Sports Store Aims to GOBble Up its Competitiors for Holiday Season

For anyone who’s played hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer or any sport the past three generations in the greater Attleboro area, it is a familar sight to see current and former athletes proudly wear sports jacket with an 'A' embroidered on them. Most likely they have a  purchase label attached to them, too.

As a city landmark the past 62 years, this sports retail store in the heart of downtown Attleboro somehow is carrying on its tradition of serving the surrounding area for individual and team sports and recreation.

Business in the past year, however, has been difficult following a devastating roof collapse last February. Even now, while the, there are still finishing touches being applied to the interior of the store.

So almost 10 months later, owner Bob Ryan, who operates the store with his son, T.J., hopes to restores business at least back to pre-roof collapse levels soon. “We’re progressing a little bit better,” said Ryan, who kept the store opened by “compressing the business into a smaller part of the store. It has been hectic, but we’ve been doing better, slowly but surely.”

With the champions, now back on the winning path and winter sp-orts about to begin, “hockey is taking off,” he says. “Our Skate Shop is doing well, football has slowed down a bit and soccer is strong. Basketball is picking up. Lacrosse is becoming more popular.”

Under the expert direction of T.J.Ryan, the embroidery business continues to be popular, too. “We do a lot of high school and recreation teams in the area,” Bob says. “My son can embroider and apply names, numbers and logos on jerseys, shorts and jackets and on just about any item.”

Along with a variety of smaller businesses in the area, Ryan and Son's Gob Shop is hoping to hit a home run out of the business park in a few days on 2011 Small Business Saturday on November 26. That’s when Ryan hopes that this day focused on small and independent businesses provides an extra boost as enter the Christmas holiday season.

“We have ordered some extra stuff and are gearing up to do a really big day,” said Ryan says of 2011 Small Business Saturday on November 26. “We also will have baseball equipment marked 50 percent off. We can often do better on prices than a lot of businesses selling similar items.”

“Revitalization in the area is slower than I would like to see,” he admits, but does not dwell much on that issue.

Meanwhile, Ryan is hopeful of entire reconstruction and renovation of the the store soon. “We’ll also be redoing the entire front of the store and that will be finished in a month or two,” says the optimistic owner.

So the business whose name is  derived from Government Over Buy (GOB) items, or the Army surplus items they once sold, has moved on to the 21st century, embracing Facebook and Twitter, for example. But its motto now might include those same initials, but with a twist to show their resolve- Going On with Business.

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