When you drive by the Sports Authority on Wellington Road in Gainesville, you’ll notice a “going out of business” sign.
It hits you that the staple sporting goods store that has been around in shopping malls since you were a child is closing. It was the go-to place for sporting goods, and clothing outfitter for gym teachers everywhere.
Its closing can be construed as a sign of the times for changing retail stores.
Chance Holt, 26, of Warrenton, stood outside Sports Authority in the warm 70-degree weather holding a sign of his own. In case drivers missed the “going out of business” sign on the building, don’t worry, because Holt has one, too.
Holt is not a Sports Authority employee. His full-time gig — a tax support agent for Intuit in Fredericksburg — the folks who make Turbo Tax software. He helps clients move tax data from the prior year to this year.
He holds a sign on his days off of work. A temp agency tells him where to go, and he shows up armed with the necessities: sunglasses, and an iPod playing a mix hip-hop, R and B, and some pop.
“Holding this sign makes me humble,” said Holt. “A lot of people work behind a desk all day, make a lot of money, and don’t know what it’s like to work outside.”
He admits holding the sign is not “hard work,” but it is a way to make extra cash. He and his fiance, a school teacher in Fairfax County, plan to get married and have a child.
The extra cash comes in handy to pay a bill and to put away to save up money for what he really wants.
“It will be nice to move out of our apartment and into a house,” he said.
Oh yeah, about Sports Authority — the Gainesville store has about six weeks left before it closes for good, he said.
