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FeedGearing Up
A Wilton institution outfits local athletes
During the frenzy of packing for our move to Wilton, I was given some very sage advice: “Drop whatever you’re doing. The most important thing you have to do is sign your son up for soccer.”
Most Wilton kids play at least one team sport if not more, and much of the adult social life happens on the sidelines. Steadfastly outfitting many of those children, and their parents, year after athletic year, Wilton Sport Shop has long been a town fixture. Owner Ken Cyr has seen many a town athlete walk through his door. “Kids who were customers at five, for their first pair of cleats, now come in with their own families,” he laughs. “So we have not only serviced them as children, but we are servicing their children now.”
Cyr has been in the sport equipment and apparel trade for 35 years, when he bought the sporting goods business once owned by Walter Schalk. Since then, he has enjoyed being a part of the local business landscape, and one thing remains clear as he reflects on Wilton and its athletic identity. “It is a very participatory town, when it comes to sports. We’ve tried to expand the customized team and sport printing business that we do here to Redding and Weston, since these towns have no sport shops, but we haven’t been able to do it with much success. I think Wilton is unique in that way. Here it seems every kid has to have a shirt or sweatshirt printed with whatever Wilton sport they’re participating in.”
Team and spirit wear are definitely best-sellers for the shop, which also stocks gear for running, tennis, paddle tennis, field hockey, basketball, swimming, soccer, football, lacrosse and baseball, among others. You’d be hard-pressed to not find what you need on his shelves, but if you can’t, Cyr can likely track it down for you.
That the shop stocks a wide variety of equipment and clothing has certainly helped shoppers in those eleventh-hour situations, like when gear goes missing and the game is about to start at Allen’s Meadow, just across the road. “We get the last minute, ‘My son can’t play because he doesn’t have his mouth guard!’ Cyr says. “People rush in and rush out. Hopefully we have what they need for these emergency demands.”
In its present home, the Wilton Sport Shop is very convenient for athletes using the facilities at Allen’s Meadow, the Wilton Y and Wilton High School. But the current Danbury Road location (in a house once reportedly owned by the Allen family, for whom Allen’s Meadows is named) is actually the third one since Cyr has owned the business. He has relocated twice due to various Route #7 construction projects, and admits this has taken a toll on the bottom line. “We were certainly hurt by the last three years of road construction for the widening of Route #7; it really put a damper on the business. To some degree, it’s been kind of a struggle to get people back.”
The chains and big box sporting-goods retailers in adjacent towns present an extra challenge for the Wilton Sport Shop and Wilton’s other locally-owned sport store, the Outdoor Sports Center. Drumming up and keeping local business requires being an active member the community. Cyr says he’s happy to do it. “We get a lot of requests for donations from different local organizations. We’ll almost always supply what they need for their fundraisers. We print items at cost or a little above cost for different events and do what we can to support Wilton’s non-profit organizations, sports associations and booster clubs.”
Cyr has also tried to help local residents by being an avid employer of town teens. “I can’t even count how many Wilton High School kids we’ve hired here through the years. They’ve all worked out well for us. We’re happy to support residents by hiring their children and giving them a little experience in the working world.”
That’s the kind of thing Cyr hopes sets his business apart. “As the Wilton Sports Shop, we focus on the town and people of Wilton. This is something that residents are not going to find at the big box stores or chains.”
