CHECKING IN WITH ... Josh Cavanaugh:

Phelps-mania has taken the nation — and even the world — by storm. Play It Again Sports has observed the hype, seeing increases in the sale of swimming gear and hearing the constant chatter surrounding the American superstar. With the Beijing Olympics about to hit full stride, we decided to check in with the local sporting goods retailer and its manager, Josh Cavanaugh:

How have the ongoing Olympics affected business?

We’ve been selling a lot more swimsuits, caps, goggles and stuff like that, definitely. We haven’t made any changes because of the Olympics, though.

What sells best in the upcoming months?

In the fall, we start breaking out the snow stuff pretty early. As soon as you hear [reports of snow] on the news, we start seeing a lot of traffic for that. We try to get the snow stuff out early to kind of kick-off the season.

What sports do you think are typically the most popular in the Newport-Mesa area? How does this affect your sales?

Definitely surfing. Water stuff in general. Having new surfboards can be so expensive that having the option of a used board can help start young surfers out. You’re obviously going to be able to get brand new boards at the surf shops, but you can pick up some nice boards for used prices here.

Do you think health-consciousness in general has affected the sporting goods industry?

It definitely has. Cycling — with us being in Southern California — is pretty big. People aren’t going to necessarily buy as much indoor equipment with the SoCal weather. People tend to do more sports-oriented [activities] instead of just going to the gym or just jumping on the treadmill.

You guys are a smaller retail chain of sorts. What do you think your chain offers as opposed to larger ones that seemingly carry everything from A to Z?

The bigger stores carry a lot more of the brand-name stuff, whereas we get a lot of younger families that have kids that are growing out of stuff so fast that it’s not very efficient to buy stuff brand new. They come here looking for used stuff.

Obviously, there’s surfing, too: People are always ready for a new board, and new boards are so expensive that it’s nice for them to come here [for used ones].

With tougher times in the economy, what have you guys done to market yourselves and keep business profitable?

We’re trying to cut costs on stuff and definitely doing a lot more business in used stuff, especially with bikes (and gas prices where they’re at).

Have you been watching the Olympics? What have you enjoyed the most so far?

To be completely honest, I haven’t caught too much. Swimming’s been pretty big with Michael Phelps. People have been coming and talking about him a lot.