USC apparel?
Yes.
Water polo caps?
Yes.
Scuba gear?
Yes.
In fact, the scuba section, along with a number of other sections, will enjoy a much larger space as the new Sport Chalet will host its own pool and certification lessons for scuba customers.
Sport Chalet will also hold free introductory scuba lessons at their on-site training pool this Saturday and Sunday.
Another beneficiary is the rental section, which will finally be within the main store.
The store is now about efficiency. Thanks to moveable carpet squares and easy-to-dissemble display stands, whole sections will be able to move with great ease and items that used to have to be lugged upstairs by two employees can now be lifted with elevators.
Essentially, the transition from summer to winter will be made in hours instead of days.
Levra pointed out that the new store, which is a prototype design, is the proud work of a certain Olberz.
“This is the culmination of 33 years of work by our company’s founder, Norbert Olberz, and his family,” Levra said, “and we are all proud and excited this day has arrived.”
Norbert Olberz, the founder of Sport Chalet, set up the original facility on Foothill Boulevard in 1959. That one facilty expanded into an empire of 53 stores, spanning as far as Utah.
Most of these are now the 42,000 sq. ft. mega-stores, called “prototype stores.”
Prototype stores are all designed the same way on the inside, to create familiarity and to ensure that the stores are designed the way corporate wants them.
The idea behind creating the new La Cañada store was to have a prototype store close to the corporate office (in this case, it’s literally 100 feet away). Now, Vice President Tim Anderson and store designer Mary Falcon won’t have to drive the 62 miles to the formerly closest prototype.
