Play It Again Sports opens second Collin County store

Play It Again Sports opened its second Collin County store Thursday in McKinney.

For store owner Jason Heisser, his son's football and basketball coach in his spare time, it was more an official stamp on a business he's been in for nearly a decade.

"I was sort of doing it amongst parents for kids on my teams," said Heisser, who spent the last 20 years in retail loss prevention with dreams of opening his own sporting goods store. "I would ask our previous parents that were leaving teams to sell their stuff to our new parents."

And that's what Play It Again Sports does best: buy, sell and trade everything from baseball gloves to treadmills to skateboards. Its parent company, Winmark Corporation, also franchises Plato's Closet and Once Upon a Child, both of which have McKinney locations.

The new sports store is part of the brand's expansion that looks to add more than 40 locations around Texas. In the last year, Winmark opened more than 50 new stores and now has 300 stores in 48 states and Canada, according to a release.

The Plano store has been there for more than 15 years, but Carrollton and Fort Worth were home to the only other Play It Again stores in the DFW Metroplex, Heisser said.

He came on board last summer about a month after attending Winmark's "Discovery Day," an orientation for potential franchisees. He signed a lease agreement in July for empty space at the shopping center at the northwest corner of White Avenue and Central Expressway. The space, previously home to a karate studio, was vacant for much of the past two years.

"After doing some research on the area, I knew we wanted to be in Collin County," Heisser said. "We thought McKinney, this area, would be best suited for a Play It Again Sports, just because the growth of the city and the number of kids and families who play sports here."

He's been preparing for this week since August, when he began compiling the store's stock: hockey gear, football pads, baseball gloves and bats, golf clubs, soccer balls, lacrosse equipment, motorized treadmills, elliptical machines and bikes, benches and weights - props for just about every sport.

"We even have some camouflage for hunting," said Heisser, who added he had to overcome his football bias. "You can't be picky because you never know who your customer is going to be."

That meant placing and responding to ads in newspapers, on Craigslist and on social media outlets. Heisser expanded his customary parent-trades to families and sports enthusiasts around the area.

Resulting merchandise lines the walls and aisles at the new store, which Heisser said opened to a line out the door Thursday morning. Angela Turpin, whose husband dyed many of the disc-golf discs at the store, came in the afternoon to browse the wares.

"I think it's a good opportunity to get used equipment and lower prices," said Turpin, who plans to return once she begins playing softball again. "It's going to be used, anyway. If you go to the gym, it's used there, so why not purchase your own and save yourself some money?"

Heisser's wife, Jocelyn, said the store's concept particularly fits parents with young athletes who "try a sport, then get tired of it a year later." Heisser agreed with Turpin's philosophy, saying he'd stock 80 percent used equipment if he could. The store maintains about a 60/40-percent ratio of used to new items.

"I'd prefer to do used because the majority of our customers are looking for that," he said, "because they can get a deal on it."

Some merchandise for the store's opening selection came from walk-up sales, which will be the norm from here on out, Heisser said, adding that he hopes to buy about $500 in equipment every day.

"You can save money by buying gently used, quality merchandise," he said. "I want to be the one-stop shop for all sporting goods in McKinney and even in Collin County."

For store hours and information, visit www.playitagainsportsmckinney.com.

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