GNC vs Vitamin Shoppe?

[BigSnacks]

Between the two, who has better variety & prices? I'm not worried about the staff, as I won't be relying on them for any information, I'm just wondering about the product stock.

I'm just tired of the hassle I have to go through when dealing with UPS for online orders (*I'll put the story below, in cliff format, if anyone wants to read it). Every single time an online order ships through UPS - whether it's supplements, car parts, books or electronics - it never shows up to my house and I then have to spend another week or two chasing it down.

So I'm thinking it might just be worth spending a few extra bucks to pick it up locally. That way it's in my possession immediately and I no longer have to deal with their ignorance.

- Ordered some supps 2 weeks ago
- Shipped it out on the 11th and I got tracking number
- Checked tracking daily, saw they arrived in the area on the 16th
- I put a note on the door the next morning with my signature and the date to request he leave the package
- No package or delivery notice when I got home
- Tracking number says attempt to deliver was made
- Left note again on 18th
- No package or delivery notice when I got home
- Tracking number says attempt to deliver was made
- Cancelled all plans Saturday and spent 8am-7pm working in yard, waiting; only 3 cars came down my road that day, none of which were UPS
- Tracking number says attempt to deliver was made
- Rinse & repeat Monday & Tuesday
- Called UPS Corporate Tuesday evening, they called local office with "Emergency Dispatch"
- No call received Wednesday. No package or delivery notice.
- Checked tracking, package was returned to shipper
- Called UPS Corporate back this morning
- Still dealing with delivery issue

In 2 weeks, the package spent 8 days in the immediate area and not once did they try to deliver it. My accross-the-street neighbor runs video surveillance (he's the top driver in Powerboat Superleague and works on boats at home a lot) and I bet I can go back through those days I wasn't home and verify he never came down our road then, either.

[Tounx]

its going to be more than a few bucks though... a LOT more

[GregW1]

what's wrong with bb.com?

[dlee1422]

first off, semper fi.

1371 1st marine division.

secondly,

i go to vitamin shoppe. they always honor their online prices so they say and you could get mad discounts.

and like every month they give you a 20 dollar or percent off. its pretty sick.

[IamJonsCranium]

Vitamin Shoppe for sure. Well, I haven't been to GNC in about 5 years.

[reverse79]

vitamin shoppe has a great selection...went into my first one last week

BUT

Vitamin World has the better prices out of these 2 but their selection is extremely limited.

[djhavoc]

Vitamin Shoppe is the obvious choice. GNC is too expensive.

[Nakket]

I would be surprised if anyone said GNC.

At least for me Vitamin Shoppe has A) Better prices B) Better selection C) A staff I like more

Examples: To me, it seems like my GNC has very little choice for most supplements. My vitamin shoppe has Triad, M-stak, assault, 1mr, bunch of different creatine mono choices, and a lot more protein choices just to name a few things off the top of my head from looking around. I found none of these at GNC.

If I wanted to buy some ON Whey (I actually enjoy the taste), it's $70 for 5lb at GNC or $43 at VS.

When I did buy said whey protein, the staff at VS struck up a conversation about how they enjoyed ON Whey as well and had been using it for a while. When I (very early on in my lifting career) bought some ON at GNC, the worker tried to suggest I buy the GNC Wheybolic crap, which I did not.

[page9931]

vitashoppe

Although ironically i found wheybolic 60 to be better then on i still say **** gnc employees most of em are asses

[furyhockey]

from someone who has worked at both and shopped at both Vitamin Shoppe is much better overrall. Selection is far greater and prices are a lot cheaper than GNC. If you find something cheaper on VS website print it out and they will match it in the store for you. Sttuff I know on hand that is cheaper online is ON protein, BSN products (huge savings), USPlabs sometimes and Carlson liquid fish oil is the best deal i've seen anywhere. 21 bucks for 100 servings

Not a huge fan of any of those except Carlson but if you need something and need it right away I would hit up the VS.

[G_star09]

GNC all the way!! The store that I go to matches bb.com prices and vitamin shoppe is too far of a drive. But I do like the better selection at vs

[Stankiewicz]

Gnc does price matching and will beat out any VS price by a buck plus they have a 30day guarantee/return policy on anything for full money back

[Shermanatorx]

Gnc does price matching and will beat out any VS price by a buck plus they have a 30day guarantee/return policy on anything for full money back

Are you sure they price match?

It might differ between franchise stores and corporate.

[Stankiewicz]

Are you sure they price match?

It might differ between franchise stores and corporate.

They pricematch everything not online: VS, nutrishop etc

[ajerone]

GNC: can purchase and use and return within 30 days

VS: can't return any opened merchandise, but if sealed you can within 30 days

vs is better selection, and some of their prices are even better than bb.com. once you add shipping costs, it can sometimes be competitive over at vs...

[Shermanatorx]

They pricematch everything not online: VS, nutrishop etc

Not according to an above poster....

[bdfitelson]

VITAMIN SHOPPE! Seriously, GNC?!? LOL sure if you want to pay for your supps like they're made of gold!

[changemyoil66]

In hawaii GNC is way way cheaper than VS. But VS has more selection. GNC has the popular supps. GNC does price match, they just have to call the store to confirm prices. My friend has a supp shop and gets pissed everytime GNC calls for a price quote. So for 1 month he said "It's $1 cause its a fire sale". Funny stuff.

[G_star09]

You're totally right, GNC in jersey basically laughed at me when I mentioned price match. He said the exact same thing about franchise stores.

Are you sure they price match?

It might differ between franchise stores and corporate.

[TOS98SS]

VS for sure I always order online and get it in two days ,and are much cheaper too

[unccwrestler]

Between the two, who has better variety & prices?

Vitamin shoppe hands down. Much bigger selection and prices are usually better and the staff actually seem to know what they are talking about. I go into GNC a few times a year just to check out the 50% off table.

[niconico22]

Vitamin Shoppe x100

[texansfan87]

VS: can't return any opened merchandise, but if sealed you can within 30 days

Actually VS you can return any used product within 30 days but only for merchandise credit

[KJEnriquez16]

VS for sure. The prices are better and have a better staff than GNC (atleast in my area)

Also at my VS you can return an opened supplement if you have the receipt, maybe it's not all stores though

[Farley1324]

what's wrong with bb.com?

Price and shipping.

Anything is better than GNC. Seriously. Unless you hit a website glitch you should not buy from GNC.

Unfortunately shopping online is pretty much always more economical than in a brick and mortar store...unless maybe you are only going to purchase one single product. I can usually do a much better job with a bb.com order than going to vitamin shoppe. I order elsewhere a lot now though. bb.com prices and shipping aren't all that great. Their selection is though.

[thejayhallway]

I like the quality of certain GNC products, however, the price at vitamin shop seems much more plausible. Has anyone noticed any outstanding results from the products at GNC vs. VS?

[lucia316]

I like the quality of certain GNC products, however, the price at vitamin shop seems much more plausible. Has anyone noticed any outstanding results from the products at GNC vs. VS?

Strong first post in 3 year old thread.

[KimJong-il]

what's wrong with bb.com?

This ^^^