59 Years in Business and Counting
The story of Garretson’s Sport Center began with a phone call. A local sporting goods store reached out to Zeke Garretson, a high school coach at the time, asking if he wanted to buy a business called Bill’s Sporting Goods, located in nearby Sterling, Colorado. Despite the initial objections of his father, who nonetheless loaned him the $5,000 to get started, Zeke began what is now a three-generation business that is still going strong almost 60 years later.
Zeke, 88 years old, has been joined in the family business by his son, Todd, who started working at the store in the ribbon and trophy department when he was 12. Todd has since worked in every department of the store for the last 40 years and runs the day-to-day operations in Greeley store. Todd’s son and Zeke’s grandson, Tyler, joined them in 2009 to continue the family legacy. Tyler started in Team Sales in Colorado before launching the Georgia office in the summer of 2020. The family ties don’t stop with the men in the family, though. Todd’s wife, Cheri, has been a familiar face in the store since 1983, and Tyler’s wife, Morgan, remains active in the business as well. Zeke’s wife, Maurine, was instrumental in the company’s launch in 1965, back when she and Zeke were the only employees in a one-room storefront.
As was typical of many small team dealers in those days, Maurine ran the store while Zeke traveled on the road, calling on local high schools. Garretson’s initial inventory included Converse Chuck Taylor shoes, athletics socks and jocks, t-shirts, baseball bats, gloves, balls, and a few guns in a small display case. “There wasn’t a cash register back then, only a metal cash box. My parents had to fit shoes on the floor,” recalls Todd. “We also sold a bottled cleaner called Swipe to supplement sales.”
As the business grew, Garretson’s moved next door and expanded its inventory to include golf and tennis equipment and more guns. Zeke and Maurine also added decorating capabilities to their list of services.
When 1970 arrived and growth continued, the store relocated again to a two-story, 15,000-squarefoot building and expanded to include cameras and film processing, along with trophies. Within five years of opening, inventory included gear and apparel for all sports. Garretson’s Sport Center reinforced its dominant local position by buying out the only other sporting goods store in town and hiring its store manager along with several employees.
In 1974, with more than 25 employees, Garretson’s moved into a large car dealership building a few blocks away. With this growth came expansion into hunting, fishing, screen printing, engraving and all retail and team sports. A smaller, second store was then opened in Fort Morgan, Colorado.
Fortified by Zeke’s boldness, the business continued to make moves to accommodate and promote growth. In 1983, the Sterling-based store relocated to Greeley, where the main retail hub is still located. 1986 brought another move within the city of Greeley to a three-story older building in the downtown area. Throughout all the changes, Garretson’s operated as a full-line sporting goods store and team dealer. In 1999, Garretson’s made its final move, once again refurbishing and taking over a 25,000-square-foot car dealership building on the growing west side of town.
Today, Garretson’s Sport Center has 26 employees, six of which have been employed for over 25 years, and eight team sales roadmen to call on schools and businesses. The business has expanded into three locations across two states. Inventory now includes gear and equipment for every team sport, as well as hunting, fishing, ski and snowboarding, school spirit wear, golf and tennis. The store offers its own in-house screen printing, embroidery, chenille patches and laser engraving. The main hub in Greeley even has an archery lane, batting cage, ski shop and live bait tank.
“We have had all the big box competitors come and go over the years and have managed to thrive,” Todd declares. The business does so, even with being closing on Sundays. “My grandpa always said, ‘If you can’t make in six days, you can’t make it in seven.’ We know that our employees appreciate that.”
Through it all, Garretson’s has maintained a distinctly family feel, one of the reasons Todd gives for its ability to survive for three generations. “We celebrate every birthday with homemade cakes and singing,” he says. “We play a lot of jokes on each other.”
He also attributes the company’s longevity to the Garretson family’s Christian faith, rooted in Jesus Christ. “We know that He is the reason we have survived this long and that if we are to continue, it’s up to Him,” Todd says. “It doesn’t happen very often to have a third-generation business that makes it past 50 years. We all like sports, selling and competition, and we get along with each other. We are close and enjoy working together.”
Is there a fourth generation waiting in the wings? You can never tell, Todd says. “In a perfect world, Tyler’s son or sons would take over the business,” he says. “We want to keep going as long as it is God’s will for us. This business is in our blood.”