Happy Gilmore, was the Price right ...?

bq: Why are wood sticks so expensive? I was going to get a Sherwood 5030 last night (the adult league I play in is no-slap shot this season) but the pro shop has them for 40 dollars US, whereas I remember getting them for 20 dollars before TPS / TQS (in 1997 that was 14 US) and my coach, a winter texan who coached Nathan Horton in bantam remembers getting them as a kid for a measly 1.69