EVERETT — When customers walked into H&L Sports store in downtown Everett in recent years, some expressed confusion. Amid the racks of merchandise, there often were boxes full of inventory stacked in plain view.
“People kept asking us over the years if we were having a moving sale,” said Lindsay Diamond, who’s been with H&L for 33 years and heads up the company’s outside school sales.
The truth is the business, which is in its seventh decade, was getting too big for its space. In addition to its retail storefront on Colby Avenue, H&L also leased space in two other buildings downtown, one for storage and one to house the business’ screen-printing operation.
Earlier this year, H&L finally consolidated into a spacious warehouse just below Pacific Avenue and a short walk away from Everett Station.
The family-owned business has continued thriving by adjusting with its focus with the times, said Mike Rucker, who co-owns H&L with his father, Bill Rucker.
H&L, named after founders Hutchinson &Lervick, operated for years in downtown Everett as a general sporting goods store. After the Rucker family took over 30 years ago, the business was driven by retail sales. To that end, H&L opened stores in malls around the region, including in Everett Mall and Bellevue Square. The business put a big emphasis at that time on sports shoes.
The rise of national chains such as Foot Locker and, later, big-box chains such as Sports Authority, meant another change for H&L.
“We totally changed gears, ” said Bill Rucker, 43, who joined the business about 20 years ago.
H&L always had worked with schools and teams to provide their uniforms and related equipment, but that aspect of the business became the new focus.
With that focus, along with running five SoccerWest stores in Snohomish and King counties that cater to soccer players, H&L has hit a new stride.
Most of the high schools in Snohomish County order uniforms from H&L, which also tries to serve student athletes’ needs for other equipment and athletic clothing. The business’ warehouse this time of year is full of jerseys for fall high school sports and shirts ordered for middle school physical education classes.
H&L also sells to organizations such as the Boys &Girls Clubs, the YMCA and municipal parks and recreation departments. The company also sells corporate sportswear and letter jackets.
Because much of the action at H&L’s 34,000-square-foot headquarters now takes place in the warehouse and backrooms, the sales area in the front of the building is relatively spare. And there are no boxes stacked up.
“We view this as a showroom more than a store,” Rucker said.
Instead of using a big store, H&L does business mostly by going out to the coaches and athletes of high school teams and other sports leagues. In a business where everyone competes at about the same level in terms of price, that service is a competitive edge.
“We go out talking to the coaches all the time,” Rucker said. “About 90 percent of the people coming through the front door are on a first-name basis with us.”
Diamond said it helps that most of the employees at H&L are alums of local high schools and know their sales areas well. He began working for Bill Rucker not long after graduating from Everett High School, for example.
Rucker, who played basketball and football and ran track in high school, said he actively tried to get away from Everett after high school. Now, however, he seems happy to be the second generation of the same family to run H&L.
“I kind of always knew I wanted to come back and be a part of it,” he said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
H&L Sports
Location: 3102 Smith Ave. in Everett, plus SoccerWest stores in Lynnwood and King County
Owners: Bill and Mike Rucker
Employees: About 75
Founded: 1940
Web site: www.handlsports.com
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