feng4

Now, in the midst of the winter busy season, Spencer is shipping to pairs of shoes a week. "Links of London carry a hundred products, but all I sell every day is brooms, broomball shoes and balls, just what you need to play," Spencer said. "That's percent of what I sell." A growing sport In Duluth, there are about adult teams playing broomball, with about at the University of Minnesota Duluth alone, Spencer said. Many get their equipment at local sporting goods stores. Spencer said he's not trying to compete for the local business. Most of his customers live where equipment is hard to find. Among his customers Links of London Two Hearts Charm Red Mondo Normile, who runs a broomball league in Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte has a coed league of six teams with about players. But they can't find the equipment they need there, he said. Normile, who first played broomball while attending college in upstate New York, submits a group order for the players several times a year. "Broomball in the country has grown," Normile said. "I know it's becoming more popular. New teams are being developed. People who have come from different areas are excited to find it here. Those who have moved away are glad when they find it there." Spencer played the sport himself for years, until injuries kept him from competitive play. He describes the game as a cross between hockey and soccer. "I liked hockey but it was too expensive for my family, and so links of london sale started playing broomball when I was and fell in love with the game," Spencer said. "It's just a great sport for anybody to play." More free time For Spencer, the business has provided the added benefit of more time for hunting, fishing and his family sons Jack, and Alex, and his wife, Pam. While he might put in to hour days in busy December and January, two to three hours a week is all it takes to fill orders in the summer. So summers are spent with his sons and on Lake Superior, fishing. Even the three to five hours per day of work needed in the fall allows him plenty of time for hunting. He would hunt in the morning, return home to ship out some orders, then go back to hunting for a total of more than hours in a deer stand. "I make a good living doing it, and I like the lifestyle doing it," Spencer said. "I made more money with the two stores, but money isn't everything." But how big does he want the business to get "I haven't reached my goal yet, but I'm close," Spencer said as he stood amid tall stacks of broomball shoes and helmets valentine's Day rings his garage. "I'll be happy with staying where I am or growing a little bit." Jan. Now that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has granted permission to the Cowlitz Tribe to establish a reservation and build a casino near La Center, Northwesterners should hope the proverbial other shoe doesn't fall before Jan.