By Gail Wood
As a kid growing up in south New Jersey, Kurt Gress would ride his bike at least once a week two miles from his home to a sporting goods store called “Soccer Locker.”
“I’d go just to check it out,” Gress said.
He usually wouldn’t buy anything. He’d just go to look and dream.
“I always had this idea that I’d like to do something like that one day,” Gress said. “It was kind of my dream.”
That childhood dream has become a livelihood. A few years after playing soccer at a small college outside of Philadelphia in the early 1990s, Gress accepted an invitation from a friend to work at a soccer sporting goods store in Olympia that had just opened.
Today, 17 years later, Gress is the sole owner of Wembley Soccer Shop, buying out the original owners. Even as a small store owner, Gress matches the prices of the “big box” stores and also gives customers something the chain stores don’t – personal, on-going service.
“Customer service is a priority,” Gress said. “Because obviously we’re only going to survive if customers continue to shop with us.”
To help ensure that return customer, Gress tries to match the costs of the discount stores and the online offers.
“People might know about us, but they say they aren’t going to go there because they think we aren’t going to have any $20 kids shoes,” Gress said. “Well, we do. People might be more inclined to go shop at a Target or a Wal-Mart or a Big 5 because they think it’s “big box” and it’s going to be cheaper.”
But it’s not.
And Gress knows soccer. Besides a rich soccer background that included trips to Russia to play club teams there, Gress is today deeply immersed in soccer. Not only does he own a soccer sporting goods store, he coaches three teams, U-12 and U-18 Black Hills Football Club teams on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a youth Tumwater Soccer Club team on Wednesdays and Fridays. Then add the duty of being a soccer dad – his 8-year-old son played last summer – and being the vice president of the Tumwater Soccer Club, Gress is involved in soccer nearly 24-7.
Besides coaching soccer and owning a soccer store, Gress and his wife, Amy, also play soccer in local rec leagues.
Even his store’s name is rooted in soccer. Wembley is the name of England’s primary soccer stadium which hosts international championships.
“Soccer has been a big part of my life,” Gress said.
After graduating from Eastern College in Pennsylvania, Gress met James Charette while playing on a U.S. soccer team that played club teams in Russia. When Charette opened Wembley Soccer Shop several years later in 1994, he offered Gress a job at the store. Eventually, Gress bought out Charette and Kathy Hamilton, the other part owner who recently retired.
“James said come and check it out,” Gress said. “So I said okay and I decided to stay.”
The business, Gress said, has grown from a little “hole-in-the-wall” to a store doing over half a million dollars in sales a year, finding a niche in a small but strong soccer community.
“My role when I came here was to grow the business,” Gress said. “James focused on the aspect of coaching. I was the nuts and bolts of the retrial business.”
Gress still coaches with Charette today.
Soccer has been and remains a big part of Gress’ life.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s kind of like a lifestyle kind of thing. Western Washington has a rich, rich soccer history.”
He’s seen a huge growth in soccer since he first came out here in 1994, three years out of college. Gress said summer soccer was it for recreational play.
“Now, it’s grown to year around,” he said. “Kids play a spring season, a summer season and they can play a fall season.”
Helping feed that growth has been the Seattle Sounders.
“The success the Sounders have had has been a big part of it,” Gress said.
Gress is glad he took up on Charette’s offer back in 1994, flying clear across the country to take a job.
“I can’t believe I’ve been here 17 years,” Gress said. “It’s a wonderful place to live. It’s a great bunch of people. The sport is growing. So many more people are playing. It’s been great.”
Wembley Soccer Shop
Store address: 3700 Pacific Avenue, Olympia
Store hours: Open 7 days a week, Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.
Store phone: 459-9660
