Sports Basement

In 1998 we rolled open our warehouse doors for the first time. There were no balloons, confetti, or grand opening ceremonies. In fact, there were no customers that December morning in San Francisco, just a little fog rolling atop the Bay. But word spread quickly that there was a new kid on the outskirts of town selling performance sports gear at outlet prices and offering great service, to boot. Since we do little to no traditional marketing, the word-of-mouth referrals of happy customers pleased as pie by their latest Sports Basement score have been at the heart of our growth.

Today, we carry many more brands and fill out a lot more square footage, 40,000 sq. ft. in fact. But our excitement every time a customer comes through the door and says, "So THIS is Sports Basement ? it's HUGE!" hasn't changed. Neither have the hand-made clothing racks, wooden crates full of "Crate Deals," or rapid temperature fluctuations thanks to our tin roof.

Save 30-60% off sports apparel, gear and accessories!

The runners, swimmers, backpackers, fitness fans, and wacky triathletes who shop with us come for great prices. Many know that our prices are low because we buy overstock and excess inventory from quality manufacturers and pass along the savings. They also know that our store is their store, so they come to hold monthly club meetings, to host potlucks, to start a workout from our front doors or to pick up some tips at a speaker series event.

While our online customers can't sink into a couch in the Community area with a latte like the locals, we try our darndest to give these customers the same personalized service and great value they could find in our warehouse. Our Web fulfillment area is housed right in our store, so our customer from Kansas (you know who you are) gets the same deal as the one from Corte Madera, right across the Golden Gate Bridge. And if there's a tough question about running shoes, we can always jog over and ask Running Shoe department manager and marathon runner Peter for some advice.

Save 30-60% off sports apparel, gear and accessories!