BonnerSprings.com

Sports fans in the Bonner Springs area now have a store catering to their tastes in clothing and other merchandise.

The Sports Wearhouse opened last week at 607 E. Front St., and the location serves two functions.

In the front is a retail store selling everything from Boston Red Sox beverage insulators to string bags emblazoned with the logos of Clark Middle School, Bonner Springs High School, Basehor-Linwood High School, Tonganoxie Middle School and Tonganoxie High School, in the schools' colors.

In the rear of the store is a wholesale distribution operation, where employees unpack merchandise from boxes and combine it with other items to ship together to stores around the country.

John Price, who is co-owner of the store along with his wife, Ruby, their son and his wife Dan and Tina Price, and Steve and Todd Housh, said they chose the location because "we wanted to stay in Bonner," after previously running a wholesale-only operation in the location of the former 7-11, across Nettleton Avenue from the McDanield Learning Center.

The multifamily business also owns the Sports Nutz store at Village West Shopping Center.

They've been in the business for five years, and Ruby Price said, "we just kind of stumbled into it."

They were looking for a business to get into, John said, "this one seemed lucrative."

Plus, "we're sports fans," Ruby said.

Most of the sports apparel features the logos and colors of professional baseball and football teams, but there are also college teams represented in the racks and shelves.

The store also sells overstock, name-brand casual clothing at discount prices.

The Prices said their favorite teams are local: the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs and Kansas University basketball.

John said in their line there aren't really any hot items in any given year, only "teams that are hot."

This year, he said, those teams are the Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears.

Besides the paraphernalia for sale, there are a couple of items on display that would interest collectors of memorabilia that has local historical significance. A red-and-white striped Kansas City Monarchs wool baseball hat features the late Buck O'Neil's signature on its brim, and a baseball next to it is adorned with George Brett's signature.

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