Soccer Kid official web site

Soccer dad sees a market niche

 

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer

TEMECULA ---- A man with experience as a father in a Southwest County children's soccer league has waded into the retail side of the sport, and believes he can make a big splash in that relatively small pond.

Soccer Kid is perhaps the only soccer shop within at least 30 miles that caters exclusively to pre-teen players. Stanley Schram opened the 1,700-square-foot store on Ynez Road in late August. He believes children ---- especially girls ---- are often overlooked at other local soccer stores.

"The problem with soccer stores in the past has been that they don't carry enough kids' sizes," particularly for children younger than 8 years old, said Josh Fredrickson, director of player relations for the Temecula Valley Soccer Association.

Schram is stocking shoes as small as children's size 8, and pastel-colored balls that might be less-than-exciting for seasoned male players.

Contrast that to two other locally owned stores. At Soccer Pro Friday morning, an international game was coming in over a 12-inch television, and racks were jammed with all manner of clothing. At Soccercrazy, the lively thump-thump-thump of techno music and a wall lined with jerseys of teams such as Manchester United hinted at Europe's pre-eminence in the sport.

That's fine for high-schoolers and adult players who have become die-hard fans, Schram said. But he believes it can also be intimidating for a would-be soccer mom who's worried about having to buy a new pair of shoes every six months for her little striker.

Schram himself has spent a lifetime in the sport, only recently giving up adult league play due to a back injury. In recent years, he's coached teams for his daughter, Natalie.

He took up the sport at age 4, in the town of Cheb, in what was then Czechoslovakia near the Bavarian border.

"We started on the streets, kicking against the wall, breaking the windows," Schram said.

At Soccer Kid, the beginnings seem to be less dramatic. About one-third of the shelf space and wall space is yet to be filled. Only one line of shoes has made it onto the racks.

The store has only been open a month and Schram 's not planning to advertise it until he gets it a little better stocked.

Health problems drove him from a job with Ericsson, where he pushed mobile phones into developing markets in Russia and India. After he ended that career last fall, Schram began studying the market for children's soccer equipment in Southwest County. He said he believes it's so wide open that he hopes to be able to open stores in Corona and Rancho Bernardo next year.

Denise Gamble, who owns a sporting-goods store in Vista, said Soccer Kid's narrow focus is rare. Her own store, Sport About, sells mainly baseball equipment, and mainly for children. But even then, she said, she feels obligated to carry a smattering of other sports gear.

"You kind of have to be well-rounded," Gamble said. "People expect one-stop shopping."

But one-stop shopping was precisely the motivation for Schram. The marathon shopping trips began seven years ago. Schram's wife despaired finding a store for Natalie, who was 8 at the time.

"My wife was complaining how difficult it was," Schram said. "Every year it would be the same issue, running around and trying all of the things in the same place."

September 26, 2005

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.