“I’ve always been into sports since I went to high school at Korah,” said Matti Tucker, owner/operator of Four Seasons Sports, speaking to SooToday.
“I played all the sports there, like basketball, football, track, then I played for the Sault Steelers in 1996 up to five years ago, played football at Carleton University, all my buddies played football. That’s what we did,” said Tucker, who now plays recreational hockey.
Tucker, Four Seasons Sports sole owner and operator, purchased the business in October 1999. It had already been situated in its familiar location beside Scotiabank in Station Mall, originally known as Four Seasons Sports and Collectibles, since 1988.
SooToday visited Tucker and dropped off a couple of SooToday mugs at Four Seasons Sports, the subject of this week’s Mid-Week Mugging.
“Four Seasons specialty is personalizing pro sports jerseys. Basically you come in, I can do it within an hour,” Tucker said.
“If somebody wants their name on the back of a jersey or a number, I can do it pretty quick instead of having to send them away.”
Four Seasons stocks NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball jerseys, along with caps, hockey cards, flags, key chains, lanyards, mugs and other pro sports merchandise, along with autographed photos of NHL greats such as Sidney Crosby and P.K. Subban, as well as legends like Henri Richard, Gordie Howe and Dave Keon.
“We also sell soccer jerseys at World Cup time. When Italy won in 2006, that was a great week for business,” Tucker chuckled.
Four Seasons merchandise appeals to all ages.
“It’s mixed. We have 10-year-old kids buying hockey cards or hats, and I get grandparents coming in to buy for their grandsons. It’s eight years old to 80,” Tucker said.
“Leafs jerseys are the number one sellers, Montreal’s number two, then it’s Boston, Detroit, basically your Original Six,” said Tucker, who good-naturedly bucked that trend and posed to have his photo taken with an Edmonton Oilers jersey.
Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings jerseys were big sellers for a while, but that was more of a trend, Tucker said.
One can also still order hats (but not jerseys) for old NHL teams such as the Quebec Nordiques or Hartford Whalers.
Soo Greyhounds jerseys and caps, of course, also sell well at Four Seasons Sports, with Tucker adding he can specially order many (but not all) sports wear items a customer could want.
“I know my sports pretty well, and I’ve been in the business a long time. Before I owned this store I was at Athlete’s World for a few years…I can relate to all ages and enjoy talking to people. I enjoy this, I’m a people person and I’ve been in the Sault since Grade 8. It’s a great town.”
“Come on down to Four Seasons. If you haven’t been in before, check it out,” Tucker said, inviting people to drop by, chat and shop.
Four Seasons Sports is open from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Station Mall, 293 Bay Street.
The store can be reached at (705) 945-9679. You can also check it out on Facebook.