The Davis Sport Shop, which has been run by the Belenis and Patella families over the years, will be closing at the end of July...another small business that has been devastated by the pandemic.
The following is from the Davis Enterprise article by Wendy Weitzel:
After 56 years, Davis Sport Shop announced it will close at the end of July, owner Aaron Patella said.
“I want to thank all of the loyal customers that have supported the Patella family and the Davis Sport Shop for the past 42 years,” he wrote in an email. “Sadly, with the economic devastation over the past four months due to COVID-19, the uncertainty of the timing of the return of sports, and the changing economic model of internet shopping, we will be closing up the shop at the end of the month.”
The late George Belenis opened the store on Second Street in 1964. Patella’s father, John, purchased the store in 1978. Along the way, it was in the Brinley Building at E Street before moving to its final home at 241 F St. in 2016.
“Over the years, the store has worked with local schools, little leagues, youth groups, adult teams, universities, professional teams and even some international teams,” Patella said. “We have been blessed with some outstanding employees that have become lifelong family friends. We have worked with excellent coaches, league and school leaders and the best sales representatives in the business, and are thankful to all of them.”
He concluded, “We will be open through the end of the month, trying to sell through existing inventory and to say goodbye and thank you to our customers … please stop by or call for a mail order. Though this is a sad ending to a long relationship with a wonderful community, we are proud and grateful to have been part of it for so long.”
Sad, especially given that it seems we should be welcoming students back to town.
Recent statistics show a mortality rate below the standard flu for people under 70. For those under 30 it is even lower. Sweden seems to have made the right choice.
Other businesses which have closed or filed for bankruptcy:
"...a mortality rate below the standard flu for people under 70."
Assuming your claim is true - (Authorities would be helpful.)
What is an acceptable number of deaths for you?
At what age do you feel people become expendable?
Sad to see it go. The survivors are the ones that could make a presence with online sales. I do my best to support local, but ebay and amazon are so darn easy.
I think you’re right. COVID may have been the last nail but it’s probably the internet helping to end this kind of store. Was nice to have an alternative to the campus store where the average sweatshirt price is over $60, but there are more reasonable licensed online dealers now too. I don’t know if it was a factor in this one but I’ve heard from other downtown businesses that over the past few years a couple of deep pocketed out of town interests have been buying up all the downtown real estate and jacking the rents to push out the local shops and they are willing to let stores sit empty to force the city’s hand on letting more corporate chains in.
Local stores had enough competition from Amazon, et. al, before the pandemic. I have always tried to support the local merchant, then the big chain's local branch, before going online. The lockdown has made this all even more difficult. Local stores may not be open, you may have to make an appointment, or stand in line in midsummer valley heat, or the store may be low on inventory. Amazon is there during this mess.
Joe Davidson has often written very positive articles about Aggie sports and he did a really nice job on this poignant article about the Davis Sport Shop closing.
If anything the Bee needs more local interest stories like this. You’d be forgiven for assuming it’s negative from the title because most of the Bee’s “investigative reports” (not just on UCD) are not much more than one-sided opinion smear jobs trying to sound juicy enough to get picked up by AP.