Best Sports Equipment Store '96

Best Sports Equipment Store

Play It Again Sports
Three locations

READERS' PICK: Novel idea, recycled sports equipment. Play It Again Sports features some of the best sports bargains in Arizona since Angela Bassett sold her cheatin' husband's skis for a dollar in Waiting To Exhale. You can find especially good bargains in tennis equipment. People learn really fast that playing the game is much harder than it looks. It's no accident some of that stuff looks like it never actually hit a ball. The whole store is always busy, except for the section dealing with used mouthpieces and cups. Just kidding. That part is busy, too.

READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: The Sports Authority, 4225 N. Oracle Road, was the first superstore dealing with just sports equipment. We thought it was huge until that new place came along that deals only with sports footwear. Somewhere there are plans being drawn up for the 12,000-square-foot "Shoelaces 'R' Us." Anyway, The Sports Authority has a huge selection of just about everything. The prices aren't record-breakers, but the selection is tops.

STAFF PICK: Bob Jensen started selling shooter supplies in the back of a house on Pima Street 40 years ago. He now runs the two Jensen's locations, 5146 E. Pima Street and 1280 W. Price Road. Not only are the shops the biggest gun supermarkets in the Southwest, he's expanded beyond guns and bullets, with archery supplies, gunsmithing, optics, reloading equipment and black powder goodies. There's even an indoor pistol and archery range at the Prince Road location, with basic to advanced firearms courses. A Tucson institution, Jensen's oughta be declared an historic site.

1998 Winner: Play It Again Sports
1997 Winner: Play It Again Sports
1995 Winner: Sports Authority