Sports Basement

     What’s a large retail store doing in a national park? What Sports Basement does at its 80,000-square-foot store in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park is cater to every need of the outdoors-minded folks who use the park. Just outside its doors, walkers, runners and cyclists stream past on the paths alongside the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge. Quite a few of them stop: for an energy bar, a bike tube or a sporty windbreaker.
     Before the U.S. Army handed over the Presidio to the National Park Service, this building was the base commissary—still evident in the words painted on the walls: “Produce,” “Fish,” Meat.” They compete with other signs: “Bike,” “Run,” “Swim.” How big is the store? Big enough that the bike area alone, which includes rentals and repairs, is much larger than most bike shops—yet without the narrow aisles you’d find in a typical sporting-goods chain store. Big enough to do a 50-meter sprint down one of its wide aisles in the “Feet” section to see how those running shoes feel. Big enough that tents are set up in the backpacking area so you crawl inside to see what they’d be like at Yosemite.
     The merchandise is primarily name brands like North Face, Asics, Saucony and Speedo, but nearly everything is discounted—much of it at 40 to 70 percent off suggested retail. It’s like Ross or Marshalls for the sporting set, with prices appropriately in the bargain-basement realm. Besides the large running, cycling and swim/triathlon sections of the store, there are large team sports, fitness and even active kids’ sections.
     Sticking with the “big” theme, clusters of comfy couches are scattered throughout the store and in the big “Community” corner at the front. It’s in this corner of the Basement—which features a toddler play area, a reading area, a bulletin board spanning two walls and a ping-pong table for anyone to use--that makes the Basement seem more like a hangout than a store. This is where most of its programs meet: a weekly speaker series, beginners’ clinics and slide shows by guidebook authors. It’s also where you can take a CPR or yoga class, or gather for the weekly “fun ride” across the Golden Gate. And it’s all free. There’s even a “Free” table at the exit, where customers leave jackets and equipment they no longer need.
     One more quality sets the Basement apart from national discount sports chains. They don’t hire any employee with a pulse and a clean record. Perks like race-fee reimbursements up to $1,000; free skiing and camping trips; and health insurance for full-timers ensure that the employees helping you know their shoes, bike frames and tents.
     There are three other Sports Basements, one in a former warehouse in the city’s Mission Bay district and the others in Sunnyvale and Walnut Creek, but the Presidio store is the largest and busiest, and in the coolest location.

- by Bob Cooper, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)