Behind the Baseline: Julien Klein of Solow Sports

Most businesses only think of their customers as dollar signs. But that isn’t the case at Solow Sports in Huntington, N.Y.

“I want to provide high-end tour level services to everyday people,” said Solow Sports Owner Julien Klein, who bought the store back in August of 2013. “I want the recreational player to get the same service and feedback the high-level players get.”

That is the mission statement and overall goal of Solow Sports, and it comes right from the store’s owner Klein, who practices what he preaches. There is a ping-pong table you can use while you wait for your racket to get strung and the employees are approachable and personable. Solow has a very personal feel to it and you get that vibe as soon as you walk in.

“All of my employees like coming to work and the customers love coming in,” said Klein. “We have that barber shop feel. You can come in and talk about your matches. You can come in and just hang out in addition to your shopping.”

Klein calls himself a late bloomer to the sport of tennis. He didn’t begin playing until he was 14-years-old, after he and his family moved to a house across from a public tennis court.

“I played there every day and got hooked,” Klein said. “I actually started teaching before I played competitively. I would hand feed balls and do different drills with kids, and in return, I got free court time, lessons and camps. I became addicted to the sport.”

He would go on to play collegiately at Stony Brook and then Hartwick, and after that, he began working at pro shops where he began to hone his skills.

“I taught and strung rackets just because I was interested in it. I worked really hard for a lot of different shop owners,” said Klein. “I was really excited when I got the opportunity to run my own place.”

Klein knew he had the drive and desire to run his own shop, but had to learn the challenges of operating his own business.

“I did not realize how much time goes into it,” said Klein. “It’s more than a full-time job. I’m here about 100 hours every week. Here I am, almost three years later, and I’m maybe taking one or two days off a year. It’s such a hands-on operation. You really learn a lot about yourself.”

Klein is always adding new things and services to continue to grow his business.

“The ability to take any idea you have and try it is great,” Klein said. “We had the idea of putting the ping-pong table in so we did. If it was no fun, we would throw it out, but the customers really like it. Any sort of fun experience we can add, we try it.”

Klein’s next goal is to expand the shop’s online presence and continue growing.

“We do a lot of things that others don’t,” said Klein. “We are open seven days a week and have a 24-hour racket drop off. We have custom painted rackets and carry every single racket manufacturer. We have on-site stringing, and products for all of the different racket sports, including platform tennis, Pickleball, etc. Any sport with a racket … we carry those products.”

Solow Sports is located at 347 Main Street in Huntington, N.Y. Stop by to get your racket strung or to look through Solow’s array of racket sport offerings, and who knows, you might find yourself entrenched in a competitive ping-pong match in no time.