From basement to showroom: New sports supply business opens in Jasper

When Corey Scherer walks into the building housing his newly opened sports gear showroom and attached warehouse on 11th Avenue in Jasper, he can’t help but feel amazed at what he, with the help of his family, has created.

“This is my dream,” Corey said about the new business, Advanced Sports Supply. “I’ve always had ambitions of owning my own business.”

Combined with a passion for sports and a devotion to hard work, Corey is excited to be where he is.

Advanced Sports Supply opened in the new location in July, a year after forming the company in the basement of his family’s Jasper home. Corey saw an opportunity to strike out into the sports supply industry in the midst of the pandemic as larger companies struggled. He took advantage of being small and nimble to begin building.

After forming his new company using savings and some of the stimulus money, he began contacting suppliers that would work with him. Once those were set up, he began hammering the phone and emailing contacts across the country to gain new accounts. It took until December to make his first sale.

He knew it would take time. As a plant manager for Indiana Furniture, Corey was trying to build the new company in his spare time.

But the hard work is paying off. Now he has clients across the country and Canada purchasing sporting supplies being shipped directly out of his new warehouse.

Advanced Sports Supply’s list of products covers everything from field maintenance and prep to all the safety equipment and gear necessary to outfit a team in a multitude of sports. Paint, chalk, bases, templates for lining fields, and uniforms, he pretty much covers everything except shoes.

And he offers these lines to the public through the showroom which is open only by appointment at this time. He has apparel through Champion, any type of ball you would need, baseball bats, bags, safety gear, nets, anything you need.

Corey attributes the quick growth to his experience in the sporting supply business as well as a tremendous amount of help from his family. His dad, David, comes in to help with shipping items while he is at work. David and his wife, Rhonda, also help with the kids when things get hectic.

Corey also credits his wife, Brittany, for her patience as he juggles the late nights and his normal work schedule with spending time with her and their two children, Rylan and Hadley.

But things are going well. At Sunday dinners, the family likes to dream about the future together as they build the new business.

“I have always tried to make my hard work and vision match so that it really doesn’t just become a pipe dream. It becomes reality,” he explained from his new office.

Corey compared his passion and enjoyment of the processes involved in building the sporting goods business to a quote from a recent podcast featuring entrepreneur Mark Cuban. “He said there are two great days when you start a business,” Corey explained. “The day you decide to start a business and get it going. And, every day after that.”

Advanced Sports Supply is located at 473 11th Avenue in Jasper. The company has several digital catalogs of gear available on the website here and you can follow them on Facebook here. The phone number is 812-661-7769.

“There have been many sleepless nights,” Corey admitted. “But I am building something for my son and my daughter. It is about what I can establish for them that they can be proud of.”