Shock shop any good?

Looking at buying a car privately and the AA inspection came up great except that both rear brakes (pads and rotors) and rear shocks both need to be replaced. The inspector said one of the shocks were leaking badly and the other one was misting which meant it was on its way out so could be replaced later but from a labour perspective it was cheaper to get them done at the same time. The AA quote for this was $1400 which left me a bit floored!

Went to shock shop branch and they quoted me $1020. Both use Monroe shocks which they say are better but I would prefer KYB so the shock shop was looking into it.

Are these shock shop branches any good? They are basically tyre retailers so was thinking maybe I'm better off going to another mechanic to get this done. Car is a Subaru Outback 2.5L CVT.

Like all franchise outlets, it depends on the specific shop. Some will be good, some not so good.
At that price I would shop around for a couple of other prices, although with discs, pads and shocks plus labour it is probably in the ballpark.

get a price on bilstein shocks from subaru, they are an option on legacy's worth the phone call

Word of mouth is often important for a mechanic's referral. (though remember most people can have an off day)
Some of the Japanese cars have multiple different shocks that were put on a single model and you need to remove the shock to read the code before you order anything.
Probably go through BnT or similar for order.
You can check on shock availability with these and a few others.
http://www.autolign.co.nz/ (monroe, bilstein) http://www.georgestock.co.nz/Stocks/default.asp (koni, kyb)
Subaru brake equipment often just stay with oem.

Manolo what your is this vehicle?
Immore than happy to be proven wrong but for a 04-09 outback I wouldn't expect to pay much more than $400 for a pair of rearshocks

Shocks pads and rotors.