2nd Swing Closing Its Doors
Wire reports are indicating that 2nd Swing, a national chain that offered used golf clubs has filed for bankruptcy protection and is shutting all 50 of its stores.
It’s too bad.
There are a couple of 2nd Swing stores here in Michigan, and I enjoyed visiting them. Over the last few years, I have bought and sold quite a bit of stuff there.
There’s no indication about what caused the demise of the franchise, but I have a good idea: competition. There simply are so many places to get used clubs these days that 2nd Swing couldn’t survive.
First and foremost, there’s Ebay. The number of clubs for sale there on a daily basis is simply astounding. There’s also the dedicated online club auction site, Golf Club Exchange. And Yahoo! Auctions, and so on.
The big retailers have also gotten into the act. You can buy and sell used clubs at GolfSmith, for example. Callaway Golf maintains its own used Callaway outlet (I have been sorely tempted there).
And local pro shops also have gotten into the act. Just a few years ago, the selection of used clubs at my local shops was slim, at best. Today, many carry a very good selection.
Given all of this, it’s no wonder a specialty used club outlet couldn’t survive. None of the used clubs outlets listed above depend on the used market as their primary income. And that gives them a tremendous one-up on 2nd Swing.
In retrospect, I guess a careful observer could have seen it coming. Over the last year or so, my local 2nd Swing had added a lot more new clubs, balls, gloves and the like. I’m sure they knew that the used club market was slipping away from them.
Another thing that I’ve noticed disappearing are local custom clubfitters. There were two storefronts locally who offered fitted clubs using components from Golfsmith, Hireko and other manufacturers. Both have gone under. I’m guessing that competition from lower priced online retailers such as GigaGolf did them in.
But I’m not complaining about any of this. I’m a big believer in free markets. Manufacturers and retailers must innovate to survive, because consumers are always going to go where the price and quality are best. And right now, that’s the internet. I don’t recall seeing any major push by 2nd Swing to establish an online brand. Looking at their website, it appears that they have an EBay store, but that’s not much of an effort.
I’m just glad that I used up all of my 2nd Swing store credit last spring.
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I was disappointed in the 2nd Swing here. Last year as I was looking for Callaway Great Big Bertha 3W, 5W, and 7W, I checked out 2nd Swing. Their prices were usually higher than Callaway pre-owned.
Since TN sales tax is 9.25%, and I can usually find a way to get the shipping waved, Callaway is usually a lot cheaper than any other place (if you are looking for Callaway equipment).
That is not to say I am not sorry to see 2ns Swing go—I am, it is always better to have more options than less.
Posted by martin on 09/26
I am sorry to see them go. I have gotten some really good deals and it was a great place to go and hit different clubs during lunch.
When I stopped in today, I found out that what is really happening is a mini Enron. They had a sale pending and someone decided to get fat before the sale. The warehouse was pilfered for over $650k and the books were cooked. Buyer backed out when they ran an inventory.
Posted by OhioDave on 09/28
@Ohio Dave:
Now that’s interesting information. And it doesn’t surprise me. When I went into the local store, the same employees were running the closeout sale as ran the store. They were (justifiably) a grumpy bunch. These guys are honest, but I can see where an angry employee might decide to create his own golden parachute with inventory.
In many national closeouts, the regular employees are immediately laid off, and closout employees hired so just that sort of thing does not happen.
Posted by The Golf Blogger on 09/28
I didn’t hear about 2nd Swing closing until too late to use a credit from returning a club. Is there any hope of receiving anything as an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy action? It seems that with little notice they’ve walked away from significant obligations to former customers
Posted by Marty on 10/16
I’m not sure how you would handle that. I know that they are honoring gift certificates at the store I go to but not at the discount prices. They will honor them at the prices marked which are pretty good in most cases.
Posted by OhioDave on 10/16
Its simple why 2nd swing went out of business. I have done business with 2nd swing for several years and trading in used beat up northwestern, dunlop, etc. golf clubs for brand new Scotty Cameron putters, vokey wedges, etc. The person or persons running 2nd swing had no idea how to run or operate golf business. They shot shot themselfs in the foot, but im sure going to miss trading in my junk clubs for brand new ones.
Posted by TC on 11/16
As a former sales manager of a 2nd Swing, I can’t begin to tell you how many things were screwed up with this company, all I can say is fraud, fraud, and more fraud from the very beginning. Being a private company, fraud is easy to get away with because you have no one to answer to, a few people got away with a lot of very bad things. I don’t even know where to begin, but the whole deal with Gart and the warehous inventory being off by 650K was just the icing on the cake. Remember, when Gart saw how off the inventory was at the warehouse, under the US bankruptcy law, they had to pay 2nd swing 500K to back out of the deal they already had. 2nd swing gets a nice fat check, they’re 500K less in debt, and they sell to the liquidation company (who were on call). everything that happened with 2nd swing was planned WAY ahead of time! Trust me
Posted by J on 12/23
Just responding to previous comments. Yes we were a grumpy bunch! We had the same stupid questions over and over again “why are you guys going out of business?”, “when’s the last day”, “when’s the discount gonna go lower?”, “oh, c’mon, you can’t give me that for 50% off?”.....NON STOP, all day everyday for a full 6 weeks, and it got really old really quick! We all lost our jobs, and all we got out of it was a whopping $750 retention pay. Since then I’ve found a better job outside of the golf industry so I’m not that bitter about it. It was a very very good job while we were still in normal operation, and the payrate in relation to the actual amount of work was the best you’d ever find. Getting back to the story, the liquidation company we had was HORRIBLE, so it seemed to be a perfect fit with 2nd swing. There were no cameras, the guys from the liq company were never around, and when they were around, they didn’t really care what was going on. I would imagine the amount of theft during that period had to be astronomical. Without making this any longer, to put it very bluntly, 2nd Swing really was, as someone else put it, a mini-Enron, and no one will ever know about it.
Posted by J on 12/23
It looks like another company called Golf Stix has bought the naming and domain names from 2nd Swing. I guess they are going to open 2 new stores in Minnesota. I guess they are an underdog; however, if they have the right inventory at the right price, I will shop there again.
Sarah
Posted by Sarah on 03/15
Check this out! http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1068633.html
They are back! I for one am glad they are going to be in the Minneapolis market. I used to buy all of my clubs there. They really knew their stuff and really cared about me as a customer. I always received a good trade-in price and a very fair retail price. Sounds like the original owner from back in the “good old days” is behind the “new” 2nd Swing…SWEET!!!!
Posted by EZE on 03/21
Does anyone know what you can do if you have store credits. I have 2 gift cards that are worth $100. Do I need to file a claim through the bankruptcy court? Will this ever really get me anything? Does anyone know how you do this?
Thanks.
Posted by Sue Griffin on 03/31
Sue, this is only about 8 months late, so just in case you ever see this. I posted the above comments as a former manager for a 2nd Swing store. They owe BoA so much money that they can’t even pay back their vendors, who combined they owe even more money than BoA. All money raised from the liquidation was for the sole purpose of paying payroll for the remaining weeks, and to pay back on loans. Basically, you’re gift cards are worth the market value of plastic. Sucks, I know!
Posted by J on 11/20
These crooks took my trade-in for credit then filed for bankruptcy, leaving me high & dry. Screw them.
Posted by mike cleland on 02/11
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