Sports Connection closing

PERKINS TWP. — Sports Connection in the Sandusky Mall will close its doors in June as the owner looks to retire. Wendy Akagi Dalton has owned and operated the sports apparel store for 20 years. "2020 feels like the right time to retire," Akagi Dalton said. "I've been doing this in the local area for 20 years. I've been at Midway Mall, Crocker Park and for the last 13 years at the Sandusky Mall." Akagi Dalton said the store — which is located across from Books-A-Million in the main mall complex — would likely close at the end of June. Joe Bell, a spokesman for the mall's owner Cafaro Co., said the retail center hoped she would try to get another season out, but she decided to retire at the end of her lease with the mall on June 30. "The Sandusky Mall has been great to me and wouldn't rule out opening another business here someday," Akagi Dalton said. She added that her decision to retire wasn't directly related to the financial hardships that many small businesses now face due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She based her decision, instead, on the difficulties facing small business owners in the sports apparel industry. "Retail is hard enough, but it's almost impossible to be an independent store owner in the sports industry anymore," Akagi Dalton said. "That's the main reason I'm retiring." Online retailers, like Fanatics, draw a lot of business away from brick-and-mortar stores. The minimum number of orders needed by most licensing apparel companies make it difficult for small stores to stock their shelves. "I used to buy with a group of other sports store owners to meet the minimums, but they all went out of business," Akagi Dalton said. "I don't have the buying power to run the business the way I would want it run."