Matt Brady and his business partner, Jeff Maurice, spent a year studying the marketplace and local demographics before launching the Golf USA franchise in Lacey, Wash.
Brady said they learned Washington was the only state in 2008 to show an increase in the number of rounds played. They opened their store in a three-city area (Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater) that has only one other dedicated golf retailer, and that one – The Golf Club Company – concentrates less on name-brand equipment and more on custom-building sets from component manufacturers.
“This market has huge potential,” said Brady, an Olympia native.
The partners also looked hard at the potential for an Irish bar. Prospects looked better for the golf store, but the pub idea, fueled by memories of the late lamented Niblicks and Spoons out Yelm Highway, has never really gone away.
“I would have loved to have both,” Brady said, “right next to each other.”
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