I'll lay out the characters/ stores involved cause this is a great, long story.
Story takes place in Holland Michigan
Reliable Sport: Along time local family business, very well respected, at least until it was sold to Izzy.
Izzy: Main antagonist, bought Reliable, is a fraud.
Uncle Jibs: Ski shop started by former Reliable owners and staff. Great shop, check them out if in the area.
Me: Worked for Izzy for a solid one hour a few years ago. I quit cause place was on track for disaster.
Important note: all information may not be correct, just stories I've heard over a couple years ago and the current drama unfolding on a local Facebook group.
Reliable Sport was a long time local, family business in the area. Ski shop was separate from the other side of the business but operated under the same name in the same building for decades. Was a great shop, really the only in town but we didn't need more. A few years ago this Izzy dude bought both parts of the business, moved to a new location and drastically increased inventory with massive orders. This was in 2018 I believe. That fall I was needing some part time work so I inquired at Reliable. Izzy hired me right away and made it clear he wanted me to pretty much run the ski shop. He, and I paraphrase, wanted to be the big dog who managed from afar. First red flag. Izzy also tells me that he was 10s of thousands of dollars in ski gear ordered, ready to come in. Second red flag. I had only noticed 1 customer in 1 hour on a Saturday afternoon. I quickly get sick of Izzy's ego and tell that I won't be coming back.
Later that same fall a new shop, Uncle Jibs opens up so I check it out. Owner is the guy who previously owned the ski side of Reliable, great guy. His staff consists of guys who worked at Reliable but quit for the same reasons I did. We establish Izzy as a common connection and get to story telling. Apparently, when Izzy had placed that massive order, he made it under the previous owners name. When money came due and the collectors came to Izzy, he sent them down the road to Uncle Jibs. Real classy.
The next February, Reliable unsurprisingly closes, and no one misses at this point. I stopped following any story line at this point until this evening. Apparently Izzy spoke at a city council meeting, where he shared that he had been arrested while operating Reliable after getting caught failing to deliver on an order. This is after many complaints. I'll link the video of his comments in here. He claims the community owes him.
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1005551/6-16-21-City-Council-Meeting
Izzy's comments start at the 7:29 mark.
Just gold, I'm glad this fraud got screwed and I'm getting a good laugh out of him claiming the city owes after driving a beloved local business into the ground and screwing multiple people from the community over in the process. Also, Uncle Jibs was not shaken by this guy, they went from being a seasonal part-time thing to year round, full time, with a second location.
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