Hey, there! Log in / Register
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
So sad about this.
As the mom of a teen who played sports and was a runner throughout highschool, I am so sad to see Citysports go. Always a cheerful place to be--helpful young staff, good merch, good sales (especially at the basement on Bromfield) I honestly can't imagine what will replace it--Dick's? So sorry for the employees--and shame on the vultures who destroyed a good business. Feels like the 1980s are back.
Me too
City Sports did have the market in sporting goods in town... very few other places exist to get sporting goods. And you'd be amazed at what I'd go in there for.. need gym shorts or shirts, a new jock... I even think I bought my Sorels there.
Gonna miss that place. Very sad to see it go.
Oh I could not be happier!
Screw that place. Once owned by two partners, a group of investors bought the majority stake in the company years ago after Eric Martin died, then quickly turned the company into a conglomo-style hell-hole via their big yellow "Buisness for Dummies" handbook. I worked for them at this time, and the transition to a corporate streamlined Wal-Mart of sporting goods stores took hold. They became insufferable to work for, like working for McDonalds, or Wal-Mart, or Amazon. Many employees left or were fired after YEARS of working there. Prices went up, pay went down (as well as hours to avoid paying out benefits), the whole place suffered. Many who continued to work there wished for the place's demise while people who knew NOTHING of the business ran it into the ground.
I hope they come out of this penniless. Probably not though, just a bunch of Boston locals will lose their jobs...
Yes, but now what fillse niche?
You make valid points about the owners, but the store itself was useful and important for urban athletic gear. It's shame that bad management has ruined something that mattered to thousands of customers.
Well
There's EMS and REI, so that niche was already pretty full.
Marshalls, REI, EMS, Sports
Marshalls, REI, EMS, Sports Authority, Olympia, Dick's, Modells....
What other questions you got?
Those do not have the same focus
I didn't claim there weren't other sporting goods stores. I made a claim specific to City Sports. Everything you list falls into one or more of the following:
So yeah, I've got my question -- what replaces City Sports, which is to say a store that is located and focused on urban athletic activities.
What URBAN activities...
...niche did City Sports fill? Running? You can't get running shoes eleswhere? They had Lacrosse and Field Hockey equipment for the rich kids in Brookline/Newton. Baseball gear, basketballs, footballs. Ball inflation pumps...hmmm...Tennis? There are more than a few tennis pro-shops in the city. Then they had frisbees, and toy garbage. Terribly small selection of bike accessories. Umm... backpacks and REAL basic camping/hiking shit, which you can get at REI or EMS. Small seIection of free weights and fad-driven exercise equipment, but there is this thing called the internet now. I guess I am missing this mythical URBAN ACTIVITY that only City Sports catered to. Maybe their heart rate monitors and fitness watches? Again, internets.Most of their stores' floorspace were clothes. That was their money maker. Winter coats probably paid the whole companies' salaries for the year. Every douchebag in Brookline with a North Face jacket walked through a City Sports at some point. Half of their stores floorspace was essentially rented out to NIKE, they had devoted Nike reps/merchandising employees for the stores.
Seriously there is NOTHING they carried that cannot be had at another store within Metro Boston. Likely for less $$ too...
The company intially succeeded in the 80s because there was NO COMPETITION. Two guys saw a hole in retail and filled it. Expanding to Philly, Baltimore, Atlanta etc where they literally shipped stuff via UPS from their MA warehouse instead of using their own trucks was likely a stretch of resources for very little gain.
What do you mean by "urban athletic activities"?
So...nothing involving sticks or gloves or snow or ice or a playing field, is that the idea? We seem to have a number of good bike shops and running shops. What other urban athletic activities are going to be out of luck because no more CitySports?
Dick's?
I don't see any of their stores in, or even near, Cambridge and Boston.
The Bromfield Street Location
Always has the best deals downstairs in their clearance section.
Looking forward to buying a ton of stuff as they get liquidated.
Sorry to see another local business go under.
Boloco on School St. closed
FroZenYo on Washington St. Closed
City Sports soon to be Closed
Maybe DTX isn't going to be the next Rodeo Drive after all.
Brigham's. Filene's.
I know I'm going back a ways but why does it seem like we've been plagued with very decent companies being raped and pillaged by huge outside forces so they lose their soul, then their value? And then we're left with empty storefronts and NO MOCHA ALMOND.
OOPS
I forgot radio Shack. Two more empty storefronts but the one on School St is supposedly going to be a Sweet Green or something but so far no movement.
I also heard through the grapevine that the old Windsor Button space is not becoming a restaurant called "Cut & Sew. That deal fell through.
Also the old Barnes and Noble is becoming the new Morgue for the City of Boston.
kidding
More
Lechmere's, Shreve Crump and Low, Friendly's (OK - more Mass than Boston and not out of business - only effectively out), Wang, DEC. I'm sure a whole host more tech companies can be listed - and stay tuned in a few years to see what happens to the mutual fund biz. If they don't go out of business, they will shrink dramatically (although Fidelity and State Street are probably going to be OK).
Granted, not many companies make it to 100 - they eventually either go out of business or get swallowed up. This even goes for some of the biggest companies.
Why?
Can't compete with Amazon?
Parkway anecdotal evidence
We used to go to City Spots in Chestnut Hill but pretty much always go to Dicks now due to convenience and selection.
I always felt like CitySports was more oriented towards students and professionals living/working in the core of the city, buying workout gear at lunch or after work vs serving the youth sports market, so Amazon is probably a good guess.
I read basically this in one of the articles
Suburban overexpansion was their downfall. Couldn't compete the the Dicks of the world.
Crazy expensive
I found stuff there expensive unless on sale.
Someone please convince me that their $55 running shorts are better than the $14.99 ones at Target.
* I use a lot of tools and equipment where quality and features do matter. I understand that some things are worth spending money on. I feel the full retail prices at CS may have been worth it for a handful of items, but EVERYTHING there is top dollar when not on sale.
I'll miss them on occasion. But otherwise am not surprised.
Two words for you: sports bras
There are some things you just can't cheap out on.
No surprise
Unfortunately. They sold to many random things at to high prices. There's definitely a market for a sporting goods store, especially in Cambridge, but they sold to many things that people didn't actually want, or buy in great enough numbers to justify their supply.
Bring back Roache's!
Bring back Roache's!
Can't even buy a fishing rod in the city anymore =(
What about Herman's on Summer
What about Herman's on Summer Street?