Retail
Play It Again Sports Franchise
A resale retail franchise buying and selling used and new sporting goods equipment and accessories through standalone stores. Owned by publicly traded Winmark Corporation (NASDAQ: WINA), which also franchises Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child, and Music Go Round -- one of the longest-running resale-retail concepts, franchising since the late 1980s.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Play It Again Sports's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$25,000
Total to open
$346,300–$459,700
Ongoing royalty
5% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough retail industry average, not a figure from Play It Again Sports's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$471,300 – $584,700
Startup investment
$346,300–$459,700
Royalty per year (5%)
$25,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$125,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Play It Again Sports's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical retail profit margin (~6%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general retail industry benchmark, not a figure from Play It Again Sports's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
11.5–15.3 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Play It Again Sports is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Play It Again Sports actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of Play It Again Sports's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 281 | 294 | +13 |
| 2024 | 294 | 302 | +8 |
| 2025 | 302 | 309 | +7 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 7 franchised units, ending the year at 309 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Winmark requires a mandatory 3-part Resale University training program before a store can open: a 4-day session on setup and business planning plus a separate online financial management course, a second session of at least 5 days on sales, buying, and inventory management, and a third session of at least 2 days working in an existing Play It Again Sports store. Ongoing support runs through Winmark Connect, an extranet of business resources and tools.
Territory protection (Item 12)
Franchisees receive an Exclusive Territory (typically a 3-5 mile radius, sized by computer-modeled demographics -- generally a minimum population of 75,000-100,000 in metro areas over 250,000 people, or 50,000 elsewhere) that Winmark won't place another franchised or company-owned store inside. Unlike some peers in this dataset, there's no sales-volume or market-penetration requirement to keep the territory. Winmark does reserve rights to sell through its own e-commerce site and, potentially in the future, other electronic or alternative-distribution channels inside or outside the territory.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
The franchise term is 10 years, renewable for additional 10-year terms (uncapped) if requirements are met. Notably, franchisees have a real contractual right to terminate if Winmark fails to cure its own material default within 30 days of written notice -- more reciprocal than most peers in this dataset. Winmark can only terminate for cause (30-day cure period for most defaults), and disputes go to mandatory arbitration in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Winmark's home city.
How Play It Again Sports compares to other Retail franchises
Across the 11 retail franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $293,525–$655,615, with royalties averaging around 5% of gross sales (based on the 9 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$364,015–$682,215 · 5% royalty
Wild Birds Unlimited$231,635–$376,392 · 4% royalty
The UPS Store$222,368–$606,081 · 5% royalty
Signarama$245,432–$344,768 · 6% royalty
PostNet$240,200–$306,800 · 5% royalty
7-Eleven$162,900–$1,656,800 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Batteries Plus$262,646–$496,996 · 5% royalty
Wireless Zone$441,875–$1,328,210 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Plato's Closet$355,700–$467,900 · 5% royalty
Once Upon A Child$355,700–$485,900 · 5% royalty
Play It Again Sports Franchise FAQ
How much does it cost to franchise a Play It Again Sports?
Based on Play It Again Sports's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $346,300–$459,700, including the $25,000 franchise fee. California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004388, filed 3/16/2026, effective 4/23/2026. FDD issuance date March 16, 2026.
What is the Play It Again Sports franchise fee and royalty rate?
The initial franchise fee is $25,000, and the ongoing royalty is 5% of gross sales, per the filing on record.
Is the Play It Again Sports franchise growing or shrinking?
Growing. Across 2023–2025, Play It Again Sports added a net 28 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.
Keep going
- Play It Again Sports and Plato's Closet are both retail franchises; Play It Again Sports's total investment starts about $9,400 lower than Plato's Closet's. Plato's Closet Franchise
- Play It Again Sports and Once Upon A Child are both retail franchises; Play It Again Sports's total investment starts about $9,400 lower than Once Upon A Child's. Once Upon A Child Franchise
Where this came from: California DFPI Registration Renewal, App ID APP00004388, filed 3/16/2026, effective 4/23/2026. FDD issuance date March 16, 2026. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-03-16. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.