Ever notice the basketball setup outside by the main entrance to Darien Sport Shop?
Ever wonder why it's there?
It's not there so the employees can catch a game of hoops during their lunch break. It isn't there so that customers are reminded that this is a store that sells sports-related clothing.
Gina Zangrillo, president of the store her father founded in 1946, gave a much, much simpler explanation when I asked her about the basketball hoop and backboard:
"We sell them," she said.
Darien Sport Shop doesn't just sell clothing in this sports-crazy town (with its country clubs, enormous sports leagues and various state championship teams) -- it sells a lot of the equipment, too.
And that's been the case right from the start. In the store you can see a picture of the shop the year it was founded, in 1946, then at a spot now occupied by Dunkin Donuts, (the picture is attached to this article, but you can also see it on the first floor near the elevator).
Right there on the store sign, it says, "Sports Equipment --Sports Wear.".
Sports equipment is on the third floor of the shop, and that includes lacrosse sticks, helmets of various types and even a "zip line" (a kind of tightrope).
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