OLEAN — In 1982, Tom and Jason Palumbo bought a sports catalog business called Sport About; they sold sports equipment and team uniforms from their apartment.

Tom, who had a retail background dating back to 1976 — he was a manager at the AM&A’s Budget Store in the Olean Center Mall, then he managed Harold’s Army Navy store on North Union Street — worked at the new business full-time while Jason initially worked part-time.

From those humble beginnings grew a local enterprise — Sports Locker — that today is among the most recognizable businesses in the Greater Olean area with a sales footprint that reaches across New York state, into Pennsylvania and several states beyond.

Sports Locker has been a story of steady growth and a labor of love for the entire Palumbo family for more than four decades, and as Tom embarks on retirement he looks back with fondness on what was built — and he feels deep satisfaction that success will continue under Jason and, eventually, under a “younger generation of leaders now in place.”

“It really has been a family affair since the very beginning,” Palumbo said, recalling how their mother, Elizabeth Palumbo, and grandmother, Gertrude McGinnity, “did the books” for the business from those earliest days. Their father, John Palumbo, built counters that to this day are still in use at the Sport Locker store on West State Street while sisters Suzanne and Mary have worked for decades in the store and in accounting, respectively.

Brother Dan Palumbo, an attorney, provided legal services; sister Kathleen Pachla provided input on retail business management (her husband Steve, an accountant, has helped as well); and sister Ann Buyea helped line up sales connections in the Rochester area.

“Truthfully, all seven of us — my brothers and sisters — helped to build the business to what it is today,” Tom said. “Without everyone in the family we wouldn’t have been able to get to where we are now. … That business that started with me and Jason (in our apartment) now has some 40 full-time employees … and the future looks very bright.”

Palumbo also gave special thanks to his wife, Judy, for her support over the decades.

“She worked in the store in the 1990s — the customers always really enjoyed their conversations with her — and she’s always given me great advice and insight that helped me make decisions,” he said. “She’s always been such a source of strength for me.”

A third generation has been important to Palumbo and the business as well.

He said his oldest of two sons, John, while not directly involved in Sports Locker, “always had good advice on matters involving design ideas and products that he thought were going to be the ‘next big thing.’” Meanwhile, Nick has worked at Sports Locker since he was 15 and now has a prominent role in the business.

LOOKING BACK, Palumbo recalled some of the milestones that reflected important steps on the growth of Sports Locker, not least after that first year when something of a profit made him realize “this could be a viable business.”

By 1984 the Palumbos felt confident that they could manage and maintain a retail store so, in August of that year, Sport About became Sports Locker, opening at 1619 W. State St. After three years they began selling Nike, adidas and Reebok shoes and gear. Meanwhile, in 1989, Jason Palumbo came into the business full-time.

Sports Locker reached $1 million in sales in its eighth year and, after nine years, it joined a national buying group consisting of more than 550 independent sporting goods stores, bringing increased buying and marketing power.

After 10 years, Sports Locker needed more space. In 1994 the Palumbos bought a parcel from Louis Marra and they moved into their current location at 711 W. State. Through the later 1990s and into the 2000s the co-owners added laser engraving and other equipment to increase sales in trophies to go along with screenprinting, embroidery and other services.

While the Covid pandemic hurt business for Sports Locker — as it did so many other businesses — Tom Palumbo said the co-owners made ends meet by making face masks for school districts and businesses.

After Covid, he said younger employees spearheaded Sports Locker’s venture into internet sales while, in 2023, the Palumbos bought a similar sporting goods business in the Rome/Utica area and established a second Sports Locker there, greatly increasing its sales reach into the eastern end of New York.

“A lot of people identify with us through the store in Olean, but today that really only about 10% of our business,” Palumbo said, noting that supplying teams, businesses and organizations with signature sportswear “is our bread and butter.”

CUSTOMERS RANGE from St. Bonaventure and Slippery Rock universities to George Washington University Medical School, while sales are made as far away as New Mexico and Montana. Last summer, celebrating its 40th anniversary, Sports Locker unveiled collaborations with the Buffalo Bills’ Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir on caricature designs for apparel and vehicle decals by area artist Eric Jones.

While Palumbo is retired from Sports Locker, he said he plans on keeping a business hand in through some real estate development ideas in Olean.

“I’ve got some things that will keep me going,” he said, noting he’ll strike a balance by staying involved in projects while allowing for a bit more free time.

“It’s a good time to be taking this step,” he added. “I really feel (Sports Locker) is at a great point right now and it’s going to be in good hands.

“I’d like to say thanks to all our supporters, and in the words of Josh Allen, ‘Be Good, Do Good and God Bless.’”