Gear Guys
Play It Again Sports Has Your Equipment Needs Covered
Writer / Ryan Kennedy
Photographer / Robby Berry
Play It Again Sports is a sporting goods store that specializes in new as well as used sports and fitness equipment.
There are about 300 Play It Again Sports locations throughout the United States and 50 in Canada, but the stores are locally owned and operated.
Dan Gilchrist, owner of the Carmel and Fishers Play It Again Sports locations, started working at the Carmel store when he moved to Carmel during his junior year of high school. When Gilchrist moved to Bloomington to attend Indiana University, he worked part-time at the Bloomington location. Gilchrist graduated in 2003 and moved home to Carmel. He and his dad decided to buy a franchise themselves and reopened the Carmel store that year. Eventually, the demand for business became so great, Gilchrist and his father decided to open a second store. The Fishers Play It Again Sports team opened its doors in 2011.
We pride ourselves on providing exceptional customer service every day, and we have a good selection of major brands of products and the new selection thats in our stores, Gilchrist says.
He says Play It Again Sports sales are roughly a 50-50 split between new and used products, which he believes may surprise people.
Most people dont know that we have new stuff, but were constantly competing with Amazon, Walmart, Dicks and any other retailer that sells new products, he says. We have the buying power of large group stores, and thats why we bought into the franchise versus opening a store with their own name or something on it.
Play It Again Sports offers a wide variety of sporting equipment to the public including gear for baseball, football, soccer, hockey, golf, lacrosse, water sports and winter sports. Gilchrist says the winter months see an increase in the sale of indoor gym and fitness equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes. Play It Again Sports also offers service for equipment that needs servicing.
Gilchrist says the community response to the Fishers location has been great, and the stores reach continues to grow. Gilchrist and his wife moved to Fishers 10 years ago and currently have two young children involved in Fishers sports. Gilchrist and the Play It Again Sports staff work with local youth sports and school programs. Providing quality service to the local community is important to him.
We have lots of people that come in that cant afford to buy a new bat or a new pair of shoes for their kids, or they have multiple kids and just want to save on that kind of thing, he says. We provide that service to people.
Play It Again Sports is located at 11681 Olio Road in Fishers. For more info, call 317-288-4632 or visit playitagainsports.com.
