Our overall media company is, of course, in its ninth year.
But our first bricks-and-mortar offshoot ... will celebrate its first birthday today!
It was on April 29, 2022, that we opened the DK Pittsburgh Sports HQ/shop at 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown, and we did so for three expressed purposes at the time:
1. We wanted an opportunity post-pandemic to interact personally with our readers and, within that, to introduce newcomers to what we do.
2. We wanted the exposure of having a storefront presence, in addition to the prestige of being in a highly visible portion of the heartbeat of our entire region.
3. We wanted to sell stuff, and we're doing more of that than ever, as evidenced by dozens of boxes of brand new caps, shirts and endless other fare that Dali ordered this month, all of which just arrived this week:
DALI KOVACEVIC / DKPS
Some of the new merch that just arrived into the HQ/shop this week.
And even though those above priorities were probably ranked in just that order, I'm happy to report that, even though we opened amid some challenging circumstances -- Downtown workers still weren't even a quarter of the way back, and all three of our city's teams stunk, in addition to not yet having established a physical presence in the community -- we've managed to turn a modest profit on the HQ/shop over these 12 months, with a very, very promising trajectory ahead.
The main reason for the promise, as one might expect, is that the Downtown workforce is back up to 65% of its 2019 level, our hotels are all the way back to the 2019 level, and there are more residents in the Golden Triangle than ever, now with a population approaching 9,000. That means more feet on the sidewalk, more pulse, more of everything that's good. And hey, things are even looking up, in general, on the sports scene. Particularly for the Pirates, who've got 81 dates of bringing people our way. The past month, in particular, has just been a joy. Really has.
On that note, we're legit celebrating today. Dali and I will both be at the HQ/shop all day, 12-6 p.m. Nothing formal or fancy. But we're both proud of this, we're both grateful for those of you who've come to see us, and beyond grateful for those who this time a year ago contributed those Building Bricks so that she could construct a first-class place that'd make everyone proud to be part of what we do.