mechanic

store manager

assistant store manager

technician

senior mechanic

Sports Basement

I am a "full time" employee. I work 30/32 hours a week.  When I first got hired a couple of years ago it was fun and exciting. I like to organize, make products look inviting and enticing. That is what I was hired for. As the years passed however, more and more things got put onto our plates while other employees got to keep their same attitude and "position" of helping customers and NOTHING ELSE. Covid happened, people left and we got roped into a back Back of House role, then ultimately started to be treated like amazon warehouse employees where we only picked items for online orders and watched the product we used to put out, sit on the floor for days or quickly thrown on a rack in a lazy fashion.  

Employees are allowed to stand around and chit chat like a lunch break in the hallways of a high school, which goes unchecked. More than 50% of the staff are "managers" which means everyone is everyone's friends and no one feels like they can tell others to actually GET TO WORK. Some people work a lot harder than others, and it's very obvious, yet no one gets a raise for their efforts or at the very least, a thank you.  If they do get a raise it's minimal, so even though the job one person is doing could basically eliminate the other's it's apparently still not worth it to pay that better employee more.

Emails FLY there.  And a lot of it is redundant, unhelpful or ticky tacky stuff.   Too many signs, too many silly specials, too many random products that don't sell that stay on the floor for YEARS, too many ridiculous "tasks" that have to be checked off. I feel that it is a distraction for the most part. The weekly duties we are asked to complete, like markdowns and special signage seemingly published late or a day after on many occasions, but we are still asked to complete them in a timely manner. Like NOW.  Like huh?  What about the people that didn't get us the information on time? And this best part about that is that it seems like the higher ups get to make mistakes, do a poor job, submit stuff late and don't get called out to improve, or be on time, but all of us at the bottom have to find the mistakes, fix them and are basically required to do so.

The people I work with are great. The structure as a whole has fallen apart entirely. management is completely biased on MANY levels, introducing silent unchecked chaos.


Overall yes, I have rambled to give you a birds eye view into the inner truth of what should be an easy chill work environment that is fun and enjoyable. But my title says it all.  If you can be part-time, do it.  It's better that way. You'll never have to deal with the blind oversight and all of the ridiculous tasks you will be required to complete, knowing it will be all for nothing or make a minimal impact. Some of my criticism is store based, but don't get me wrong. Someone needs to come in and hold people accountable in this company.


One final note: If a non-emotional review of this company suits you best, and you have made it this far. congratulations. You can disregard this and   come to your own conclusion. I have worked here twice.  I came back for a reason, because I enjoyed it, but this place has changed while it's gotten bigger, and not for the better.
 

Working at Sports Basement is like being on a sinking ship held together with duct tape while management insists everything is fine. The company tries to sell itself as a quirky mom-and-pop shop, but behind the scenes, it’s a mess of poor planning, outdated systems, and bare-minimum investment in anything that could actually make the job bearable. The IT infrastructure is a joke—good luck completing basic tasks without dealing with crashes or inefficiencies that no one seems interested in fixing.

On top of that, hours are often slashed, making it impossible to rely on a stable paycheck. And when you do get paid, it’s peanuts—wages that barely scrape the surface of what people deserve for their time and effort. Managers are completely unwilling or unequipped to motivate or retain employees. The result? Sky-high turnover and a team that’s perpetually understaffed and burned out. This is the reason that they’re ALWAYS hiring, even when they’re currently cutting staff hours. Great christmas present!

They love to market themselves as a community-oriented business, but the reality is, they don’t invest in their people or their tools to actually run the place effectively. 

There is pending litigation involving well founded wage & hour complaints by former employees that will eventually be settled by SB paying a big chunk of money.

If you get an offer from this company, run so fast you see flames shooting out from your shoes.

Overall Sports Basement was a satisfactory place to work.  It definitely had it's pros and cons.  Some of the pros of working for Sports Basement where working in an area, (running shoe department) where I enjoyed helping people find the right shoes for there needs.  Another benefit of working for Sports Basement was that employers helped to take care of food costs by providing a stocked fridge in the break room that employees were able to enjoy as well as providing one free food item and drink from the store per shift.

A few of the disadvantages of working for Sports Basement where, limited opportunity to develop into a managerial role, disorganized management, as well as working in a limited section of the store.  There weren't a lot of opportunities to grow and learn new skills as an employee beyond the scope of the specific duties of the daily tasks of the job description that you where assigned to.  Overall I viewed Sports Basement as a stepping stone in my working career, which allowed me to work in a great area of San Francisco.

