By Ken Mammarella
Part of the reason that Al’s Sporting Goods has been in business for 90 years in downtown Wilmington is the long-term devotion of employees.
There’s owner Bob Hart (56 years and counting), whose father Stan (77 years) and partner Izzy Weiner bought the store in 1967 from founder Al Kristol. In 1984, Bob Hart bought Weiner’s share.Then there are Ed Knapper (48 years before retiring) and John Anselmi (40 years before retiring).
“It’s like family,” Sue Kovalevich (32 years so far) says, using “family” four more times to describe the atmosphere among her co-workers at the store.
Steve Erdman grew up with Hart, worked there in the 1970s and recently returned. “I love the place,” he says. “It’s a great family-owned business.”
In fact, Hart says the low point during his tenure has been losing employees to retirement — not, surprisingly, the protest following the 2020 killing of George Floyd that degenerated into looting. At Al’s, $500,000 in inventory was stolen, he says, and it took almost two months of work to reopen.
Al’s began in 1935 as a pawn shop called Al’s Loan Office, and in the 1950s it expanded into sportswear. It has occupied various buildings around Second and Market streets, and today it prominently stands at the corner, on two floors totaling 17,000 square feet.
That expansion and other additions are another reason for Al’s longevity. “If people wanted it, we started to carry it,” he says. And there’s power in diversification. “If one area goes down, we have another area to pick up,” says Hart, who earned a marketing degree at George Washington University.
Al’s today operates in these areas:
- Sportswear, equipment for most sports, shoes (more than 700 models, it says online at AlsSportingGoods.net/aboutals) and related accessories, like sunglasses. Sneakers are Al’s No. 1 item, Hart says.
- Customization of clothing, trophies and related items via embroidery, engraving, screen printing, sublimation (printing where heated ink bonds with material) and transfer.
- Supplying teams with attire and other items, including 20 Little Leagues; high schools in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; and Delaware State University and Wilmington University.
- The pawn shop, handling only jewelry, gold and diamonds. That contrasts with photos from 1946 on the store’s website, referring to or showing watches, guns, racquets and guitars. Today, 95 percent of the pawn business comes from repeat customers, he says.
Al’s 18 employees work out of a warren of spaces, often with specialized equipment like a glove steamer. Hart’s own office includes lots of memorabilia (such as tickets to the 2008 World Series and photos with athletes) and even more stuff needed to keep the operation running (such as catalogs and boxes of limited-edition Jordan Retros).
In his little time away from Al’s, Hart enjoys taking his Sea Ray out for a relaxing anchorage out in Chesapeake Bay or as a memorable ride to dine at Schaefer’s Canal House or the Chesapeake Inn.
Regular customer Tom Bateman says Al’s is “the best sporting goods store,” and he’s been to many, as far away as Costa Rica. “It’s a great place,” he says, while wearing a Bobby Orr jersey he bought at Al’s. “It has everything.”
Al’s also supports the community, says Tremaine Johnson, founder of Build a Legacy Educational Athletics. Hart sold shoes and socks to the nonprofit at a deep discount. “He takes care of the kids,” Johnson says.
Above: Al’s Sporting Goods owner Bob Hart in his iconic Market Street (Wilm.) sporting goods store. Photo by Justin Heyes.
A Delaware native, Ken Mammarella was 18 when he was first paid as a freelance writer, and since then he’s written extensively about the interesting people, places and issues of Delaware and nearby areas. He also teaches at Wilmington University. For fun, he enjoys watching theater and creating it, playing board games and solving crosswords in ink.