Gilesports (who I worked for in the 90s), were independent until the late 90s, then joined Intersport. The third Gilesports in Newport in the Kingsway became an Intersport shop for a while. They were sold to Sports World in 2006 https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/ ... al-2353983 which I am 99% sure was either acquired by or already owned by Mike Ashley (I know all the Sports World/Soccer World stores I was aware of all turned into Sports Directs sooner or later). Oh, and they definitely stocked football shirts, I spent most of 1995 moving the Cardiff shirts to the back of the rails. Also once tried to sell Premier League referee Keith Cooper a whistle too... he didn't have his now PL manager son with him.CathedralCounty wrote: December 16th, 2022, 3:07 pmTo answer 2 in 1 - Giles' just went - presumably bust - it was an inter-sport store (inter-sports is a buying cooperative I believe as opposed to a franchise) had branches in a number of areas, I don't shop in Macey's but have heard its still a 'proper' sports shop - Club-sport looks a 'proper' shop - https://www.clubsport.co.uk/shoplocal/ross-store/ and Mel Morgan was a solid bet http://www.melmorgansports.co.uk/
As for Mike Ashley, I've got even more reason to dislike the guy now... I bought something from them and accidentally bought a pair of £37 boots I'd put in my basket months ago for my nephew - and it's just taken months to sort. That would be: waiting for delivery because you can't cancel even if you realise immediately, returning the item in person with a receipt and only getting a credit note, then spending the credit and more (and paying for delivery for a second time), and then having them cancel my order and not refund the credit note, and then, after I'd chased it via their inpenetrable website, eventually refunding me SOME of the credit... which I'll get to use after spending another £4.99 on delivery.
