Tad’s Sporting Goods

Back in the day this old, small and kinda shabby little shop (reminded me of independent sport stores in HK) was run by presumably a father and son team. The latter was a man of few words but together they were helpful enough. Sure there wasn’t a lot of space inside to move around but it’s got that certain old-​school charm to it, not to mention the amount of stuff they managed to cramp in there was mind-​boggling to say the least. Now the place’s being run by a couple of dudes with their flashy imports parked in the back. I remember going in a while back looking for a tennis racket with a modest budget. The response I got from one of the guys was simply «it’s not gonna happen». End of conversation. What didn’t and won’t happen for sure is me getting anything from them. Ever.

Having had a bad run with Sport Chek a few years ago, I went looking for an alternative shop for tennis racquet restringing. A few options were offered up by fellow players — Rackets and Runners on Oak and Tad’s on Granville.
I soon found out that they are night and day. The former is nicely laid out, with employees eager to help and professional stringers on site. The latter, not so much. Lots of product scattered throughout the store, which is narrow and not easily navigated. Even when empty, the staff are often dismissive, unfriendly and abrupt. They would rather take a phone call or finish a stringing job than help out someone who has just walked in.
Tad’s is pretty easy to miss. It’s a small storefront near the intersection of Granville and 70^th — blink and you’ll miss it. Parking can be challenging depending on the time of day you visit, but if you avoid rush-​hour, you can often find one or two hour parking just around the corner on one of the residential streets.
I’ll admit — I like their selection and breadth of products. You can find everything from shoes to table tennis supplies, badminton, squash and tennis racquets and apparel. They have a good test program whereby you pay a nominal amount — $ 10 or so and they’ll loan you a tennis racquet for a few days. When you return it, you can take out another and use the $ 10 increments as credit against the purchase of a new racquet. These loaner racquets are later sold as demos at a discount.
It doesn’t help that none of their merchandise has marked pricing. You have to ask the staff which for reasons detailed above I’m not inclined to do. They generally do a good job in stringing but I have had the odd job I’ve been unhappy with — and they’ve been even unhappier to correct their work.
You’ll pay a premium at Rackets and Runners over Tad’s or Sport Chek for their products and their work, but I think it is money well spent. Good service, and a shop that stands behind their work is certainly worth paying for.
1.5 stars, rounded up generously to 2.

They got a big selection of rackets and all you need for tennis. Price is also good and also gave Discounts. Only service was an absolute minus. (The guys on the stringing machines were cool though!)

Service is not the best but the price is decent. They have lots of racquets in stock. I would not go back to Tad’s unless I absolutely have to.

I just came in here to browse. I was very impressed with their selection of tennis and badminton goods. I did find what I was looking for. I didn’t need the customer service since I was just looking, however, I got the impression that they didn’t care about putting their best foot forward in the CS department either. Prices aren’t always competitive but it is the best selection in the city hands down.

Had a bit of trouble finding the store and finding parking, since it’s at a busy part of Granville street.
The place is small, but it’s full of different types of rackets and racket accessories. I was looking for a tennis racket and I was overwhelmed. The staff was friendly and efficient. I told them my needs, and they knew exactly the racket for me. Price is pretty decent too.

this is a GREAT sports «hole in the wall»…it ain’t fancy but it has what you need and the prices are always good… it is worth the trip to Granville and 70^th

Similar to the poster above. Their selection is probably one of, if not the best in the general Vancouver area.
However, I find it appalling that every time I go in their attitudes are already extremely frustrated/​annoyed with me.
I’m not sure if it’s because I am a relatively intermediate player, so I’m not «hardcore» enough for their service, but a customer is a customer nonetheless. It pains me to think that every time I need a good racket sports store I am treated like a pariah with no alternative stores to go to.

The store is OK for what it is but every time I walk in there the guys act like you’re from Mars. Loosen up, dudes. It’s called custoemr service,
As far as the prices – excellent. Actual service – slightly slow. The stringer there had headphones on so I got the idea he doesn’t like to be bothered. Well, dude, how about setting the stringing machine up out of the public eye like other shops do because, if you’re there, people are going to ask you questions.

* 300^th FTR *
Ok, to commemorate my 300^th FTR I thought I would temporarily depart from reviewing restaurant hole in the walls and instead focus on a way to keep healthy (and keep up the ability to enjoy food!) by reviewing a sporting goods hole in the wall.
Enter Tad’s.
This is the go-​to spot in Vancouver for anything related to racket sports. Everyone I talked to kept referring to this little hole in the wall cramped store as having the best selection, most knowledgeable sales staff, and the most flexible pricing available for authentic racket goods.
Yes, the shame of it all — there is an entire black market of pirated racket goods I never knew existed!
It is really easy to miss this place as it just has a small sign, and when you enter you might have to step over some random items or pass rather closely to some stringing equipment that is busily being used to custom string someone’s latest purchase.
But what you’ll find in this little jewel of a shop is the widest selection of authentic rackets in Vancouver — along with some expert advice to help you navigate your choices.
Be forewarned — most items don’t have a price on them so you should have a rough idea of what you want, and how much it «should» cost before heading in. If you don’t know, then if you stop in to get some advice and rough ideas of what you might want, don’t forget to pop out to research the items you settle on before negotiating a price.
To help with this the Marpole branch of the Vancouver Public Library is just a 3 minute walk north and has free internet access for you to explore to your heart’s content and then head back to negotiate. This turned out to be very useful in making me know what I «should» pay and I am happy to say Tad’s was happy to give a very reasonable price for the item I wanted.
I like shops like this — they feel old school. It isn’t one of those spacious mall like mega sporting goods stores. But those stores don’t have the selection that Tad’s has. This shop had some very new rackets that are still listed on the internet as «soon to be available» and that you wouldn’t find anyplace else in Vancouver as far as I could tell. And I shopped around.
Yeah for hole in the walls! (And not just for restaurants!)