StickStop Fits the Niche for Lacrosse, Field Hockey Players Everywhere

Each week, the Ladue-Frontenac Patch takes a look at another business in the community. Eight years ago, with a huge void to fill, Amanda Wellford and Carolyn Freeman combined their skills to open StickStop in Frontenac. There was no business in St. Louis to serve the needs of the fastest growing sports lacrosse and field hockey.

Wellford has a Ph.D in psychology, with a career in human resources. Freeman sold medical equipment for US Surgical and had a sales career with Xerox Corp. The love of the game, created by their children brought them together for this venture.

Patch: When did you first start your business.

Wellford: We opened April 1, 2004.

Patch: Number of employees:

Wellford: Full time, nobody. Part time, we are up to four. If you count us (the owners) that would be six employees. We set our own hours as owners. We tend to cover most of the day time hours in our off season. In the lacrosse season, we cover almost all of the hours. Our employees are coaches and players and they have to leave at 3 o’clock for their games.

Patch: It must be valuable to have lacrosse and field hockey players on your staff.

Wellford: Actually, it’s a requirement. People come to us because we know what we are doing. That differentiates us from stores that sell all kinds of sports equipment. We hear often, employees elsewhere don’t know the difference between a boys lacrosse stick and a girls one. They will sell the wrong ones. You have to know a lot about this equipment.

This is how how we got into it. I have three children who played. Carolyn has two who play and one who continues through college. I still have a seventh and a ninth grader who play and a 26-year-old who plays in a men’s league. My children play for MICDS.

Freeman: My daughter lives in Minneapolis and is currently moving to Chicago. Lacrosse is part of her life. She started off playing boys lacrosse in middle school. Amanda approached me and I wanted something to do in a field I loved, and somewhere I could grow.

Wellford: Often, a  very athletic girl doesn’t have a team to play on. This is a way to raise their skills. Elena Gresick (Ladue) was just in our store. She was one who literally grew up in our store. I get teary-eyed thinking about her. When she came in eight years ago, she was playing boys ice hockey. It is so great to watch these girls grow up in our store: Elena, Charlotte (Martin), Burroughs; Annie Spewak, Parkway West. We feel parental, we feel successful, we feel joy because we’ve watched them grow. We have nurtured that whole lacrosse and field relationship in this community; we’ve grown it and supported it and its a beautiful and gratifying thing. We do all the not-for-profit lacrosse work. We get more flak, we’re more of a service than an actual for profit-business. Actually, this is our philanthropic work. Sometimes our husbands are questioning that.

Both laughed.

Wellford: It does allow us to do some good in the community, and to make some money at the same time.

That goes back to why we did this. There was no where for kids to go to buy their equipment where the employees knew what they were doing with a lot of options. Most of the buying was on the internet. At first, parents walked in, every day and said ‘thank God you’re here.’

The kids come here, they love the place, they string heads; they like to just hang out. Kids would spend hours in our store. We are considered the lacrosse experts in all facets, and it’s very gratifying. We have a big leather couch where the moms sit and down their work while the kids browse around the store.

Patch: How about your field hockey equipment.

Wellford: We are truly the only store for all the equipment, from little bitty kids to college players. Both sports are becoming year-round. Field hockey really gets going in August and runs through November. Lacrosse really gears up in the spring and they bring in different clients.

Freeman: We sell millions of shin guards. We sell tons of equipment for both sports.

Wellford: But field hockey still remains less than 20 percent of our line. The sport doesn’t require nearly as much equipment as lacrosse. The boys can walk out of here with $400 of required equipment. They wear helmets, shoulder pads and other pads from head to waist. The field hockey kids can get out of here for less than $100.

Store Hours. Right now Stick Stop is in its summer hours:

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sundays. The store is located at 721 Old Frontenac Square. Phone number: 314-991-7999.