BIZNOTE: Second Gear Sports to close

Another one-of-a-kind West Seattle shop has announced it’s closing. Here’s what we received “on behalf of the Bremen family and the team at Second Gear Sports,” the sports-consignment store at 6529 California SW:

For the past 11 years, you’ve trusted Second Gear Sports to help your great gear find a new home. Our families grew up together. Your kids (and ours!) recycled and replaced what they’d outgrown.

You made our store a community hub, often lingering after the sale to chat with a neighbor you hadn’t seen in a while. You shared your upcoming recreational plans with us. We are proud to have supported countless local schools and organizations. We cherished every partnership and camaraderie with fellow local business owners.

It’s no surprise that the pandemic made recovery hard for many businesses. For outdoor-centric businesses, last winter’s slim snowfall compounded issues. We attempted positive changes in store footprint, product, and price balancing, but this could not offset steeply rising costs in labor and rent. Our inability to negotiate our lease to meet our business needs is the final blow. Hence, we have made the difficult decision to close on August 31.

Second Gear was born after two economic downturns and, as a result, our household endured back-to-back mass layoffs. The West Seattle community helped us hit the ground running, proving the local need for what we had to offer.

When a regular person starts a small business, they have a vision and a dream. When things go well, that vision and dream expand. Rarely does an owner consider the day they might have to close up shop.

We’ve seen a lot of this in West Seattle lately. It’s hard to watch. For every closure, rest assured that owner explored every possibility to press on. They are your people, your neighbors, their kids may know yours. They employed local residents. Keep your mind and heart open for anyone closing a business. It’s a loss.

In the meanwhile, come see us through August. We will hold sales to liquidate inventory. It’s the perfect time to get needed gear for the remainder of summer or early for winter.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says only 35% of small businesses make it this far. All in all, we had an excellent run. We appreciate your support over the years and helping us reach this milestone.

Mark and Ellen Bremen opened Second Gear Sports in September 2013; just half a year later, the shop was honored as Emerging Business of the Year by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

28 Replies to "BIZNOTE: Second Gear Sports to close"

  • Rob August 6, 2024 (9:15 am)

    That’s to bad this store gave some kids a first chance to get to play ball.

  • HTB August 6, 2024 (9:19 am)

    I would honestly love to hear the perspective of a landlord here. I feel like we so many examples where a landlord either cannot or will not renegotiate a lease. I’ve always felt it would be better to have a tenant paying lower rent than having no rent at all, but I’m not in the industry and maybe there are things I’m missing.

    • Seattlite August 6, 2024 (12:10 pm)

      HTB:  The landlord has expenses too…higher property taxes, inflation that affects all building maintenance and repair,  long-term vacancies, landlord’s insurance for property/liability, utilities, marketing rental space, cleaning services, landscaping services, etc.   

      • Mark Schletty August 6, 2024 (12:52 pm)

        Voters— as Seattlite points out property taxes are a major component of landlord expenses that must be passed on to tenants. This also applies to residential properties.  We have two huge increases in property tax levies to vote on, by both the city and the county.  If you don’t want your rent to be raised vote no. 

      • Bbron August 6, 2024 (10:06 pm)

        i have an issue with “higher property taxes” being a reason that rent for this particular location would go up and push out a tenant. And then to have Mark join in to push a message that this is a result of tax levies. we can look up the last few years of taxes this property had to pay: https://payment.kingcounty.gov/Home/Index?app=PropertyTaxes&Search=7625704460 and it’s been consistent at 100k/yr. so if the cost of rent was increased it wouldn’t have been in response to taxation. would rather see what previous tax payments here were than trying to use this as an opportunity to push an anti-tax political message. we need more transparency in why landlords are increasing rents rather than giving them blanket cover to always increase rents by much larger margins whenever additional property taxes are passed; they’re incentivized to misdirect your anger when they’re fully in control.

    • Peter S. August 6, 2024 (1:13 pm)

      @HTB:  Small time landlord here.   I have no insight into this particular situation, and although some landlords are only concerned with squeezing every last dollar out of a property any way they can, most just want a reasonable return on their efforts, comparable to other stable and secure investments.    As Seattlite notes, landlords  are also under inflationary pressure.   My property taxex and insurance have more than doubled in the last ten years.  The cost of necessary maintenance and repairs has risen dramatically since the pandemic.  I personally agree with you that receiving a lower rent and keeping good tenants is far preferable to dealing with vacancies and tenant turnover, but covering the ever increasing costs has to come from somewhere.  Otherwise, this business too, will eventually fail.  

    • New Deal August 6, 2024 (1:19 pm)

      I would like to note that the notice also called out rising labor cost not just higher rents.   It is not only evil landlords causing the closure of local small businesses. 

