Howard's, historic purveyor of athletic goods, to close this summer after 74 years

This story has been updated to reflect a correct name spelling.

Since 1945, Howard's has supplied athletic goods to Cape Girardeau and beyond, from a storefront on Broadway. Come this summer, though, the doors will close.

It's time, said owner Terry Slattery.

Slattery has worked at Howard's since 1974, and purchased the company in 2013.

"I had great mentors," Slattery said, including B.I. Howard and his son Dave, Paul Bray and Frank McClanahan.

Bray particularly taught him a lot about providing excellent customer service, Slattery said.

"Throughout their history, Howard's has been known for quality," Slattery said.

Years ago, the company sold all kinds of sporting goods, Slattery said, from oars and canoes to steel poles for pole vaulting to high-end baseball bats.

Slattery said, "we were pretty much it" for purchasing athletic gear. Box stores and online sales have encroached on his sales, Slattery said, "but we've adapted."

These days, the focus is more on engraving.

That's the part of the business he hopes to sell, he said, after liquidating the shop's inventory of apparel, sporting equipment, trophy pieces and more.

"If I had another 10 years in me, I'd reopen as a smaller shop, with the engraving equipment, maybe some Southeast Missouri State University gear," Slattery said.

He has a laser engraving machine handling jobs much bigger and more intricate than in the old days, he said.

The other engraving machine runs on a Windows 95 computer and has a diamond tip, Slattery said.

With the old equipment, Slattery said, engraving a single plaque could take two hours, and if a scratch was out of place, he'd have to start over.

And if a job required 100 plates?

"It could get tedious," Slattery said.

But now, Slattery said, he hopes to sell the engraving equipment to a local business or person who wants to take over the engraving portion of the company, so the resource is still available to area schools.

He's keeping the company open until summer, he said, to catch the end-of-year jobs.

"I'm hoping to have it finalized by the end of June," Slattery said.

"I'll miss the store," Slattery said. "In 35 years, I've met so many people."

He said he's helped people, including his own children, buy their first baseball glove.

But it's time to move on, to spend time with his family, Slattery said.

B.I. Howard opened the store as Howard and Swan Store with then-partner Beryl Swan in 1945, at 900 Broadway, where it remained until 2005.

A Southeast Missouri State University-owned parking lot is on the former building's site.

Howard's formerly had departments devoted to women's clothing and to men's dress clothing, Slattery said, noting he bought a sport jacket from the company in the past.

Slattery played football and ran track in high school, he said, and in college, played football, graduating from Southeast Missouri State University in 1976 with a teaching degree.

There were no teaching jobs, he said, so he worked for a few years building houses.

Then he transitioned to working for Howard's full time.

The company also used to embroider letterman's jackets, Slattery said, but jackets aren't as popular as they once were, so the company doesn't do that anymore.

"It's like anything else. It goes through cycles," Slattery said, noting he's seen a lot of trends come and go, but the core of the business has always been the same: priding themselves in providing customer service.

"We're problem-solvers," Slattery said. "I'll miss that interaction."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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