by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Sports fans throughout Jacksonville will have one more shopping option when they want to gear up to watch their favorite team after the newest store opens Downtown at the Landing.
Sports Mania will open its fifth store July 1 across from the Nine West outlet shoe store at the Landing. The company has stores in Mandarin, St. Johns Town Center, Fleming Island and the Prime Outlets Mall in St. Augustine.
Owner Tom Phillips goes after the “wow” factor by packing his stores full of professional sports team apparel and sporting goods from the floor to the ceiling.
The Landing store doesn’t fit the company’s typical model of 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, but it does have the three things that all businesses covet: location, location, location.
“With the unique venue the Landing offers and all of the sporting events hosted Downtown, we saw it as a logical next step,” said Phillips. “We don’t have the high ceilings that we do at our other stores, which help give us the wall of jerseys and shirts, but we will still have that ‘wow’ factor when you walk in the store.”
He may not be able to stack four rows of jerseys and shirts from the floor to the ceiling at the new store, but there is ample room for Phillips to create the “wow” factor in the glass walls on the side of the store facing Hooters. Phillips plans to work with his neighbors and other businesses at the Landing to make it “the place to be.” It was this type of communication that brought Phillips’ company to the Landing.
“We were able to work with the Landing to develop an agreement that helps both parties win,” said Phillips. “They were great to work with and I encourage any business to go down to the Landing and see if they can make something work.”
The Landing was equally excited with its new tenant.
“We are excited to have Sports Mania,” said Rachel Nudge, public relations director of the Landing. “With all the athletic events hosted Downtown, we offer a perfect location for this type of business.”
Phillips explained that the store is going to cater to the local fans and has developed a good relationship with fans of the Jaguars, Gators, Seminoles, Bulldogs and Dolphins. The Dolphins team that is based in Miami may get more television time, but the college team based in Jacksonville is quickly becoming a hot item at the store.
“They could become our number three team as far as sales,” said Phillips. “We are the only retail store away from campus carrying their gear. It’s interesting because we’ve found that most JU Dolphins fans are Gators fans too, so it’s a win-win for them here.”
Brands like Nike, Reebok, adidas, Under Armour, Crocs, Cutter and Buck and LogoArt will stock the store. These companies will help Sports Mania feature items for local fans, but Phillips realizes the store isn’t big enough to offer items from every team for every fan.
“The key is to finding out what the customers want,” said Phillips. “We look for staff that likes to have that interaction with the customers and the same people will be working at the same stores so that we can develop that relationship with our customers.”
The Landing location may not be the company’s biggest, but it does have the advantage of being able to pull inventory from any of its five stores.
“We may run out of a certain size or item at the Landing store,” said Phillips, “but if we do have the item in any of our stores, we can have it at the Landing the next day, so the person can stop by and maybe pick it up during lunch.”
It’s that crowd that Phillips hopes to introduce to Sports Mania.
“There are thousands and thousands of people who work in the Downtown area who may not come in contact with any of our stores normally,” said Phillips. “A lot of them come down to eat at the food court and we hope to expose our brand to those people.”
The new store will have a staff of from 4-8 people depending on the time of year and Mike “Droop” Wilt has been hired as manager. It will be open six days a week and for Jaguars home games from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. during the week and 10-9 on the weekends.
While Phillips is excited about his new opportunity, his customers haven’t all displayed the same enthusiasm for the new Jaguars jerseys.
“We are still getting mixed reviews on the new jerseys,” said Phillips. “(Maurice) Jones-Drew and Torry Holt are our most popular right now, and people are liking the teal jersey over the white. The teal just didn’t show up that great on TV, but more and more like it once they see it in the store.”
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