Stick It to Them

Chicago is a sports town.  It especially loves its Bears and Cubs, and also its Bulls.  It even loves its White Sox, and also the Blackhawks, who've won two Stanley Cup championships in the past four years.

But loving sports -- and in particular loving the Blackhawks, who were one of the original six teams in the national Hockey League -- I was still surprised today.  I was on my way to lunch at Viccino's for deep dish pizza in a shopping mall, when I saw the following store --

Being a hockey town is one thing, when it's the only game in town.  And even then, when it's -- oh, say, August and 85%, you have to figure even then people's minds aren't on ice skating.  But Chicago does have the Bears, Cubs, Bulls and White Sox to contend with, so that's putting a whole lot of eggs in one basket when you decide to open a store that is Total hockey.  Especially, too, in a world that is going ever more online.

Yet even that I can understand when you compare it to the store that was right next door.  I'm sure it's owned by the same company, but still...well, these are clearly folks who love the "Total' concept for lesser sports.  And by "lesser," in this case I mean really, really lesser --

Now that is having Total confidence in your market.  I was never aware that lacrosse was all that big here in Chicago.  I know it's big on the east coast. But that's 1,000 miles away.  I know know that the Northwestern University women's lacrosse team has won the NCAA championship something like seven times in the last eight years.  But that's stretching things to build a store on. 

Mind you, to have a store that deals solely with lacrosse is certainly eye-catching.  Especially one next to a bigger store next door solely for hockey.  Hey, I guess sports played running around with sticks is something with huge appeal.  At least for their sakes, I hope so.