Changes on Hold

What is your biggest concern with what’s ahead for the industry after everything that has occurred so far in 2020?

BRIAN BARNES Brandon Source For Sports

Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

As we move forward in these times with huge uncertainty as to what sport is going to look like, I am hopeful that vendors and brickand-mortar retail work together as true partners to continue the legacy that has been created over the years!

The industry needs to be respectful of each other’s challenges, and work together on sell-in and sell-through data to maintain cash flow for both partners, as we hopefully inch towards normal!

BETSY FREY Holyoke Sporting Goods

Holyoke, MA

My state has been hit very hard by COVID-19. The current state guidelines for organized sports are very restrictive and my concern is leagues may cancel the fall season. I was closed from March 16 to June 8 and I cannot make up this business. I think if fall sports are allowed to happen there will be less participants than previous years. This will result in less team and retail sales.

I am also concerned about team sales for spring 2021. I fulfilled all my school orders before the shutdown. These schools will not need to place orders for spring 2021, so I will be ordering and selling less merchandise. The after-effects of COVID-19 may linger for a few years.

TRACY GIBBONS Sturtevant’s

Bellevue, WA

The biggest concern is the safety and well-being of our staff and customers and how to balance all their needs and expectations. We feel fortunate our business focuses on promoting folks be outdoors and enjoy the different activities available. I was fortunate enough to snow ski at Crystal Mountain, and waterski on Lake Washington, in the past couple of weeks and enjoy these activities with my family while practicing social distancing. As a consumer, seeing many chairs go by with just 1 or 2 people took a bit of rethinking, but I personally experienced a lot of happy participants who also seemed willing to accept the new longer lines, and not full chairs, as the “new norm.”

Reallocating staff time and expertise, to address changes in our business model, is another concern. We have revisited our website and are working on how it communicates with our customers, and how it can better mimic our in-store experience. We are using the phone much more. And we will continue to revisit our in-store experience as we welcome back customers. Ultimately knowing not all customers are comfortable with the same solution we are working hard to create multiple avenues to service them.

KEITH MANNING Jack Pearl’s Team Sports

Battle Creek, Michigan

Being a team sporting goods dealer, our biggest concern for the near future is whether or not there will be high school and middle school sports. With this being at least 75 percent of our business, it is a huge concern moving forward. Even though most of our schools are starting summer conditioning, in anticipation of an upcoming season, we all know that all it takes is one spike in positive cases of COVID- 19 and everything will be shut down again. If there is another shutdown, athletics will definitely be one of the activities put on hold and that will hurt many of the small local team dealers across the country.

TRAVER MCLEOD Hockeywolf

Missoula, MT

As a hockey dealer, we are in the same boat as our average customer: we don’t have a clear picture of what our favorite sport is going to look like in the next 12 months. There is real concern that participation could drop significantly due to the constraints required by local or state governments and the sports governing body guidelines.

In addition, because of the supply chain interruptions and restrictions on production from our vendors, we could likely have a shortage of some important equipment or items of necessity, including custom goods. The overall uncertainty adds an incredible amount of stress to all of us.

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