Mediaboss Marketing

Walk into Smitty's DOT Golf store in northeast Portland and you quickly find yourself in a conversational sand trap.

Sales guys patrol the rows of gleaming golf clubs, bags and carts. This is the store that once featured the "Great Wall of Balls" in its TV advertising. Mock insults, bad jokes and verbal shanks are part of the show. Smitty wants it that way.

The man with his name on the building is particular about a lot of things, which may be why he's still around. Because you can buy golf equipment anywhere: Online and big-box store competitors are especially tough. The market trend says Smitty's should have folded by now.

Economists say a recovery is under way, but small businesses still face tough times. Firms with fewer than 50 employees added 58,000 jobs nationwide in April, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc., but the job growth was the smallest in seven months.

That's a 44 percent decline in stores not attached to a course. As of March, three big-box chains -- Golf Galaxy, Golfsmith and PGA Tour Superstores -- accounted for 48 percent of the national square footage, according to the report.

Continue reading here:
At Smitty's DOT Golf in Portland, the foursome includes fun, respect, love and determination