Soccer Post, which is franchised locally by Shawn Martin and his wife Nikki, is planning to open a new location at The Lake mixed-use project in Chesterfield. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A soccer store chain has joined the roster of tenants at a new mixed-use development taking shape near Chesterfield’s River City Sportsplex.
Soccer Post is planning to open a location by mid-November at The Lake, an under-construction project that’s to be anchored by recreational water attractions.
The store that sells soccer shoes and other gear for the sport has leased a 2,200-square-foot storefront in one of the first commercial buildings being built at the development.
Shawn Martin, who co-owns the local Soccer Post franchise with his wife Nikki, said they hope to feed off the activity at the Sportsplex, Chesterfield’s large youth sports tournament venue that’s just on the other side of Route 288 as well as nearby indoor facility XL Sports.
“You’ve got soccer facilities within a golf-ball hit pretty much,” Martin said.
Another draw is The Lake development itself, where Soccer Post will be situated near restaurants that Martin bets will drive foot traffic and help raise awareness of the store’s location. Soccer Post will be close to a Starbucks and a Chipotle slated to open at The Lake. Confections shop Kilwins has also signed a lease at the development.
Martin described the upcoming Lake outpost as a relocation of his previous Chesterfield store that had operated for years at 4838 Commonwealth Centre Parkway and closed in recent weeks. He said that he and Nikki had the Lake on their radar as a place to open a store.
“We’ve always heard they’re going to build something near River City, so my wife and I were planning on when they build that thing near River City, let’s try to be in the front of the line to get in there. Conveniently, it came available right about the same time our lease ran out (at Commonwealth Centre),” he said.
A rendering of the The Lake mixed-use development rising in Chesterfield County. (Courtesy Flatwater Cos.)
Martin estimated that the Lake store at 13675 Eloise Lake Loop will cost about $120,000 for buildout and hardware, and would be stocked with about $100,000 to $150,000 in merchandise when it opens. He said the new store will be designed to take advantage of the expected foot traffic and will be “showroom heavy.” He noted the Soccer Post also gets business from non-soccer athletes as well, and that in the new Chesterfield spot he expected to be able to tap into athletes who play other sports at the Sportsplex.
“We’re even getting a lot of lacrosse players coming for cleats. The football skill-type players, the receivers, the running backs, the quarterbacks are wearing soccer shoes.” he said.
The new shop will feature a one-on-one soccer cage, where customers can play soccer within a small fenced court to test out shoes before they buy.
The Lake is rising on 105 acres and planned to include a 13-acre recreational lake and a 6-acre surf pool, alongside hundreds of residential units, two hotels, and 250,000 square feet of office, retail, entertainment and restaurant space.
Robert Marshall and Rebecca von Meister of Taylor Long Properties are handling leasing at the Lake.
The reopening of an outpost in Chesterfield will bring the local Soccer Post franchise back up to two locations. The Martins’ other store is at 1080 Virginia Center Parkway in the Virginia Center Station shopping center in Henrico. While that location also has a sales floor, much of it is used as warehouse space and a production studio for the business’s shirt printing operations.
The Martins bought the local Soccer Post franchise in 2019. Nikki had been an employee at the franchise’s now-shuttered Chesterfield spot before she and her husband assumed ownership.
New Jersey-based Soccer Post has 50 locations across multiple states, per its website.