Stock Up on those Emergency Items

Online   Jan 24, 2024

Lincoln City Sporting Goods: One-stop shop for emergency items

• Hilary Dorsey
• First seen on Apr 12, 2022 Updated Apr 25, 2022 at The News Guard. 

Lincoln City Sporting Goods & Electronics has been in business for over 31 years now. The store opened in August 1990.

Owner Bruce Polvi said the store is in its 32nd year now.

“I started working for Radio Shack Corporate back in 1980,” Polvi said of his start. “You had to be 16 to start for Radio Shack Corporate.”

Polvi worked for corporate Radio Shacks for 10 years. In 1990, he purchased the Lincoln City franchise, moving it from the Taft area to where J’s Fish and Chips currently is.

“In 1991, I bought the old Oregon Willamette Lumber Yard and that’s currently where we’re at,” Polvi said. “We have several tenants.”

Lincoln City Sporting Goods & Electronics is located at 800 SE Hwy 101 in the city plaza. Polvi owns the plaza and rents out to 18 tenants in the building. Burger King was opened in 1992.

“Burger King, who has been a tenant of ours for 29-plus years, has been a good tenant,” Polvi said. “They’ll be celebrating their 30th anniversary this year.”

Polvi said the city plaza celebrated their 30th anniversary last July. While the store still sells electronics, it has switched more to sporting goods, as well as emergency preparedness products.

“We’ve always done emergency supplies and emergency preparedness for the last 30 years or so,” Polvi said.

The county recently received a recent load of 650 water filters from the store, Polvi added. Sue Graves, emergency director for Lincoln County Schools, said the water filter straws are for a new disaster cache the district is establishing for Sam Case Elementary School in Newport. The other schools in the district already have disaster caches.

The disaster caches are designed to meet the basic and immediate survival needs of students and staff if a large earthquake or other disaster occurs while school is in session. The caches offer basic shelter, water and water filter straws, portable restrooms and basic disaster medical supplies.

“Water filter straws are important because our traditional water systems are expected to be destroyed in a large Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake,” Graves said. “These small straws can filter 30 gallons of water from fresh water sources.”

Graves said the school district is grateful for the partnership with Lincoln City Sporting Goods. The store has helped with many disaster preparedness activities for over a decade, while providing the best prices on items.

Emergency preparedness has always been an active component in the store, Polvi said. His goal is to get everyone in the county as ready as possible for an emergency.

Radios have always been a big seller with power outages. Over the years, people would ask for more products for emergencies, such as emergency blankets, water filtration and 25- year shelf-life emergency food. During the pandemic, a lot of people started to stock up.

The store also carries five-day backpacks that includes five days’ worth of water and food. The store has sold these backpacks to the city, North Lincoln Fire and Rescue and local hospitals.

Sales have more than doubled during the pandemic, Polvi added. Sporting goods stores were deemed essential during the pandemic and were able to stay open during business closures.

Most of the store’s business comes from visitors from the valley and other location locations that have second homes in Lincoln City, while 10 percent comes from locals in the city. The store also sells to other businesses.

Lincoln City Sporting Goods & Electronics open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday – Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and is closed Sundays and Mondays. The store is located at 800 SE Hwy 101.