Sports Basement is a wonderful company to work for, especially if you're young and looking to take advantage of their benefits. They provide a great discount (40%!), free rentals for employees, airline miles, race reimbursement, a fully stocked break room, great insurance coverage and (probably best of all) free, fully catered and supported trips to Tahoe, Yosemite and the like for backpacking, skiing, biking and more. 

They care about their employees and they really care about their customer base and their community involvement. It's easy to feel good about what you're doing while youre working here. 

On the flip side, if you're looking for a career, you'll have a harder time. Salaried pay is not on par with the average in this area of the country, and though you'll love the people you work with and for, it becomes hard to justify the lack of financial recompense for the hard work you're expected to put in. 

I love Sports Basement, and I'm very proud of the company it is and the company it will undoubtably grow to become.

Things started out great. Then came the same old "we don't have the budget for raises" that every company says. It's so great having access to a full kitchen of food and being able to have lunch without buying anything definitely helps a lot. But the pay here is pathetic, especially for what the management expects you to put up with. Customers can be as rude and abusive as they want and management will just treat them like a toddler having a tantrum. Customer service is one thing, but expecting employees to just shrug off abusive customers is NOT okay. Beyond that, how do companies constantly get away with saying they don't have money for raises, but somehow has money to pour into opening two new stores? If you have that kind of money, you should be investing in your workers, not telling us how constantly broke you are. It's like loaning someone a large amount of money and they can't pay you back, but have money for vacations. 

Sports Basement overall is a great company, but change in management is needed. Departments have their own manager and/or lead. I convinced multiple staff members from quitting, but management is unaware of that. I can’t tell you how many employees are unhappy with the current GM and 1 manager. Those who stuck it through and listened to my advice were promoted or earned a raise. Sometimes your hard work goes unnoticed. Sunnyvale has created many Leads and Managers whom are still there or went to other locations. The fully stocked break room and paid for company outdoor trips are great. You will be forced to take your breaks and lunches, nothing bad about that.

My personal experience with Sports Basement was mostly positive, but you would probably hear otherwise from other staffers. This company promotes staff with little to zero knowledge to run an entire department probably because favoritism is a huge factor. Leadership allowed me to keep my head down and work, while other employees who weren’t favored by managers would be micromanaged. The pay is comical to say the least… they’ve managed to open two SoCal locations but still can’t afford to pay employees more than minimum wage. In short, I had a good experience, I’ve heard of many others who had horror stories. Only plus side is that you get free rentals and the break room is fully stocked. They give staffers opportunities to go on ski trips during the winter which is great but they will never find coverage for the missing people. 

poor management and a lack of communications results in unhappy staff.

pay starts at minimum wage, good job for highschoolers.

coworkers are usually the best part of the job.

most of the customers are classic retail customers and trash everything, but once in a while you get some stellar ones.

worst part of the job is how they will schedule you for 40 hours a week during busy season and not give you any benefits and then cut down your hours to 30 hours a week suring slow season.

boast of a fully stocked breakroom, but most of the food is unhealthy (they claim they are a health-focused company) and they struggle with providing food for people with specific diets

Ensured efficient operational workflow by advising customers on proper equipment such as proper fitting on the shoes and triathlon departments
Strengthened branding initiatives by working in the areas of merchandise presentations, processing, markdowns, cashier, customer service, fitting room, and layaway
Providing great customer service on meeting customer’s needs
co-workers always helpful, team-based environment where everyone helped one another.
Hardest part was just learning the roles in the beginning 
most enjoyable part of the job was being able to help customers find their proper needs

I love working at Sports Basement, and have long since decided to be a lifer here. I love the management team and I feel like I have a voice within the company. While the compensation isn't the best in the world, I feel it's made up by the unlimited PTO, the high value of work-life balance and unquestioned flexibility. On top of that, Sports Basement sincerely wants to serve their communities and protect the environment, which makes me proud to work here. I feel that I'm a force for good when I'm working here, and I believe that my daily efforts help support a company that has it's heart in the right place. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mechanic 13 salaries reported	$22.59 per hour
Store manager 3 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Assistant store manager 2 salaries reported	$25.25 per hour
Technician 3 salaries reported	$23.17 per hour
Senior mechanic 9 salaries reported	$26.44 per hour

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