One of the annual rites of spring is registering youngsters for community sports teams, followed by the trip to the sports store to buy shoes and equipment.
Parents know last year’s gear seldom works. Kids outgrow shoes and skates before the end of a season; the baseball bat is too short or too light; the golf lessons have finally paid off, and the junior clubs just don’t make it anymore.
Garage sales or family hand-me-downs may offer limited relief in some cases, but a used sports equipment store may be a better answer.
Stores like Play It Again Sports offer a good starting place to begin shopping for used equipment and apparel. The franchise has grown to more than 700 locations nationwide, with nearly 25 stores in the Chicago area.
Boyce Bitz, manager of the Play It Again Sports in Schaumburg, said the franchise offers customers three different options.
“We offer the choices of trading in used equipment for cash or credit on purchases, or of buying used gear at substantial savings,” Bitz said. “There’s also a third option some people don’t know about: Half of our business includes new merchandise as well. We’re the second largest sports retailer in the nation.”
Pete Johnson, manager of the Play It Again Sports store in Skokie, explained the various options and benefits of selling used equipment.
“The low option, money-wise, is if we buy something outright and give cash for it,” Johnson said. “Customers would get about 35 percent of the retail price. If they use the item in trade, we offer them 40 percent of the retail selling price. But the best option of all is consignment.”
Customer and retailer take a 50/50 split on consignment items, Johnson said, with the retailer usually suggesting a selling price.
“We’ve been in this business a while and pretty much know what things sell for,” Johnson said. “Most used goods are sold for approximately half the original retail, but you have to price used things attractively or there’s no point in buying them.”
Jerry’s Pro Shops is a chain retailer with eight stores in the Chicago area, including Rolling Meadows, Downers Grove, Glenview, Skokie and Crystal Lake.
Schaumburg manager Dan Denight said the stores deal strictly with hockey skates and goalie equipment and offer only trade-ins, not cash deals.
“We offer anywhere from $20 to as much as $150 for top-of-the-line adult skates,” Denight said. “Most of our used equipment is in really good shape since it’s been used by kids for just one season. We have gloves, pads, helmets and skates.”
Independent stores not part of the franchise network offer similar deals and may even work off closer profit margins than their larger counterparts. Sports Exchange Chicago Ltd. on Western Avenue in Chicago is one example.
“I’ve been in business 10 years, and we work with people here in the neighborhood,” said owner John Bodi. “We buy second-hand items and sell most of them for 50 percent off the original retail. At least 75 percent of our goods is used merchandise.”
Play It Again Sports stores contacted said about 60 percent of their equipment, on average, is used. Bitz said newer stores might have far less used equipment because “their core customer base has not been established.”
“After a while, people in the area tend to bring items in again and again, but I feel as though we can never get our hands on enough used things,” Johnson said. “As far as shopping, I’ve got people who come in week after week. I’m not sure what they’re looking for, but there are people who shop religiously, looking for great bargains. Timing is everything.”
Bitz said the most common items he buys used include baseball, golf and soccer gear. In winter, hockey and the downhill ski market pick up. And later on, there’s more activity with in-line skating, water sports and yard games.
Johnson’s used market is led by golf and exercise equipment, followed by in-line skating, hockey and baseball.
“When it comes to trading golf clubs, we’re looking strictly for sets, not individual clubs,” Bitz said. “When you’re ready to upgrade, we’re involved in a demo program where golf stores sell us their big-name clubs like Callaways, Pings and Cobras at a huge discount.”
Johnson and Bitz said there are great buys on new sets of clubs as well: A set of eight irons and three woods, all with graphite shafts and made locally by Northwestern of Skokie, is priced at $200.
Johnson said Delta of Chicago offers another eight-iron/three-wood set for $139, and a Rawlings set including bag, head covers, putter and 11 clubs for $179.
Bodi says mountain bikes are a huge market at Sports Exchange, followed by golf clubs, skis, ice skates, and fishing and camping gear.
“With bikes and fishing gear, people can make more money since those are generally quick-sell items,” Bodi said. “We usually offer 25 percent of the retail price on a cash trade, but on a $300 bike we can sell for $150, we’re not going to gouge the customer and give him $37. A bike in great shape may be worth $100 in cash, and we’ll sell it for $150.”
Bodi adds that all items taken in trade are “fully reconditioned or restored before they’re placed on the sales floor.”
“We’ll take a baseball mitt, clean it up and re-oil it, if necessary,” he said. “We sharpen skates and do all the mechanical work on the bikes we sell, as well.”
Shoes, especially used baseball, soccer and football cleats, plus a variety of skates are frequently bought and sold at used retail outlets.
Retailers’ views vary regarding what they sell.
“I don’t particularly like dealing in footwear, but I buy everything I get for $2 and sell it for $6,” Johnson said.
“We do shoes in bulk and probably have 600 to 700 pairs in stock,” Bitz said. “Some people have a spring cleaning and bring in 10 to 12 pairs at a time. We usually pay $1 or $2 for them and sell them for $6.”
“We have spikes, but no gym shoes,” Bodi said. “I take used spikes in trade and sell them for $5 a pair. But I also went to auctions last year where I bought skids of Nike-brand spikes that sold brand new for $50 to $65. We sell those last-year models for $20.”
Buying a used aluminum bat or a set of golf clubs may be a good way to save money or help you decide if you like a sport before investing more in it. Used shoes may be another matter.
“I think it depends on what your intentions (regarding the shoes) are,” Bitz said. “With small kids who might grow before the end of the season, you can always bring the shoes back if they’re in good condition and trade them again. For $6, people aren’t asking for more.”
Tom Brunick, director of the research and development center in Naperville for Athlete’s Foot, says used shoes aren’t the best idea. His experience with footwear includes wear-testing more than $300,000 worth of shoes a year, as well as fitting members of professional sports teams, including the Bulls.
“With a used glove or bat, you can pull it off, as far as used equipment goes,” Brunick said. “But feet are different. You’re playing a dynamic activity and putting two to three times your body weight on your feet, which are the foundation of your body. There’s also the hygiene aspect; your feet contain the body’s highest concentration of sweat glands.”
Bitz argues that some items like in-line skates have foam liners that can readjust and expand to a different foot. In terms of hockey skates, he adds that gel inserts readjust the same way and “don’t have a memory like cleats.” Denight said a “Flo-lite” gel found in good skates allows a skate to conform to another foot.
The advantages of buying and trading used goods still appear to dominate. Play It Again retailers said they offer a seven-day return policy on used items, and “whatever the manufacturer offers” on new equipment.
“There aren’t any disadvantages as far as I can see,” Bitz said. “You’re saving on the front end by getting items for less that work just as good as something new. You can trade up for better performance, or sell the item outright when you’re done with it. You can’t do that at a garage sale.”
