Last year, the owner of a Colorado sportswear store decided to stop selling Nike products because Nike made anti-American protester Colin Kaepernick the face of their ad campaign. However, the store is now closing its doors after a sharp drop in profits.
In September, Prime Time Sports owner Stephen Martin decided to ban Nike products from his Colorado Springs store after the sportswear giant went all in to support former San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick by featuring him on its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” ad campaign.
Even then, Martin noted that he would probably not survive without selling Nike products, but noted it was about the principle of the matter.
Sure enough, Martin is now announcing that he is closing his doors, according to Yahoo News.
Martin told the media that he “just can’t keep the doors open anymore” since he stopped stocking Nike products.
There was no boycott of his store or any organized resistance to his stand against Nike, but a sportswear store that has no Nike products seriously limits its sales potential. Indeed, the shop owner again admitted that refusing to sell Nike products was not a good long-term plan.
“Being a sports store without Nike is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas,” he said.
Martin also surmised that it seemed that his stand on principle was a lonely one.
“As much as I hate to admit this, perhaps there are more Brandon Marshall and Colin Kaepernick supporters out there than I realized,” Martin lamented.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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