There's the same old prejudice and misinformation in this thread as always appears in "High Street v Running Shop" debates! If you know what you want and what's right for you then it is highly probable that Sports Direct will be much cheaper. They only tend to stock a serious range of Asics and Nike though, so if your brand loyalties lie elsewhere, you may be disappointed. Running shops, in theory, will have more specialised knowledge if you are a beginner or novice and don't know what you need..that cost is incorporated into the cost of the shoes! Ironically, my local running shop has been known to talk what I know to be complete nonsense, whilst the guy at SportsDirect knows running shoes inside out! He did used to work in a running shop though, on the other side of the country! You are perfectly able to determine what kind of shoes you need without visiting a shop if you read one of the many guides on the internet and in books. And the person who said SportsDirect give no refunds is also wrong. They only give cash refunds if they have a legal responsibility to do so (ie, the goods are faulty). In other cases they give a discretionary credit note...but at the 2 branches I'm familiar with, it is always forthcoming without question, as long as the goods are returned unused! To the person who said that size availability may be an issue, correct...but only in so far as they only keep one pair of each size in at a time. If your size isn't there, just come back the next day and it will probably have automatically been replaced! | 
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moonferret
