The Massapequa Soccer Shop, which has been providing the community with everything soccer for over half a century, is closing its doors on June 30.
“This is like raising a child,” Helen Fishman, co-owner of the store, said. “There’s just a lot of great memories here.”
Fishman said she and her brother Mark Bodenstein, the other co-owner, will retire at the end of the store’s current lease. The family-owned shop was founded in 1973 by their parents, Fay and Gene Bodenstein. The current shop is located at 1004 Park Blvd in Massapequa Park.
The soccer shop is holding a “retirement sale” to get rid of the last of its inventory. Fishman said the store is the “one-stop shop for all your soccer needs” as it sells soccer items for players, coaches, referees, soccer enthusiasts and more.
Store items, with some exceptions, are on sale for 25% off and the store will continue to operate its typical hours until the closing.
The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“It’s time to hang up the cleats right on the door,” Fishman said.
Fishman, the oldest of three, said the store opened when she was 13. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom and a seamstress for the New York Cosmos, a soccer team in the original North American Soccer League.
Fishman said her mother sewed Pele’s first Cosmos shirt when the Brazilian star joined the team, which is now hanging up in the store. Mark and their other brother, Alan, were both ballboys for the team growing up.
“Soccer was our whole life,” Fishman said.
All three kids played soccer growing up. Alan Bodenstein was a member of Hofstra University’s team and Fishman became the first female athletic trainer to travel with the men’s team in school history. Fishman also said she met her husband through the sport.
Fishman’s father worked in Manhattan as the vice president of a construction firm. Her parents got involved in soccer after Fishman’s brother was invited to play for a local team by the son of Cosmos player Gordon Bradley. Gene Bodenstein would bring soccer supplies home with him from Manhattan, and Fay thought it would be a good idea to sell some of the items out of the home.
Fishman said this didn’t last long as one neighbor reported the family business. Fay then was able to get a month-by-month lease which turned into the start of the Massapequa Soccer Shop.
The store was originally called the Massapequa Soccer and Sports Shop, but the name was later shortened when the store moved to its current location in the early 1980s.
Fishman said she is looking forward to living the rest of her life
“All good things must come to an end, and you know what? A good athlete will retire at the top of his or her game,” she said. “We’re at the top of our game.”
