Local Sports Stores Get Creative in Sluggish Economy

This past year has been a tough one for small businesses.

Retail sales continue to be sluggish as customers cope with low salaries or unemployment. Stores that sell sporting goods have felt the economic decline for some time, even though they tend to fare well during the holiday season.

“The retail end is a lot more challenging now,” said Angel Colon, president and owner of on Tweedy Boulevard. His store has a large selection of name-brand sporting shoes, coupled with other high-end athletic apparel. “The customer is not buying.”

Small businesses throughout the United States are seeing declines in sales. According to a recent study by The National Federation of Independent Businesses, one out of four small businesses consider their biggest challenge to be lower sales.

“For two months, we have seen a little bit of a down [trend],” said Diego Ortiz, the owner of on Tweedy Boulevard. The sporting goods store focuses on selling baseball uniforms to youth leagues, but also offers baseball and soccer retail goods. “But that’s normal from everybody else’s point of view.”

The stores have had to hold more sales to entice shoppers to come in and buy some of their products.

“A lot of time they don’t buy it until they see that it’s on sale,” said Colon.

The sales allow shops to get rid of inventory, and gives them cash to pay bills or refresh their stores with new goods. But it is not a money-making or desirable strategy to grow a business.

“Things that are for sale are not profitable for the store,” said Colon. “But we have a lot of expenses like labor, light and other building costs.” 

The economic slump has forced ShoePort to employ different strategies to boost retail sales, with varying success. For example, the store tried offering more affordable sport shoes, but they didn't sell well.

“It does not work,” said Colon. Shoe Port’s appeal as a higher-end sports goods carrier tends to bring customers who are looking for better-known merchandise. “They are used to coming and buying brand name shoes.” 

On the other hand, Southeast Sports Center has also tried offering more affordable sports gear and found some success. 

“Name brands are costly,” said Ortiz. “We try to find brands that match the quality for a cheaper price.”

Other retail strategies have worked for Shoe Port, which has a larger retail business than Southeast Sports Center. One is making sure the store is stocked with gear from winning teams.

“Last weekend, we had 40 customers asking for '49er products,” said Colon, who has always carried the team's products, but increased his supply to match the demand after the players' latest winning season. “If a team is doing well, the consumer is going to want that product.”

The introduction of professional jerseys and other gear from the Mexican Pacific baseball league has also boosted business.

“In northern Mexico, soccer is not nearly as popular as baseball,” said Sugey Rodriguez, who works as a manager at ShoePort. “The majority of residents here hail from northern Mexico, where the baseball teams have a strong presence.”

Sales of these shirts have been healthy, and buyers will buy them out of pride.

“Los Tomateros wear the colors of my state, Sinaloa,” said customer Antonio Fernandez, who was about to buy a jersey from the Mexican baseball team, which hails from Culiacán, Sinaloa. “My state is beautiful, very beautiful.”

Both sports businesses are aware they cannot wait for customers to simply pop in the door. They believe they need to go out and find customers.

“The days of waiting for the customer to go through the front door are over,” said Colon. He has managed to expand his business by developing a Nike-authorized teams division. This allows him to sell sports gear to local high school teams. “With my team business, I go out and bring [in] customers.”

Ortiz, who bought his store just seven months ago, is already exploring the idea of expanding his business to Orange County, although it will depend on the success he has in approaching other youth leagues for gear purchases.

“I have done my part in regards to going out and calling different leagues to get new businesses; so far, it's been pretty good,” said Ortiz. “Maybe down the road I could open a number two store. ”