Sports Shop Is a Spot For All Things Snow and Racquet

It is not out of the ordinary for an employee at on Main Street in Wenham to hear a customer say, “You fitted me for skis when I was a kid and now I am bringing in mine for skis, too.”

And there is a good chance when the customer said “you” he meant that particular employee.

That is one reason why the store – with its beginnings dating back to the Depression - has survived.

“If you come here you will see the same people here all the time,” said Matt Thibeault, the store’s manager. “We don’t have a rotating staff. And we give you personalized service no matter how busy we are.”

That is something you certainly won’t find at a mall or a big-name store.

Commitment to service like that is why people come back time and time again. And it is not only customers from Hamilton and Wenham but also recent visitors from Falmouth, Easton and New Hampshire.

“It’s a generation thing. If you are nice to a family and they stay in the area you will end up servicing the entire family,” Thibault added. “We often see second and third generations.”

The store was started by a pair of brothers in Cambridge in 1927. When one of the brothers decided he didn’t want to travel into Cambridge anymore he found a former Chinese food restaurant across from Wenham Country Club in 1971 and opened the second location.

This week, Beverly resident Laurie Michaud stopped by on a whim because she needed ski boots. When Chris Woods - he of the snowboarder look with his long hair tucked under a winter hat, despite the temperature reaching 50 degrees - asked if she had skis she replied, “yeah, I got them here.”

The store name sounds like everything from snowboards to hockey sticks to cleats is under one roof. However the store focuses on snow sports, like snowboarding, skiing, snowshoes and cross country, and summer racquet sports like tennis and squash.

If you are into those sports, or know someone who is, the Sports Stop is a perfect place any time of the year, though the holiday season is ideal. There are big gifts possibilities like a new snowboard or skis, or a new tennis racquet.

There are also clothes for either of specialties, like socks, gloves, hats, helmet accessories and coats and pants for the winter sports, or skirts, shits and sweatbands for the summer half. If you need the gift for that person who has everything, the Sports Stop has wireless forecasters for snow conditions, stomp patches for snowboards, ski and snowboard locks, and helmets, as well as tennis shoes, socks, balls and bags.

One of the more popular offerings is the stores snow sports leasing program. Instead of renting equipment for a day or weekend customers can come in early in the season and rent for the entire season. They then return the equipment in May.

“(Customers) who would rent daily would come in and ask if we can do it for the entire year,” Thibeault said. “We started it years ago and it has been growing.”

There are also the usual snow sports services like tuning, waxing and mounting, and re-stringing of racquets.

“We do what we have always been doing: personalized service more than anything else,” Thibault added. “We not only sell the products we all test them. We know what we are talking about.”