Report: G&S Sporting Goods to Close After More Than 70 Years on Essex Street
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The latest from Essex Street.
G&S Sporting Goods, the longtime Lower East Side treasure that specializes in boxing gear, will soon close its doors for good. This is beyond sad on so many levels.
A reliable source tells us that owner Lenny Zerling suffered a stroke back in September and has now decided to throw in the towel. Running the business is becoming too difficult, apparently. That certainly explains why the local shop, headquartered at 43 Essex Street for more than seventy-five years, had temporarily closed for an unspecified “family emergency.”
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Moreover, we’ve learned that the intended plan is reportedly to try and sell the building (which they own) along with the business and the G&S name. No timetable just yet.
G&S Sporting Goods was founded in 1937 by Lenny’s father, an Estonian immigrant boxer named Izzy Zerling. He was a registered lightweight, and boxed approximately thirty-five professional fights. The store opened at 43 Essex after his retirement. Thereafter, he spent most of his life dedicated to teaching the sport to underprivileged kids, all while the family business remained as such. He is also credited with being the first to train female fighters in 1938. The elder Zerling lived on the Lower East Side until his death in 2011 at the age of 96.
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Photo: David Ballela
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