“Every kid should be able to try a sport, right?” says Jen Karcher. “The price of playing a sport right now is just astronomical.”
That’s where her new family business, Play It Again Sports, comes in. The store stocks gently used items at a fraction of the cost of the new items they also offer. And when it’s time to upgrade, or something no longer fits, or interests turn elsewhere, the store buys items still in saleable condition.
In the shopping center anchored by Busch’s, the store has been doing just that, in hopes of having enough stock to open for sales in late October.
Karcher says they’ve been adding lots of golf, hockey, baseball, softball, and lacrosse equipment, but there’s also fitness and outdoor gear and a nice selection of disc golf discs. Cleats of every kind are a particular bargain, she says, as parents’ budgets are easily stressed in keeping up with growing feet.
“You’re keeping things out of a landfill,” she says. “You’re taking things that might just be collecting dust in one home and letting someone else use them.”
She says the independently owned franchise is well-positioned to serve Saline and all points south, as the chain lacks a presence in the Toledo area. Parent company Winmark also includes resale-oriented brands Plato’s Closet, Once Upon a Child, Music Go Round, and Style Encore.
A former teacher, Karcher runs the store full-time. Her husband Rick is an attorney on EMU’s faculty whose work focuses on labor and ethical issues involving athletes. They live in Saline and have three young-adult children who all played different sports growing up, so “we spent a lot of money at Play It Again Sports through the years,” she says.
Play It Again Sports, 551 E. Michigan Ave., Saline. (734) 316–7350. Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun. noon–5 p.m. playitagainsports.com/locations/saline-mi