By Lisa Abeyta, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Mar. 2--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--Art Gardenswartz has been a part of the sporting goods retail scene for a long time. In fact, when you start talking about his family tree, it's more than a hundred years.
His paternal grandfather's name graced one of the first sporting goods stores in Colorado, when the Dave Cook Sporting Goods store opened back in the 1890s. Gardenswartz's father brought the name to Albuquerque when he opened the H. Cook's Sporting Goods store in 1939. And it was there that Art Gardenswartz began his long career, working for his father in the store even after the family sold the business in 1969 to Zales, which in turn was eventually acquired by Oshman's.
The retail chain that carried the Gardenswartz name was a fixture in Albuquerque for 19 years, beginning in 1976 when Art decided to strike out on his own, until he sold the stores five years ago to Big 5 Sporting Goods.
'I could see the handwriting on the wall,' says Gardenswartz in his office behind one of the Big 5 stores. 'There were some family issues, a bunch of chains were coming in, and I was burned out. So I decided to work a deal with Big 5.'
After more than 20 years in the business, Art was ready to call it quits. Or so he thought.
'I'd signed a restricted non-compete agreement with Big 5 and was ready to get out, but one of my sons who had been working for me at Gardenswartz wasn't,' Gardenswartz remembers. 'So he opened Sportz Outdoor. But it didn't take long for him to decide the retail world wasn't for him, so I stepped in and took over, and so I'm still in the business.'
With the non-compete clause finally expired, Gardenswartz says, he and the Sportz Outdoor staff are looking to expand. 'I just spent the last two days testing next year's skis. We're already known for our skis, but we're also planning to expand our backpacking and camping gear, our competitive swimwear and cycling equipment. We want to establish Sportz Outdoor as the store for the culture sports.' (A culture sport, he adds, is one that creates its own culture among participants.) Along with Sportz Outdoor, Gardenswartz also owns three Go Golf Establishments, which sell specialty golf merchandise. And he has learned some very good lessons along the way. 'At Gardenswartz, I liked making all the decisions, not delegating,' he says, smiling ruefully. 'I've learned to involve people, discuss goals.'
Gardenswartz says he is also the owner and founder of Golfbargains.com. Offering new merchandise at lower prices, Gardenswartz says, the e-retail business has exceeded his initial expectations. 'It's profitable already, a multimillion-dollar business,' he says. 'We sell a lot of bags, shoes, accessories, balls, clothing.'
Although the site is advertised on the Golf Channel and promoted nationally, Gardenswartz says, he has not heavily promoted it in New Mexico to avoid too much competition with his brick-and-mortar stores in the state.
Gardenswartz, who earned his business degree in the early 1960s on a track scholarship to the University of Arizona, has also lived the life his sporting goods stores promote. He proudly adds that he held the Highland High School record for the 440-yard dash for 39 years. Gardenswartz, 58, placed first in his age group in the recent Grants Quadrathlon, saying that he will soon start training for a spring competition, another of the four or five events he does every year.
'I'm a real active person. You know, I'm my age-group champion for the state. Not bad for an old guy, huh?' he says with a laugh.
Gardenswartz says he loves New Mexico's climate and wants to help the state capitalize on what he sees as one of its most valuable assets. 'I'm really sincere about wanting to position Albuquerque as an outdoor capital.'
That desire motivated Gardenswartz along with other community members such as Judge John Sutton, former city attorney Pat Bryan, Merrill Lynch executive Leonard Armstrong and former Sun Healthcare CEO Andrew Turner to form ACCORD (Albuquerque Coalition for Outdoor Development).
The group managed to secure an agreement that sets aside a percent of city bond money in addition to matching federal funds for the purpose of improving and maintaining the city's bike trails, which has totaled more than $1'million per year over several years.
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(c) 2001, Albuquerque Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
