While Play It Again Sports may be a national chain store for buying and selling new and used sporting goods, the owner of the local Forest Park franchise strives to make his location anything but cookie cutter.
Open since June of 2021, Oak Park resident Erich Krumrei has been dedicated to making Play It Again Sports a fixture for local athletes and their families, providing not just quality sports gear and equipment in a range of accessible prices, but also fostering community connections at the same time.
“I enjoy working with the community and the access it provides to meet a variety of different people, meet a bunch of teens and leagues,” Krumrei said. “To me, it’s really fulfilling to connect people in my network to support kids and sports.
At Play It Again Sports, shoppers of all ages can find an abundance of new and quality used items for sports including baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, tennis and volleyball, and even water and winter sports, camping and cycling.
For Krumrei, whose children all played sports at the local and high-school level, bringing a business to locals offering sport goods at prices accessible to a wide range of budgets was important.
“With rising living costs and expenses for playing sports, equipment is not cheap, and people come in here finding a great deal on new and quality-used equipment,” he explained. “With kids trying so many sports, this is a great place to come and trade in your soccer cleats and trade up to a baseball bat. I think that the surrounding communities have been wonderful supporters of upcycling and recycling equipment that can be used for someone else.”
Along with directly buying products from top sports brands, Krumrei says Play It Again Sports carefully sources its used items from people who come in and are offered cash on the spot, helping extend the life of items and give others a chance to try new sports or outfit themselves for current sports without breaking the bank.
“When kids purchase something that’s used, I want them to also feel that they got a cool piece of equipment,” he said. “The biggest drive for me is getting as many kids to play sports as possible. I think there is a tremendous value for kids who play sports; the physical activity, the mental health aspect, learning about team dynamics — there’s a lot of great lessons to be learned. And, costs shouldn’t be a barrier for parents to get their kids into sports.
For equipment and gear brought in that Krumrei either does not have space for or does not deem fit for resale, he says that the store partners with local nonprofits to help customers donate their goods toward Chicagoland charitable causes.
Krumrei says that not only do customers often tend to be repeat individuals and families, but they also get the chance to meet locals they may not otherwise meet through conversations in-store, all of which fosters camaraderie.
“Shopping here is an activity for people to get out of the house and not have to travel to a large box store. If they’re repeat customers, they’ll get to know me and my managers,” he said. “There’s a real sense of community when you see the kids grow and have conversations about what sports they’re playing now. I do think that in a digital age, people still also want to come try something on and see something in person before they make a purchase.”
In addition, Krumrei enjoys hosting free community events like his demo days, where reps from national retailers bring new equipment from their factories and offer customers a chance to try out new gear, with Krumrei offering special discounts for purchases.
“I’m happy to be here in Forest Park serving the community,” he said. “We’re continuing to grow and inventory is changing every day — you never know what you’re going to find when you come in here.”