Sneakerheads Mourn Eastbay, Whose Catalog Was the Bible of Athletic Shoes

Eastbay was in its prime in the 1990s, years before the iPhone, when sneaker shopping from a sofa meant flipping pages and dialing a phone. The catalog went out monthly with around 100 pages of the latest sneakers and sports gear. Fans would grab it out of their mailboxes, drool over the latest releases and circle sneakers they wanted. 

“It was kind of like my version of a toy book,” said

Marcus Smith,

a commercial photographer in Chicago. As a teen, he kept stacks of the catalog in his bedroom closet, hoping to persuade his mother to buy something. “She never did,” said the 36-year-old. 

Mr. Smith said he didn’t know Eastbay made it past his teenage years, until a photo he took of basketball player

Damian Lillard

made the cover in 2017. 

“It was just a happy moment for me,” he said. “I got to connect to that nostalgic part of my childhood.”

Eastbay’s demise isn’t sudden.

Foot Locker Inc.,

FL 1.45%

which owns it, has been working on combining Eastbay with its other brand, Champs Sports, since 2019, a Foot Locker spokesman said. The last Eastbay catalog went out in August 2021, the spokesman said, and starting Jan. 13, the site will redirect to Champs Sports. 

“We’re saying goodbye to Eastbay soon,” says a notice on Eastbay‘s website. “We encourage you to shop at champssports.com to find great deals for your athletic shoes, clothing, and more.”

Eastbay was born in 1980, the idea of two friends who weren’t happy with the selection of running shoes available in their hometown of Wausau, Wis. They began selling shoes and equipment to student teams and then started printing a catalog when coaches asked for one. 

Each shoe came with detailed descriptions, including its color and weight. “Like a T-shirt for your feet” is how the catalog described the lightweight

Nike

Presto in 2000. 

Eastbay became a public company in the 1990s, with its stock trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Woolworth Corp., which later became Foot Locker, agreed to buy Eastbay in 1996 for $146 million. 

Athletes turned nostalgic this week about the onetime staple. NBA star

LeBron James

said he remembers flipping through the catalog with friends. 

“We used to love getting those magazines,” said Mr. James at a postgame press conference Tuesday. “Basketball shoes, baseball cleats, football cleats, everything was in that. It was a good run, that’s for sure.”

Gold-medal Olympian

Michael Johnson

posted an Eastbay spread of his gold-and-black Nike sneakers that included a photo of him. “Eastbay Exclusive,” the catalog said. “Michael Johnson’s signature shoe!!” 

“Can’t believe @Eastbay will shut down,” the retired sprinter tweeted.

Art Juedes,

one of Eastbay’s co-founders, was surprised by the outpouring of love for the catalog. 

“The landscape of mail orders is pretty much well gone,” said Mr. Juedes. “When you start a business, it’s your baby. You just really hate to see it go down.” 

Eastbay took off before the e-commerce boom changed how people shopped.

Maura Gallagher

of Philadelphia said Eastbay was the only way to get her hands on Chicago Bulls shirts and the latest

Michael Jordan

sneakers when she was growing up in small-town New Jersey. 

“We didn’t have access to the big stores,” said Ms. Gallagher, 38, who works in marketing. “I loved when Eastbay came.”

Today, blogs and Instagram accounts track the latest kicks. Major companies, including Nike and Adidas, sell shoes directly to shoppers through their apps. 

Drew Hammell, 40, was a childhood Eastbay enthusiast. He went on to work for the company, scanning old catalogs and writing about shoes from almost 20 years ago. 

Mr. Hammell posted those images on Instagram at @eastbay.archive. It had 1,100 followers earlier this week, and ballooned to nearly 9,000 after news of the closure spread.

“The nostalgia factor is huge with these catalogs,” said the blogger from Chatham, N.J. “As a kid, it was basically like your bible for sneakers.”

Write to Joseph Pisani at [email protected]

Eastbay was in its prime in the 1990s, years before the iPhone, when sneaker shopping from a sofa meant flipping pages and dialing a phone. The catalog went out monthly with around 100 pages of the latest sneakers and sports gear. Fans would grab it out of their mailboxes, drool over the latest releases and circle sneakers they wanted. 

“It was kind of like my version of a toy book,” said

Marcus Smith,

a commercial photographer in Chicago. As a teen, he kept stacks of the catalog in his bedroom closet, hoping to persuade his mother to buy something. “She never did,” said the 36-year-old. 

Mr. Smith said he didn’t know Eastbay made it past his teenage years, until a photo he took of basketball player

Damian Lillard

made the cover in 2017. 

“It was just a happy moment for me,” he said. “I got to connect to that nostalgic part of my childhood.”

Eastbay’s demise isn’t sudden.

Foot Locker Inc.,

FL 1.45%

which owns it, has been working on combining Eastbay with its other brand, Champs Sports, since 2019, a Foot Locker spokesman said. The last Eastbay catalog went out in August 2021, the spokesman said, and starting Jan. 13, the site will redirect to Champs Sports. 

“We’re saying goodbye to Eastbay soon,” says a notice on Eastbay‘s website. “We encourage you to shop at champssports.com to find great deals for your athletic shoes, clothing, and more.”

Eastbay was born in 1980, the idea of two friends who weren’t happy with the selection of running shoes available in their hometown of Wausau, Wis. They began selling shoes and equipment to student teams and then started printing a catalog when coaches asked for one. 

Each shoe came with detailed descriptions, including its color and weight. “Like a T-shirt for your feet” is how the catalog described the lightweight

Nike

Presto in 2000. 

Eastbay became a public company in the 1990s, with its stock trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Woolworth Corp., which later became Foot Locker, agreed to buy Eastbay in 1996 for $146 million. 

Athletes turned nostalgic this week about the onetime staple. NBA star

LeBron James

said he remembers flipping through the catalog with friends. 

“We used to love getting those magazines,” said Mr. James at a postgame press conference Tuesday. “Basketball shoes, baseball cleats, football cleats, everything was in that. It was a good run, that’s for sure.”

Gold-medal Olympian

Michael Johnson

posted an Eastbay spread of his gold-and-black Nike sneakers that included a photo of him. “Eastbay Exclusive,” the catalog said. “Michael Johnson’s signature shoe!!” 

“Can’t believe @Eastbay will shut down,” the retired sprinter tweeted.

Art Juedes,

one of Eastbay’s co-founders, was surprised by the outpouring of love for the catalog. 

“The landscape of mail orders is pretty much well gone,” said Mr. Juedes. “When you start a business, it’s your baby. You just really hate to see it go down.” 

Eastbay took off before the e-commerce boom changed how people shopped.

Maura Gallagher

of Philadelphia said Eastbay was the only way to get her hands on Chicago Bulls shirts and the latest

Michael Jordan

sneakers when she was growing up in small-town New Jersey. 

“We didn’t have access to the big stores,” said Ms. Gallagher, 38, who works in marketing. “I loved when Eastbay came.”

Today, blogs and Instagram accounts track the latest kicks. Major companies, including Nike and Adidas, sell shoes directly to shoppers through their apps. 

Drew Hammell, 40, was a childhood Eastbay enthusiast. He went on to work for the company, scanning old catalogs and writing about shoes from almost 20 years ago. 

Mr. Hammell posted those images on Instagram at @eastbay.archive. It had 1,100 followers earlier this week, and ballooned to nearly 9,000 after news of the closure spread.

“The nostalgia factor is huge with these catalogs,” said the blogger from Chatham, N.J. “As a kid, it was basically like your bible for sneakers.”

Write to Joseph Pisani at [email protected]