THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409270135
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
BY LORI A. DENNEY STAFF WRITER T HEY OWNED a lucrative clothing store that grossed hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. But Tyree and Audrey Brown gave it up for a career in sports - sporting goods, that is.
The Browns are in the process of selling their downtown Norfolk business - Liberal Clothiers - so that they can put all their energies into their new business - The Jock Shop, a sporting goods store in the Great Neck Shoppes.
``Actually we considered keeping both,'' said Tyree Brown, 36. ``But there were a lot of memories there . . .'' For eight years, Audrey Brown worked as the clothing buyer at the store, which was owned by her father, Saul Glass, who passed away two years ago.
Glass had worked at the store for 30 years, starting as a salesman, before he bought the business eight years ago.
For Audrey Brown, an only child and very close to her father, the memories in the store were just too much.
``It was hard. Dad and I were really close,'' said Audrey Brown, 35. ``I just wanted to let it go.''
The Browns owned and operated the store themselves for two years - Audrey Brown continued as the buyer and Tyree Brown as the general manager.
That is, until Tyree Brown saw an advertisement that The Jock Shop was for sale.
``We were frequent customers,'' said Tyree Brown, a Beach native who is a volunteer baseball coach at Cox High School and Great Neck Middle School. ``And something like this is what I always wanted to do. With the kids, I spend so much time with sports.''
The couple, who also live in the Great Neck area, bought the 17-year-old sporting goods store in April. They're still negotiating the sale of Liberal Clothiers to a cousin.
``Although it's about half the size, it's more interesting, more laid-back and closer to home,'' said Tyree Brown, comparing the new shop to the old store.
``Tyree's dream was to own a sporting goods store,'' said Audrey Brown, a Chesapeake native. ``I think my dad would go along with everything we've done.''
The shop offers an abundance of sporting goods from gloves, bats and balls, to sport socks, shoes and equipment. About 40 percent of their business is retail, the other 60 percent is from team uniform sales.
The business also offers a service ironing on jersey numbers for $1 apiece. Eventually, the couple wants to add equipment so they can screen print T-shirts in the store.
Currently, the Browns are the only employees. Tyree Brown works at the store most of the day. When Audrey Brown gets off from her job as a physical education assistant at John B. Dey Elementary School, she comes to take over.
``I just want to be comfortable and provide for my family and enjoy life,'' said Tyree Brown, a former Virginia Beach magistrate for 10 years. ``Money's not that important.
``It would have been very different to start new,'' he said. ``This store, the name, has a good reputation and money-wise it's much easier to buy an established business with a good name.''
The Jock Shop's original owners were in operation for 17 years. The Browns didn't change much about the business, except to add a few sports mementos and posters on the store's walls and to expand the retail end of the business.
``And it looks like we were right,'' said Brown, who is a field director for youth baseball and the president of the Tidewater Drillers, an AAU baseball organization that fields teams in a number of age categories. ``Retail has done real well.''
In the meantime, the Browns, including their two sons, ages 11 and 13, are living their dream - running their sporting goods store and in between playing basketball, baseball, football and a little tennis. MEMO: The Jock Shop's number is 481-3999. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
Audrey and Tyree Brown are putting their energy into The Jock Shop,
a sporting goods store in the Great Neck Shoppes.
The Browns stock a large selection of athletic footwear at The Jock
Shop.
by CNB