Chatham Sports Shop To Close After 22 Years

CHATHAM, NJ — Skip and Terry McCabe remember the early days when the Chatham Sports Shop bustled in the center of town. But after 22 years, an industry shift to digital purchasing and then the coronavirus pandemic, the brothers will close the shop after Saturday.

The McCabe's opened the 257 Main St. store in 1999. They set out to meet the needs of local individuals and teams, specializing in area youth sports activities.

"It was a community hub," Skip McCabe told Patch. "Those are the memories we take, and all the friends we made."

At one point in American history, mom-and-pop sporting goods stores were the industry norm. But the industry hit a saturation point, and the 1970s and 80s saw mergers and acquisitions that made it more difficult for smaller companies to compete, according to Racked.

Even some of the larger chains have faced financial struggles in recent years. Sports Authority, which operated more than 450 stores, filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and sold its intellectual property to Dick's Sporting Goods. Modell's — founded in 1889 — liquidated all of its stores in March 2020.

The Chatham Sports Shop built a customer base within the community and managed to outlast some of the larger sporting-goods stores. But they weren't immune to the challenges.

"The business climate for a small business reselling goods, such is we do, became very difficult with the more dominant presence of Amazon allowing people to shop from their computers and phones," Skip McCabe said. "That has only gotten more and more prevalent."

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and the McCabe's had to close their store in March because of the coronavirus lockdown. Even when the Chatham Sports Shop reopened months later, the store never again reached pre-pandemic business levels.

While the lockdown forced smaller New Jersey shops had to close, larger businesses such as Walmart and Amazon had the capacity to sell the same products in a more efficient manner — a common talking point for critics of the state's COVID-19 restrictions. When asked whether that felt unfair, Skip McCabe expressed mixed feelings.

"We could get bitter about that," he said. "However, in the sense that we’re members of the community at large, we wanted to do our part to stop the increase of the coronavirus. That might not have been too fair. ... I don’t dwell on that too much, but it didn’t help."

But this moment also brings some new beginnings. The McCabe's transferred their store's accounts and inventory to Alfred's Sports Shop in Madison. Frank Ruccio will have access to all of the Chatham Sports Shop's custom history and inventory at Alfred's.

As for the McCabe's, Skip will take a step back and keep working as a part-time youth sports official. Terry will continue running Scoops: The Chatham Creamery, a Main Street ice cream shop that opened in 2019.

"It’s very successful," Skip McCabe said of Scoops. "It’s a business that’s gathered some buzz and is moving forward. Our business is in decline, and we’re leaving it behind."

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