New Tampa Athletes Turn to Used Equipment in Hard Times

Lacrosse helmet, $150. Lacrosse shoulder pads, $130. Lacrosse gloves, $200. Lacrosse shoes, $150.

The odds your lacrosse-crazy child will outgrow each of these items at least three times before he or she gets that prized college scholarship? One hundred percent.

It’s no wonder then, according to the latest figures from the National Sporting Goods Association, the purchase of used sporting goods equipment is a $1 billion dollar-a-year business.

But you don’t have to tell Don Schrimsher that; as manager of the Play It Again Sports store in Wesley Chapel, he knows. Every day, he says, people from the Greater New Tampa area come into his store looking for the latest bargains as well as to sell their old equipment.

And it’s not just because the economy’s bad. He sees it as just plain common sense. Schrimsher, who has been managing the store at The Shoppes at New Tampa since October 2010, said people come in to buy and sell used equipment for all sorts of reasons. “Maybe they enrolled their son in t-ball and they aren’t sure he’s going to want to do it next year,” he said, adding that growth spurts do a lot for his business, too.

“When I grew up, if you had nobody to pass your old stuff down to, you just threw it away. Now...” Schrimsher said, pointing to a section of floor lined with used cleats three rows deep and plucking a pretty good looking pair of Underarmour brand size 2 cleats from the pile to illustrate his point.

“These are $25 to $35 brand new. But parents know they can come here and get this pair of cleats for just $6.” he said. “They reason ‘Why should I buy a new pair of cleats for $25 when they are probably only going to use them for one season anyway?’”

And it gets better.

“And after they use them, they can always come back and sell them back to us. If they’re still useable we will give them $2,” Schrimsher said. “So, a pair of used cleats that originally cost them $6 now will only cost them $4.”

Schrimsher also has full lines of used lacrosse, baseball, football, hockey and excercise equipment.

He said it’s not unheard of for parents to come into his store, look at a brand new $130 lacrosse helmet, look at the used equipment, and walk out of his store totally happy they were able to get everything, pads and all minus the stick for just $110.

“The quality is still the same. Most of these things go under the clothing so you don’t even see them anyway," he says. “Why pay $40 for shin guards when you can get them for $7.99?”

Tyler Fitzimmons, 14, and his mom agree. Fitzimmons was in the store to buy new cleats for baseball practice this summer.

“We buy new stuff, but we also buy used,” Fitzcimmons said. “Why buy new stuff when it’s not even the real season yet?”

Another benefit of used equipment they said is that they get the benefit of buying something that looks almost new yet is fully broken in.

“These (cleats) won’t hurt my feet as much,” Fitzcimmons said.

Schrimsher also said that besides selling things back to the store, customers can also turn things in for credit, or 50/50 consignment.

Lately, in order to help area teams and organizations through the bad times, Schrimsher has been helping them with their fundraising efforts by buying all their donated equipment they bring in.

“Money’s so tight right now that organizations are having a hard time trying to get people to give. So one thing we’ve been doing is helping organizations raise money through their used sports equipment,” he said. “They will bring it in and we’ll buy everything from them, give them a check, and we’ll just keep a running total until it’s all gone.”

And that’s just fine according to Crossroads Community United Methodist Church Trustee Linda Gelalia. She said raising funds through sports equipment donations was an obvious solution.

“In our church, we have a lot of kids and we also run a 150-member soccer league, which just ended, so it’s an excellent time to donate,” she said.

Her church plans to be very busy this June with their used sports equipment drive. Their plan is to use the money Schrimsher gives them for their summer camp program.

Schrimsher added, however, that while they take all kinds of sports equipment, they won’t take anything if it’s too worn or leans too far into the recreational sports category.

“No firearms, paintball or archery equipment,” he said.

Additional Information

Play It Again Sports is located at 1668 Bruce B. Downs Blvd inside The Shoppes at New Tampa shopping plaza, where the Publix grocery store is. The phone number is (813) 514-6556.

If you want to donate to the Crossroads Community United Methodist Church’s sports equipment drive, the church is located at 26211 County Line Rd, Wesley Chapel. The phone number is (813) 907-5815.