Local store aims to win with OSU and UM fans

Brothers Chris and Mark Mason, owners of Mason's Billiards and Barstools, in Maumee, have purchased the rights to the former Buckeye & Wolverine Shops and this week reopened the proudly schizophrenic store inside their building at 1412 Reynolds Rd.

"The reaction so far has been overwhelming, and it's been fun," Chris Mason said as his son helped hang Wolverine T-shirts on the west side of his store while another employee put Buckeye sweatshirts on the east side.

The last of the Buckeye and Wolverine Shops, which once boasted five stores - each one split down the middle selling Buckeye paraphernalia on one side and Wolverine materials on the other - closed earlier this year after nearly 30 years in operation.

At certain times of the year, such as the annual fall football season, before each Michigan-Ohio State game, and during the holidays, the stores would be packed with customers. At other times, business was much slower.

Mr. Mason said he and his brother contacted Merrilee Zawadzki, owner of the Buckeye & Wolverine Shops, shortly before her last store on Monroe Street closed this spring. A deal was reached at a Subway restaurant next door, and the Masons bought both the name and the signs on the buildings. Mrs. Zawadski could not be reached for comment.

From then on, it was merely a matter of redesigning about 4,000 square feet of their store in Maumee and ordering hundreds of new pieces of collegiate merchandise besides what they already sold in their billiards store.

"This really blends into what we were already doing," Mr. Mason said, explaining that his billiard shop already sells many items, large and small, emblazoned with either an "M" or an "O."

It also promises to expand the 22-year-old business' existing customer base - but that expansion is coming with lessons.

"The one thing I've learned already," Mr. Mason said, refusing to expose his own allegiances, "is that people are passionate about these two schools. It's the number-one rivalry in all of sports."

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:

lvellequette@theblade.com

or 419-724-6091.