It’s full time for the Massapequa Soccer Shop.
The family-owned business, which has been a staple in the Long Island soccer community for almost 53 years, will be closing its doors for good in June.
“I was 13 years old, and my mom and I really started the store,” owner Helen Fishman — who runs the business with her brother, Mark Bodenstein — told The Post. “I’ve been here my whole life.”
Fishman and Bodenstein elected to close down to take a well-deserved retirement — but not before heartfelt thanks came from all over.
“The outpouring of support and memories we’ve gotten in the past few days, I guess my brother and I never realized the impact we made,” Fishman said.
She added that Massapequa soccer great Christie Welsh, who played on the U.S. Women’s National Team, even reached out with a “beautiful” email on how the store impacted her own youth as a frequent customer.
“It’s been people from the past coming back, the memories, it’s totally overwhelming,” Fishman said. “It’s just unbelievable, you recognize the names of people you knew from 20, 30 years ago.”
The owner’s memory is so vivid because in her half century of working, talking to customers was the best part of the job, she said.
“I liked finding out, ‘Where do you play? What do you like to do?’ ” she said.
“We really care about the people. And now we’re getting thank you after thank you. We should be thanking all of them for keeping us in business.”
In boys lacrosse this week, a strong 7-1 Port Washington team hosts a 4-3 Mepham squad at 1 p.m. Saturday.
On the girls side, 4-1 Lynbrook visits 2-6 North Shore at 10 a.m. Saturday.
