Watching Syosset/Woodbury Grow Up

Justin Abbott of Woodbury Sports has always valued a community atmosphere. In his 25-year career working in the Syosset and Woodbury communities, he has seen kids go from birth to years later becoming his employees.

"I started working part time in a pro shop in Canarsie, Brooklyn when I was about 15 years old,"Abbott said. "It was in a health club, so they had racquetball equipment, women's clothing, sneakers..."

The club had roughly 2,000 club members and he enjoyed that close-knit atmosphere. "People would stop in every day, say 'Hello' and buy something... or maybe not buy something," he recalls. "But, it was a nice little community feeling."

Through high school, Abbott worked his way up to store manager, then ran a larger store the same owners opened, also in Brooklyn.

Abbott first attended Kingsborough Community College before going on to Brooklyn College. "I was studying business," he points out, "but I found really the best way to learn business is to be in business."

"So, during college I stayed there part time," he says, "And then they found a little bit bigger store in a little bit nicer neighborhood, which was Active Force Pro Shop at , and we opened that about 20 years ago."

He commuted every day from Brooklyn, going to college in the morning, then coming out to Syosset and working until the store closed at 9:00 p.m. "Those were some long, long days… lots of driving… lots of gas," he sighs, before adding with a grin, "and that was back when it used to snow a lot, so there were some fun rides home."

Although he always took the job seriously, at first Abbott didn't recognize retail sporting goods as a long term career choice."[After college] I was just going to try to get into a corporation... into the business world and work my way up," he notes. "There was no one specific goal... just work hard, and hope the hard work would take me somewhere."

"I never knew [retail sporting goods] would be my career, but it gradually turned into something... it just became who I was."

In fact, his father, who had worked in retail for many years, discouraged the choice. "He did try to talk me out of it," Abbott remembers. "He said 'it's lots of work and lots of hours and nothing is guaranteed.'"

"And all he said is true," he admits, "but I still love it."

Fast forward to six years ago, when Abbott is now partners with his former employers and they are already operating a full-fledged sporting goods store in Mt. Kisco, Westchester.

"That was real sporting goods... our first endeavor into everything," he explains. "We always had a good tennis racquet background, and now we were doing football, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, technical running... lots of good stuff."

"So as my wings started to grow I decided I needed a bigger store in the Syosset area," he continues, "so we actually looked for about two years and we came up with this location."

Abbott says that having built a following in the pro shop in over the previous 18 years gave them the benefit of instant recognition when they opened the current store, Woodbury Sports, at 7965 Jericho Turnpike.

"The day I opened a lot of people who already knew us were coming in," he recalls. "It was a nice way to start, and it gave us confidence that we'd make it."

Abbott carries a full range of sporting goods and works with town leagues and local school districts supplying both uniforms and equipment.

"We have a very good relationship with and Syosset Lacrosse," he notes. "We specialize in tennis equipment and we string racquets for high school teams."

Himself the father of two boys (a 3 1/2-year-old and a six-week-old), Abbott says his greatest enjoyment comes from watching his customers' children grow up over the years.

"It's great... seeing the kids come in at 3 or 4 and just be excited [to be there]... and at 8 or 9 they're talking to you asking questions," he says, "And then by 10 or 11 they're asking me about my child....it's fun to see."

"As a matter of fact, there are kids who were born when I worked [in the pro shop at Sportime] and I knew their fathers, then they came and asked me for jobs when they were 16 or 18 and they came and worked for us," he notes. "It's very cool to see... I never realized I'd enjoy that part so much."

For more information visit www.woodburysports.com