Pure Hockey store in Mayfield Heights, Ohio to participate

The lights are back on at the former Danny Vegh Home Entertainment store in Mayfield Heights after Boston-based retail chain Pure Hockey leased it for the company’s first Ohio store.

Pure Hockey, as the name suggests, is dedicated to a wide range of hockey equipment and supplies, from skates and sticks to uniforms.

The company has leased about 7,000 square feet at the former Danny Vegh store, 6505 Mayfield Road, according to a listing on the online construction information site Construction Journal.

According to the Mayfield Heights Building Department, Pure Hockey has also received permission to renovate the facility.

The company has more than 60 stores and two online shopping websites. It was launched in 2002 when principals David Nectow and Sal Tiano bought three sporting goods stores. Pure Hockey has three stores in Pittsburgh, as well as stores in Novi and Troy, Michigan, near Detroit.

When Pure Hockey opens, the Mayfield Heights building will be much different than when Danny Vegh closed in 2018.

Michael Occhionero, vice president of Hanna Commercial, said the building is now owned by a subsidiary of My SALON Suite, which rents individual workstations to hairdressers. The company replaced the mezzanine floor of the Danny Vegh building with a second floor with salon suites.

However, Occhionero refused to comment on Pure Hockey’s position as a possible occupant of the building.

Nectow, Pure Hockey’s chief operating officer, did not return three calls from Crain’s Cleveland Business as of 4:40 p.m. Thursday, May 25. Pure Hockey also did not return three emails to its company website or its marketing department’s email address. time.

The Cleveland-Akron market is served by several small hockey stores, including some of Northeast Ohio’s municipal ice rinks, as well as sporting goods chains such as Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Another hockey equipment retailer serving the Cleveland-Akron market is Perani’s Hockey World of Flint, Michigan. Perani’s Hockey World has a store in North Olmsted, Columbus and Cincinnati among its 17 locations.

Robert Perani, vice president of Perani’s Hockey World, said in a telephone interview that the company’s North Olmsted store was the second or third location of the family business when it opened in 1992.

“It’s been like a second home to us,” Perani said. “We have employees who bought their hockey equipment there as children. We have parents who bring their children to the same store where they got their first skates as a child.”

He said the company has often discussed adding an eastern suburb to the Cleveland area. But it has decided not to add another store across town because it didn’t want to have two stores within such a short drive, and the logistics of finding employees who play or play hockey.

“Hockey families are used to driving,” Perani added. “I said our Columbus and Cincinnati stores are there because of the success of our Cleveland store. Instead of adding another store there, we’ve decided to expand our North Olmsted store.”

In August, the company plans to expand to 8,000 square feet from the current 6,000 square feet, Perani said. The store has been in Lauren Hill Plaza since the business opened.

The hockey market is growing, Perani said, but slowly. He takes the long view of a multi-store competitor entering the Northeast Ohio market.

“We have no worries,” Perani said. “We hope they don’t steal business, but help grow hockey.”

Perani’s Hockey World was launched in 1978 by his late father, Bob Perani, who opened his first store in Flint after a semi-pro and professional hockey career.