Spalding sports shop to close after 20 years
A Spalding shop indispensable to bowlers, cricketers, darts and snooker players is to close this summer.
D & M Sports Ltd in Vine Street, named after co-owners David Broadhurst and Margaret Howes, is due to sell its last item in July after 20 years’ trading.
Starting out as specialist lawn bowls retailer “Bowled Over” in 2008, the shop has served a generation of customers with sports clothing and equipment.
David said: “I always told myself that when I was 65, I’d retire because running your own business is a seven-day-a-week thing.
“The aim is to get things closed off before the end of July, although there’ll be a bit of residual stock to sell over the internet.”
Bowled Over was based in The Crescent until 2003 when the shop moved to Vine Street and Margaret joined the business as a partner, along with her husband Robin.
I always told myself that when I was 65, I’d retire because running your own business is a seven-day-a-week thing
David said: “Things were becoming more internet-driven then and we also found that people were parking in Vine Street, but walking past our shop and straight into town.
“So four years ago, I approached Margaret and said ‘There’s a unit next to Vine Street car park and I’d really like to put the sports shop there’”.
Margaret said: “I had a word with my husband and he said ‘We’ll go into partnership with David if he wants”.
“David and me have worked together, in the shop and elsewhere, for 27 years and we’ve both picked up a range of knowledge about sports from people who have spent a lot of time explaining the rules to us.”
D & M Sports was featured four years ago in the Spalding Guardian’s “Shop Local, Eat Local, Play Local” campaign which supported independent retailers in Crowland, Holbeach, Long Sutton and Spalding.
David said: “We’ve got quite a lot of special customers, some local and some on the internet, who have become friends and some people have come in and said: we’re sorry you’re closing, where do we go now?’”
