Byline: JANET DUNPHY
BY JANET DUNPHY
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
A Pembroke Mall store is sporting a new look in a high-profile location near the new food court.
Memory Lane Sports moved to its 4,400-square-foot spot earlier this month, scoring big with a celebrity opening. The store stocks everything from team ink pens to one-of-a-kind autographs ranging from $1.99 to $3,000.
Pro football was the big draw on Sept. 4. Several hundred fans waited in line over a three-hour period to get autographs from Drew Pearson, a former wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.
Ladonna Sinsabaugh, 36, and Marc Schwartz, 42, both Virginia Beach residents, bought Memory Lane two years ago from its original owner. Each fall they bring a professional athlete to the store to kick off the start of the football season.
'Drew Pearson was a class act,' said Schwartz, joking that he is a Minnesota Vikings-turned-Dallas Cowboys fan. 'He stayed a fourth hour and we finally had to cut the line off.'
Sinsabaugh managed the store for seven years before she and Schwartz bought it. Schwartz had managed Legends, another sports-themed store at the mall, for five years when Sinsabaugh approached him about going into business.
'It was a good opportunity and it took me about 10 seconds to think about it,' said Schwartz.
Sinsabaugh said the business had become stagnant, so there was work to be done.
They nurtured it along, adding more apparel and specialty items such as an expanded line of NASCAR memorabilia. The store is now the largest authorized Reebok dealer in Virginia Beach, she said.
At the new location, bright ceiling lights aim for a stadium feel. Two TVs are mounted in the front of the store and three are in the rear above a row of lockers. 'We wanted a bigger space and when they said 'food court,' we jumped on it,' said Schwartz. 'For a while the mall was dead, but you feel an excitement now. We're seeing people in suits.'
The owners treat their customers as friends, remembering their names and jotting down their preferences and phone numbers in a hardbound black book. They also ship to out-of-town customers.
'Mark and I believe we stay in business by giving our customers good service,' said Sinsabaugh. 'When someone comes in, I know what team they like.'
They have a growing number of female customers, too. Sinsabaugh said women like to buy the football jerseys for themselves and shop for the men in their lives.
Less than a week after the new store opened, Corinne Holste stopped by to look for a Pittsburgh Steelers cap for her husband, Edward.
'This is the only place he can find Steelers stuff,' said Holste. 'They see your face a few times and they know what you're in here for.'
Nancy Nolan shops at memory Lane for New York Yankees and Miami Dolphins items. 'It's very, very nice. I was there the other day picking up some birthday presents,' she said. 'If they don't have what I want, Ladonna gets it.'
* For more details, call Memory Lane Sports, 671-1785.
