Monday Q&A: Nothing lax about his approach

An athlete-turned-entrepreneur has big plans for the local lacrosse scene.

Eric Moore just opened River City Lacrosse Company on East Cary Street in Shockoe Slip.

The store sells lacrosse equipment and apparel and helps players and parents looking to get their kids involved in a league or camp.

Moore, 46, started playing lacrosse as a kid and has gone from college athlete to head of a local nonprofit league to owning his own business.

BizSense caught up with Moore to see why he decided to start his own business and why he thinks a lacrosse shop could be successful in Richmond.

Richmond BizSense: How did you get started in lacrosse?

Eric Moore: I started playing lacrosse when I was about 12 for Collegiate. After that I played at Randolph Macon. I moved back to Richmond about 10 years ago and have been coaching lacrosse at the Steward School in the West End for the past six years.

RBS: What made you want to start a business?

EM: I always wanted to do something that was lacrosse-based. The idea came about five years ago when I went to play in a lacrosse tournament in New York. Laxzilla.com was the sponsor for the team, and we started talking about bringing a store down here.

There wasn’t any place like this in Richmond. It had all been online-based.

RBS: What kinds of things do you sell?

EM: Gloves, sticks, face gear, referee and coach gear, and other apparel and gear.  We’re also looking to get into team sales, team uniforms and official lacrosse gear.

We’re trying to be more than just an apparel store. We have information on joining summer lacrosse camps and how parents can sign their kids up from tournaments. We want to be known as the lacrosse hub for Richmond.

RBS: Even though you’re only catering to a small niche, do you think it’s something that could do well here?

EM: Back when I started playing lacrosse, no one even knew what a lacrosse stick was. Now people are playing lacrosse all year. It’s not just a preppy sport anymore. Lacrosse grew 300 percent last year throughout the country. It’s not just in private schools.

James River High School and Henrico County high schools now have varsity sanctioned sports for lacrosse. In the next two to three years, the Hanover school system will have it.

RBS: Where do you get your merchandise?

EM: Laxvilla.com has been a huge player in this. All the apparel is done through them on a consignment basis.

RBS: How has business been since you started?

EM: It’s been a good response. A couple people are coming in everyday. On the weekends it’s been good. During the week it’s a little slow, because kids are still in school.

RBS: How much did you invest into the shop?

EM: Not too much at all, because all of the apparel is on consignment from Laxzilla. It’s great, because you don’t have to worry about starting with a vendor.

RBS: How do you plan to grow the business?

EM: My wife has a business, Lax Motivation, which we’ve been doing for about a year. The idea behind that is one-on-one sessions with seasoned players. My son did it with a player at Collegiate, and it improved his game and made him the player he is today.  Now we have parents asking us about it.

We charge about $65 an hour for these sessions and pay the coach depending on ability.

We also have a separate travel team that we’re putting together now, Team Venom, that practices at the University of Richmond. The team is fifth-grade and up boys and girls.

RBS: What are your hopes for your new business?

EM: We want to get it to the point where everybody comes here. If you need something lacrosse-wise, whatever it may be, you can come to us.

I’m hoping to add on to the store with a Lax Lounge, where parents can drop their kids off and they can come and hang out and talk. It’s in the works now and hopefully I’ll have it up and running by July or August.

I also want to start doing online sales and have a website launched by next month.