Pro Shop Profits Not In Proportion

It seems as though there are sports stores at every hallway twist and turn in Spokane malls.

Two of the city’s pioneers in sports merchandise products, Darel and Lesley Maxfield, owners of Pro Jersey in the Franklin Park Mall, remember how it all began.

In 1987, Pro Jersey was the first store in Spokane to sell officially licensed professional and collegiate products.

Darel Maxfield said the business has changed dramatically since the store opened.

“The amount of money involved now is absolutely incredible,” he said.

While pro sports leagues and universities make billions, many small stores report modest revenue.

“Things really changed when Nike reinvented the game,” Darel Maxfield said. “They have just beaten the hell out of the little guys. So many of the little mom and pop shops have gone by the way of big companies and chain stores.”

As recently as 1992, when the Maxfields had three Pro Jersey stores, profits from merchandise sales amounted to $1 million.

But the proliferation of large chains (resulting in the Maxfields shutting down two stores), combined with the baseball and hockey strikes of last year, cut 1994 profits to a little more than $170,000.

“It was fun for the first couple of years, but now it’s all market driven. The market has no mercy on anybody.”

Still, the Maxfields anticipate profits to turn around from last year.

Like most stores, Pro Jersey stays in business because of the National Football League.

“The NFL is far and away No. 1 for us,” he said. “The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers make the entire NBA pale by comparison.”

Last year, Pro Jersey made $110,000 from NFL merchandise compared to $62,000 for all other sports in the store.

Maxfield said the Seattle Seahawks are the most popular of the Seattle-area pro franchises, followed by the SuperSonics and Mariners.

As for collegiate merchandise, the Washington State Cougars outsell the Washington Huskies by about 2-1, according to Maxfield.

, DataTimes