Trisports.com: The store may be gone, but the friendship remains.
The word is out that Trisports.com closed its doors for good on Tuesday August 22, 2017. In the 28 years De Soto Sport has been in business we shared a very close partnership and friendship with this store since its founding about 17 years ago. De Soto Sport was the first brand carried by Seton and Debbie Claggett when their store was a website and their warehouse was a garage. Back then you were not considered to be a legitimate triathlon shop if you did not have a physical "brick and mortar” presence. My how times have changed. What was special about Trisports.com is that while the name remained that of a website, in just a matter of a few years their physical store became the envy of every triathlon and bike shop in the country, and the place where every brand wanted to be sold.
Rather than going into details of why they closed, we can assure you their's is not a story about falling victim to the online retail giants. In fact the reason is not what this blogpost is about. This is about Seton and Debbie. They are friends of ours. We get together as families with our children to eat eat, drink, talk and play. We did so just a few weeks ago. Conversations were not about business but about more personal things. We spoke with Seton on Tuesday, shortly after he broke the news with his staff. He said “there are a lot of tears on the floor of the store right now.” You could feel his pain in his voice.
That did not stop them from enjoying a beer, sharing some stories, and then smiling for one last photo with their amazing team of employees.
True friendships are the ones that withstand the test of time, not just good times, but also the worst of times. As difficult as these days, weeks, and months may be for the Claggett family and the trisports.com staff, we wish them all well. They know their friends are a phone call away. We also know them well enough to know that they will be fine. They will get back up, keep living, keep swimming, biking and running, and keep smiling.
Tracy and Emilio De Soto