      • Anne August 6, 2024 (3:17 pm)

        Getting very tired of the “evil landlord” label. Did you  even read the posts from landlords??Every time we approve something that raises property taxes – it raises taxes for landlords (building owners)how do you think they’ll pay those higher taxes – just print money?? Have you had to have a repair done lately? Plumbing, electrical -every kind of maintenance -the costs have gone up- minimum wages have gone up- parts & labor have gone up, insurance has gone up. Everyday folks often scramble to pay these things- – do you  think somehow landlords/ building owners are exempt? Restaurants have to raise prices because wages & the price of food have gone up-it’s the same for some landlords.  

        • Ninja August 6, 2024 (4:12 pm)

          The vast majority of commercial leases are triple net which means the tenant is already paying property taxes on top of their rent. So I don’t quite believe the people saying the levies are driving up their costs; that cost was already passed on to their tenants directly 

        • New Deal August 6, 2024 (5:59 pm)

          Anne:  Perhaps you should re-read my post to understand the sarcasm.   I was calling out the increase in labor costs.  In other words, you and I are responsible for the closure of small businesses not landlords. Rising wages are a large part of the problem.  Sorry to see Second Gear go. 

        • Kyle August 7, 2024 (5:32 am)

          I really don’t have sympathy for folks who make owning property their job when we have a housing crisis. Poor them. 

    • Sameold August 9, 2024 (3:48 pm)

       deja vu is a visit to the past of WSB.  
      The locations the same, the comments the same, blaming greedy landlords, taxes and skyrocketing rents.  
      As Jenn posted in 2012,
      “Why the exodus from Seattle city limits? Taxes? Rent? Combination?”
       https://westseattleblog.com/2012/12/another-west-seattle-to-white-center-move-aarons-bicycle-repair/ 
      The song truly remains the same.

  • Sillygoose August 6, 2024 (9:21 am)

    Ah this is a hard gulp, I traded with Second Gear for many years. They will be greatly missed.

  • r August 6, 2024 (9:22 am)

    TBH had no idea this store existed. Darn.

  • Plf August 6, 2024 (9:46 am)

    This is incredibly sad and a indictment of what has happened to our community and continues to happen thank you for your wonderful shop, spent many hours browsing and shopping. Sincere best wishes Support our family businesses!!

  • momof3boys August 6, 2024 (10:05 am)

    Sorry to see another local business go. My kids were already grown by the time you came to be – but I enjoyed having you in the neighborhood. Best of luck in the future.

  • WS August 6, 2024 (10:10 am)

    What a bummer! I haven’t had a chance to make it in lately, but have always appreciated my finds at Second Gear. I really hope the best for the family moving forward. 

  • Vanessa@CareAtHomeSeattle.com August 6, 2024 (1:55 pm)

    Landlords! How you’t care! Shame on you. You gouge and laugh all the way to the bank.&nbsp
    ;If you all knew the rent amounts on the businesses up and down California Ave. SW, your minds would be blown! 

  • rb August 6, 2024 (2:28 pm)

    Sorry this is happening.  Any chances to move  to a cheaper area?  The Delridge corridor and White Center area have cheaper rent.    

  • WS Guy August 6, 2024 (7:07 pm)

    This really sucks.  And let me add that my teen sons had a heck of a hard time finding jobs this summer.  They gladly would have worked at a cool small shop like this for $12/hr but it’s not allowed.  Instead one has no job (too young I guess) and the other has to drive 25 minutes to work at a grocery for a “living wage” of $19/hr, and he only gets an average of 16 hours per week.

    • Burien resident August 7, 2024 (12:10 pm)

      Any teen that knows how to swim should consider teaching at Evergreen Pool. The manager jumps through all the extra hoops to be able to employ kids as young as 14, and they are always looking for more instructors! The lack of available swim lessons in our area correlates to the lack of available instructors. 

    • k August 9, 2024 (3:10 pm)

      If employers were allowed to pay $12/hour, they would just hire the same people they do now and pay them less, your teenage sons would still have a hard time finding work, and there would be four times as many tents next to the freeway.  

  • Cindi Barker August 6, 2024 (10:27 pm)

    I am so sorry to hear this! Mark was a great person to know, a good hearted person who did a lot to help youth get involved in sports and was a strong supporter of community events.  I wish them well in future endeavors, hopefully they can find a new place that suits their needs and this great small business can come back to life.

  • R Pelander August 6, 2024 (11:16 pm)

    Bremen Family, this must have been such a difficult and painful decision to make.  This is a loss for our community, but is clearly a much more significant loss for your family after a really good, long run. Wishing you the very best as you make this transition into a new chapter.   

  • Not_A_Hater August 7, 2024 (5:36 pm)

    Sorry to see you go.  I appreciated the kind service over the years.  A decade is  a long run as a small business.   Fingers crossed you are able to sprout another successful business near the peninsula.  I will be on the lookout for your White Center Second Hand Sports grand opening.

  • Sarah August 8, 2024 (2:58 pm)

    Sorry to see this, would you consider moving to an online shop?  I know I always wished there were a listing of consigned items available online – maybe I missed that – and I’m sure doing this instead of a storefront would be very different but also lower overhead?  

  • ttt August 8, 2024 (3:17 pm)

    Sorry that this change is happening. Mark and Ellen are great people.

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