Pittsburgh Losing Last Indie Equipment Store

[BenBreeg 493]

Got an e-mail from KO Sports that the main store was changing ownership.  Was hoping it was to another private individual but it is actually going to be a Pure Hockey.  KO was. Source for Sports store so we would get SMU skates and sometimes other equipment.  They had new old stock and the store itself is huge.  Staffed primarily by adults, did profiling, etc.  Was worth the planned hour drive a couple times a year.  What a disappointment.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Yeah.  This has been being talked about on FB for a couple weeks.  Bummer for sure.  It was the best store around Pittsburgh by a pretty large margin.  Saturday was their last day as KO.

They're keeping their spot at the rink in Delmont / Center Ice apparently.  Never been there so I have no idea on how much retail space they have, if they're going to be able to profile steel there, if any of their expert employees are going to move to work there, etc. etc.  I don't think anyone knows what Pure intends to do with the main store location in terms of having good goalie selection, profiling, keeping existing employees, or whatever like KO was known for.  IIRC, hasn't Pure gone to Sparx machines across the board?

If the shop at the rink is a typical pro shop type of place, this just further cements "order it online" for me.  Which, to be fair, was already pretty strong.  Still, KO was 1.5 hours away from me and I drove past two Pure's and a Perani's to get there when I went.

Mark

Edited February 14, 2022 by marka

[start_today 770]

RIP.
Started going there in middle school in the mid 90s. It had that crowded toy store feeling like the shop in Might Ducks, where there was a ton of equipment just piled everywhere. 

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

That’s a shame. Met the family a few times at the SFS show, very nice group

[helmet91 15]

Was there a Rupp's hockey shop back in the 90s?  I remember checking out a huge shop in Pittsburgh while visiting 30 years ago.

 

I could be completely making it up...  LOL

[BenBreeg 493]

Wow, forgot about that.  Yes, there was a Rupp’s.  Used to be a bunch of smaller stores.  The Penalty Box, House O Hockey, MVP, probably others in the south of the city.

[VegasHockey 1280]

This is sadly the way the industry is going. Smaller stores being pushed out by larger stores due to lower margins and manufacturers only making specific product available for ETL stores.... For example, Bauer has been doing this with limited edition product such as ADV sticks, Sling sticks, etc. Only making these limited edition products available to the stores that do significant volume with them. The larger stores also get a significantly better margin compared to small stores thus small stores have to focus on repairs and services which is where big stores are not good and you can make a decent margin. it sucks. I hate the situation of it all. However, thats just the way things go. 

[stick9 890]

9 hours ago, PBH said:

This is sadly the way the industry is going. Smaller stores being pushed out by larger stores due to lower margins and manufacturers only making specific product available for ETL stores.... For example, Bauer has been doing this with limited edition product such as ADV sticks, Sling sticks, etc. Only making these limited edition products available to the stores that do significant volume with them. The larger stores also get a significantly better margin compared to small stores thus small stores have to focus on repairs and services which is where big stores are not good and you can make a decent margin. it sucks. I hate the situation of it all. However, thats just the way things go. 

You've just described every other market, literally. 

Sucks that smaller shops are getting eaten up, but that's not on the manufacturers.

 

[VegasHockey 1280]

1 hour ago, stick9 said:

You've just described every other market, literally. 

Sucks that smaller shops are getting eaten up, but that's not on the manufacturers.

 

As a medium sized store, I am sure soon enough one of the big box stores will eventually come to town and ill be screwed... or maybe they will buy me out 😉 

[jmiro 55]

This was are go to. 2.5 hour drive a couple times a year.  Great service. If you knew what you needed or wanted some work done you could ship to Cannonsburg and pick up in Delmont.  Delmont shop is small however, has better selection than a lot of the rink pro shops I have been in.  

[lslcs4lif 1]

On 2/14/2022 at 10:48 AM, marka said:

Howdy,

Yeah.  This has been being talked about on FB for a couple weeks.  Bummer for sure.  It was the best store around Pittsburgh by a pretty large margin.  Saturday was their last day as KO.

They're keeping their spot at the rink in Delmont / Center Ice apparently.  Never been there so I have no idea on how much retail space they have, if they're going to be able to profile steel there, if any of their expert employees are going to move to work there, etc. etc.  I don't think anyone knows what Pure intends to do with the main store location in terms of having good goalie selection, profiling, keeping existing employees, or whatever like KO was known for.  IIRC, hasn't Pure gone to Sparx machines across the board?

If the shop at the rink is a typical pro shop type of place, this just further cements "order it online" for me.  Which, to be fair, was already pretty strong.  Still, KO was 1.5 hours away from me and I drove past two Pure's and a Perani's to get there when I went.

Mark

Many of the existing employees are still there. They will be able to profile steel (they have a Prosharp that needs templates, it will be a couple of weeks before they come in) and they are sharpening with Sparx. 

 

[start_today 770]

Interesting they are now using a Sparx. For a long time it was a place you could always get a good consistent sharpening from an actual person. 

[BenBreeg 493]

Yeah, I guess it might be a Pure “policy” at this point?  I go to Rich on Neville Island.  Was in the other day and was paying attention to how there is a steady purr when he runs the blade down the wheel, the sparks are consistent.  Then I was at RMU and the pro shop kids were sharpening and and it was night and day.  Sounded more like a guy doing body work with a grinder, loud when they first made contact, less loud as they did the length of the blade, much louder overall than Rich.  That may just be me but seems there are two different skillsets at work.  Oh, and he is still $5/sharpen.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Spoke with a guy who's working at the "now Pure".... Sounds like in the takeover they kept some of the experienced folks, are keeping the goalie section that KO was known for, and will continue to do ProSharp profiling.  Profiling is waiting on getting a set of templates.  Apparently the existing templates were taken by the outgoing owner for use at the Delmont location.

We'll see how it goes, but it gives me a bit of hope that it will remain a good store.

Mark

[stick9 890]

I think you'll find that over time it will evolve into a full fledge PH store. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. 

[BenBreeg 493]

8 hours ago, stick9 said:

I think you'll find that over time it will evolve into a full fledge PH store. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. 

devolve… 🙂

[BenBreeg 493]

Another question.  Once profiled on a PS machine, the toes and heels need blended.  I think PBH and JR have discussed this here.  Last time I got my son's skates profiled (at KO) the guy did the profiling and another employee did the sharpening and they got their signals crossed and they didn't blend them.  You could visibly see it.  They apologized and acknowledged it and fixed it no issues. 

But how do you do this going from a PS to a Sparx?  I thought this blending was a hand operation.

[mojo122 535]

You can blend on a ProSharp.