The ad said: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
He sold off the Nike inventory in his Colorado sports apparel and memorabilia store, Prime Time Sports, and made national news as the store owner boycotting the biggest name in sports merchandise.
Martin knew the Nike boycott would hurt.
“Being a sports store without Nike is like being a gas station without gas,” he said.
This week, Martin announced that Prime Time Sports will close in the coming days.
“This was never about property to me, this was about principle,” Martin said Wednesday night while he was in his store, preparing to shut it down.
Martin said the boycott was about principle over profit and even though the lost revenue played a role in his decision to close the store he was absolutely glad he did it.
“You don’t trample over the men who have given Colin Kaepernick and me the right to free speech,” he said.
In 20 years in business, Martin said he thought of himself as a guy who sold jerseys, not as an activist. He had never boycotted anything before, though in 2016 he canceled an autograph appearance by Brandon Marshall after the Denver Broncos player took a knee during the National Anthem before a game.
This week, with past due rent bills portending a court fight he decided to tell his nine employees it was time to call it a career. Everything in the store is 40% off.
Other stores in the mall, including a Sears, are closing. Mall traffic is down.
The store will be open until everything is gone, he told KOAA.
“I didn’t give in to big Nike and big dollars. I didn’t give in. I did it my way,” he told the Colorado Springs station.
Source : CNN