A commentary by Rose Del Rosario and Al Klieber, who have owned and operated Courtside Sports for 30 years. One of a series on how local businesses are dealing with the pandemic.
With the entire world on lockdown and not on a court, we asked how we could save our racquet-sports business.
The answer?
Backyard badminton!
And portable pickleball nets!
And crossminton sets!
And lots of table-tennis tables!
Backyard games and sunny spring weather made an irresistible combination for families looking to keep busy and active and for us, it gave us back our hope.
An important part of our business includes a web store, which allows us to conduct business online locally and internationally.
When we decided to close the doors to our Hillside Avenue racquet-sports specialty business on March 19, it was one of the hardest things we had ever done. We’d been coming in, day after day, for the past 30 years to string and service racquets, and help customers find the perfect court shoes, clothing and court equipment. Even after overcoming a recession, an incredibly small employee pool and a dozen other challenges over the years, this felt harder.
We saw something on the horizon and knew it was big and couldn’t be ignored. The level of anxiety elevated with every news report as COVID-19 made its way closer to us.
Recreation centres, sports clubs, community centres, public tennis and pickleball courts — all major partners that allowed our business to thrive — were closing and our customers were being asked to stay at home and stop playing their sports in public.
We knew that we couldn’t put our staff and our remaining customers at risk any longer and decided that our bricks and mortar store would have to close. Our entire staff was laid off with no definite return date, and the reality was that we had financial commitments that needed to be honoured.
The two of us continued to come to the store every day, just as we had when we first opened so many years ago, and together we processed the orders and delivered them to our amazing customers. The encouragement we received from our community was heartwarming and restorative, and helped us believe that maybe this wasn’t quite the end just yet.
As so many other small businesses have had to do, we’ve tried to adapt to a new reality and respond in a forward-thinking way. We’re booking appointments for customers who want to have their racquets restrung or re-gripped, or need to pick up equipment in anticipation of getting back to their sport.
As we have limited floor space, the number of customers in our store at any given time will have to be reduced, and for this purpose, we’ve set up physical barriers and signs. We’ve installed Plexiglas shields over our counters and follow all of the recommended sanitation practices to keep our customers and ourselves safe. We’re encouraging touchless payment and discouraging cash.
We’re actively planning to bring our staff back on board as quickly as possible to support their livelihoods, as they have supported ours, and have already welcomed back two team members (out of the original eight) to help with the gradual increase in business.
We are incredibly grateful to both our staff and our customers for their continued support and patience during this surreal time and want them to know that we look forward to serving them again in our store as soon as possible.
It might never go back to the way it was, but maybe it can be something that is better for all of us in the end.
Courtside will start to re-open next week, Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
