.

I expect supply-chain issues will also hit the new releases pretty hard, especially for stuff made in Asia. One salesperson told me that the new Mach line might even be delayed until late June or early July. And when they’re eventually available, I fully expect new gear prices to be at least 10% higher this year given the elevated shipping costs and production delays.

[ThatCarGuy]

I was told roughly the same thing regarding Bauer. The store I work at currently has a total of 3 pairs of Bauer leg pads, 0 Bauer pro catchers and one hyperlite blocker. With a lot of the Bauer stuff being pushed so far back that potentially puts me in a tight spot for gear next season.
Also 0 youth goalie equipment from head to toe in any brand. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by ThatCarGuy

[ZeroGravitas]

Same issue at my store, too. Walls are pretty bare and we've eliminated several racks used to hold gloves because we have nothing to put on them.

Glove-wise, pretty much nothing in YT or JR. One to three glove sets in INT. Okay selection for SR Pro, but zero anything for Bauer.

Pads-wise, OK selection, except for INT 31/32 and SR 33. Pretty much non-existent. Again, very little Bauer.

Mask-wise, again, pretty much no Bauer. OK amount of CCMs and some Warriors gathering dust.

[ThatCarGuy]

2 hours ago, ZeroGravitas said:

Mask-wise, again, pretty much no Bauer. OK amount of CCMs and some Warriors gathering dust.

Interesting. We don’t have many Bauers in stock but the warrior buckets are leaving the shelves much quicker than ccm.