Mike Thomson points to a sign on a nearby wall.

“Recycling before it was even cool.”

It’s a motto his family has lived by for 30 years.

“We try to keep as much out of the landfill as possible,” said Mike, the manager of Rapid City’s Play It Again Sports, as he prepared for another season change in equipment.

The Thomson family has spent three decades giving new life to the community’s used sporting goods.

Mike’s father Jim opened the Lacrosse Street specialty sporting goods store in 1993, a year after the Minnesota company started to franchise. “We are by far one of the oldest stores. I just went to a tradeshow in Phoenix and most of the stores were 10 years old or younger.”

The family’s adventure in sports started in the late 1980s when they moved from their home north of Pierre to Rapid City. Jim asked his sons their thoughts on business ideas. “I said we should start a sporting goods store and the was the end of it. He did it,” Mike said.

The family’s longevity in Rapid City has to do with their passion for sports, customer service and being family-owned. Jim Thomson is at the store nearly every day and up until two years ago his 75-year-old mother Sharon was working on the sales floor. Mike’s 16-year-old son is also a Play It Again Sports employee.

Each store is individually owned and a reflection of the community, Mike said. “Our store is really into fitness and golf where some stores have no fitness or golf.”

While the focus is on recycling sports equipment, they often must supplement the store with new goods. “The problem is the used equipment sells so well you can’t keep the inventory up. “You can’t get everything you want used because you rely on what the community brings in, so we have to replenish with new,” Mike said pointing to a Top 10 List of items they need for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.

Some new equipment, however, can only be found at Play It Again Sports, giving the small business an advantage over big chain stores. Certain companies like Easton, Spirit, and Horizon, supply the specialty store with items and colors that are not available anywhere else.  “We are a locally owned small store with that has big store ties and some awesome buying power,” Mike said.

The family looks for equipment in good condition with current technology but goes a step further in reducing waste and serving the community. When golf clubs come into the store that are too old to sell, they are collected and donated to youth and veteran programs.

The family started donating golf clubs years ago giving them to Ray High Eagle for his at-risk youth program on the Pine Ride Reservation. When Ray passed away, the family wanted to continue its service and partnered with John Jambor, a local PGA professional, who started a program to teach golf to youth and veterans. “The first time I filled the back of his pickup with bags and clubs and now in the summer he comes in every Wednesday,” Mike said. “The golf clubs still work great they are just not the technology that avid golfers are looking for. It not only gets veterans into golf but supplies them with free equipment and keeps the clubs out of the landfill.”

Play It Again Sports also buys old skis that would be thrown out, takes the bindings off and sells the blanks to people to put under their ice houses or as material for a sled. Treadmills that no longer work can be left at the store where metal recyclers will take them to Pacific Steel and Recycling.

“We really do try to reduce as much waste as possible,” Mike said.