YouTube/Nike
Colin Kaepernick’s starring role in Nike’s “Just Do It” commercial that was released last year ended up getting a lot of attention, and was something that helped the brand actually sell more since the ads’ release — even though some people were seen burning Nike gear as a reaction. Regardless of what side of the political spectrum you’re on or what your personal opinion about Kaepernick is, it seems that everyone needed to take a side in reacting to the commercial, either being for or against Nike for featuring the former NFL quarterback.
One guy who went against Nike was a local sports store owner in Colorado named Stephen Martin, who decided that he would boycott the brand for putting Colin Kaepernick in the ad, meaning he’d slash prices on all the Swoosh’s gear he had in the store until it was bought up and gone. Seems like an interesting idea, but not necessarily the smartest business strategy.
That’s because the decision by Martin to rid himself of Nike backfired horribly, forcing him to shut the doors to his sports store business, Prime Time Sports, for good, because the demand for Nike gear is still pretty high. According to KOAA.com, Prime Time Sports’ move to stop selling Nike was a huge factor in lower sales, which led to less money to pay rent. So the shop has to shut down after being open for 20 years.
Per the KOAA piece, via FTW.USAToday:
“Being a sports store without Nike is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas. How do you do it? They have a monopoly on jerseys,” said Martin.
Martin says he’s the only full service, licensed fan shop between Castle Rock and the New Mexico border. Despite having all 32 NFL team’s apparel in his store, he doesn’t have any current players’ jerseys–because of his decision to drop all Nike apparel.
At least Martin sees the impact that Nike has on the sports apparel industry now; which is shocking AF considering he ran a sports apparel store for two decades. But, hey, it’s a little to late for him and his store to recover.
Martin’s Prime Time Sports was also the same sports apparel store who cancelled an autograph signing with another NFL player a couple years ago, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, because, like Colin Kaepernick, Marshall knelt during the national anthem. With his store forced to close for good, it’s at this moment that Stephen Martin came to a pretty hilarious revelation.
“As much as I hate to admit this, perhaps there are more Brandon Marshall and Colin Kaepernick supporters out there than I realized,” said Martin.
The move to stop selling Nike over Colin Kaepernick’s involvement in a commercial might not be this dude’s biggest regret, but, damn, it’s one that he probably would have wished someone advised him against doing. This, kids, is called being dumb at business.