Steve Reichert returned to the area after college intent on combining his entrepreneurial spirit and love of athletics into the retail sporting good operation known today as Sports & Sports. For over 40 years, Sports & Sports has been serving Northeast Ohio by combining top quality merchandise at an affordable price point with a passion for customer service and strong community relationships. This approach hearkens back to a simpler time when neighborhood stores knew their customers on a personal level and maintaining focus on these core values has ensured the long-standing relationship between Sports & Sports and the surrounding communities will continue for many more years to come.
The operation started with one retail location, which opened in Madison, OH back in 1983. Five busy years later, Steve recognized the opportunity inherent in the ability to produce customized merchandise specific to the needs of the growing variety of customers the business serviced. For that reason, he expanded the operation to include Screenworks Lettering Company in 1988. The lettering company continues to offer a complete suite of custom sewing, embroidery, screenprinting, digital graphic printing, and design services. Due to growing demand, Steve opened a second retail sporting good location in Ashtabula, OH in 1990. The creation of a retail presence in Ashtabula County expanded the company’s retail market from Lake County to the Ohio and Pennsylvania border. That spirit of growth continued once again in 2006 as the increased demand for high school spirit wear and team sporting equipment dictated the expansion of the Madison retail location. After many years traveling between the various locations day after day, Steve was grateful for the opportunity to reduce his many stops by one in combining the Ashtabula retail and lettering company locations under one roof with the opening of our current base of operations in 2009.
Today, Sports & Sports continues to adhere to the same vision and guiding principles under which the company was founded. We strive to provide the best quality merchandise at a reasonable price with the utmost importance placed on creating an exceptional experience for our customers. With the growth of internet commerce, we relish the opportunity to expand and extend our company’s reach to the national marketplace with our detail-oriented approach to delivering what our customers need when they need it.