LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The spring sports season was just starting to ramp up when everything came to a screeching halt in mid-March. The Locker Room, a Lexington sporting goods store, is taking the brunt of it.
If you grew up in Lexington playing sports, or have kids of your own now, you likely know this place.
“We sell uniforms, equipment and apparel to athletes of all ages," The Locker Room owner Bo Milburn said.
The store has what families need from those first years on the soccer or T-ball field, to high school and college athletics.
"The store is separated into a lettering department, where we make uniforms and letter jackets and jerseys. Then we have a full retail side which basically has everything you would need to play those sports," Milburn explained.
The Locker Room opened on Lane Allen Road in 1973. Milburn's grandparents started it.
“My grandma still comes in from time to time, to make sure we’re still doing our job," Milburn said.
They certainly are, as they're still working big accounts like the University of Kentucky Athletics. This year, though, is shaping up to be unlike any other.
"These," Milburn says, pulling out Nike merchandise from a bag, "Are the warm-ups that we made for the men’s basketball team for the NCAA Tournament."
Embroidered with "Kentucky Basketball," the Wildcat logo, and the outline of the state of Kentucky on the back, the warm-ups are ready to go for the tournament that never happened.
Then Milburn shows us a UK Basketball jersey. It was personalized for Coach John Calipari to take to Italy.
"(He) asked us to make a jersey that he could give to the pope," Milburn said.
Stitching on SEC patches, embroidering logos, and printing names on jerseys; this is where it all happens.
"We just got the football jerseys in, which we’re putting the final finishing touches on," says Milburn.
It might be months out, but sports fans are hanging onto hope for football season. While organized sports are at a standstill, Milburn is thankful for the faithful customers.
“We’ve still had customers ordering and picking up items like their letter jackets," Milburn said. "We’re helping people who just pull in and give us a call and we're dropping things off to their car."
The relationship this family-run business has with customers is one Milburn doesn't take for granted.
The Locker Room Sporting Goods store is planning a big sidewalk sale as soon as it's deemed safe to do so.
