As the recent closure of hundreds of Sports Authority stores, along with other West Coast sporting goods chains such as Sports Chalet attest, the retail sports gear industry isn’t for sissies. Industry survivors, said Kirk Jabusch, who owns Athletes Corner, ensure the customer is happy and keep up with industry trends.
Jabusch operates four Athletes Corner locations – Hazel Dell and Fisher’s Landing in Clark County, along with stores in Longview and Centralia.
“Our business has been built on a foundation of dealing honestly with our customers and doing our best to provide quality products with superior service and selection at a reasonable price,” Jabusch said.
Athletes Corner has received The Columbian’s “Best of Clark County” award six times, and has won similar awards in Longview. By offering a wide selection of products in a friendly, informed atmosphere, the company goal is to “make you want to come back and see us again.”
Founded in 1979 by Jabusch’s parents, Athletes Corner expanded into east Clark County less than 10 years later, and then after Jabusch graduated from college in 1990 and joined the firm full-time, he added the Longview and Centralia stores in 1991 and 1995, respectively. He chose those locations, he said, because although they are relatively small communities, they are “sports crazy.” The company’s headquarters are located in their 10,000-square-foot facility in Hazel Dell; the east county location relocated from Cascade Park to Fisher’s Landing, in a 9,200-square-foot store, in 2011. The company employs 35 staff, including Jabusch and his mother, who is still active in the business.
The company sells a wide selection of gear for virtually any team sport – baseball, soccer, basketball, running, wrestling, football and volleyball – along with school and team gear, health and safety items, and coach and referee equipment. The company’s in-house screen printing and embroidery staff help outfit thousands of team members each year with custom-printed uniforms, jackets and other apparel.
Jabusch said Athletes Corner prides itself on being a “community store,” and he tries to “spread the wealth as much as we can” by sponsoring several teams or organizations each year. For example, the company provides all-star team gear for Salmon Creek Little League fans, as well as jackets for the team members. Teams that hold raffles can usually find Athletes Corner more than willing to donate items. The stores themselves serve as a source for community information, such as league sign-up forms and news about upcoming school events and fund-raising efforts.
The “economic meltdown” of 2008, said Jabusch, was hard on the business, but diversifying the revenue stream to reflect marketplace needs is helping the company regain its momentum.
One trend the firm is following closely is the emergence of year-round sports organizations.
“When I was growing up we went from sport to sport to sport,” said Jabusch, whereas today, many kids play a single sport starting from an early age. According to Jabusch, this has caused spending pattern changes, where parents spend more on one particular sport, but their total spending isn’t as much as if their kids were participating in several sports. On the other hand, teams tend to buy more, such as purchasing two uniforms instead of just one.
“We’re trying to wrap our head around that and figure out how to market to the year-round organizations,” said Jabusch.
The internet, of course, is as much a market disrupter for sports gear as it is for other brick and mortar establishments, and again, Athletes Corner is adjusting their strategies so the internet is an asset not a liability. For example, the company website is undergoing revitalization, so that more of the products they offer can be ordered online. Also, the company creates unique, personalized web catalogs for specific teams or organizations.
In addition to selling product online, Jabusch sees the internet as an important marketing tool.
“You used to be able to reach everybody by a newspaper ad and the yellow pages – both those are now gone,” Jabusch said. “Right now we’re upscaling our marketing through the use of Facebook.”
Jabusch added that Twitter may be next, but that it was challenging for small businesses to “do what you do” and at the same time embrace changes in technology.
Corporate products provide a third source of revenue, beyond families and teams/organizations. Companies can order custom-printed T-shirts, polos, caps, jackets and more for special promotions, team-building and brand recognition. Jabusch said this product line is currently the fastest growing part of the business, and helps “offset some of the challenges of the retail section.”
Jabusch is confident that Athletes Corner will survive whatever comes its way.
“We have some great employees who have been with us for a long time,” he said. “We work really hard at what we do, and adjust as the economic climate changes. If you treat people well and honestly, good things will happen.”
Athletes Corner
Four locations, 35 employees Founded 1979 Founded 2012 www.athletescorner.com
