Play It Again Sports grand opening in Waterford starts Thursday

Beginning on Thursday and running through the weekend, Play It Again Sports in Waterford is celebrating its grand opening with discounts and giveaways at its new Waterfall Shopping Center location where Benny’s was once located. The store, at 40 Boston Post Road, is owned by siblings Nicole LaFountain and Michael Thoman.

On the opening day, the first 50 people in line get $10 in free Sports Bucks, and from 11-4 Saturday a caricature artist will be on hand. A paddleboard and treadmill giveaway are also in the cards.

Play It Again Sports sells pre-owned sporting and fitness equipment, including football gear, baseball gloves and bats, hockey gear, golf clubs, soccer gear, lacrosse equipment, treadmills, pickleball equipment, kayaks, paddleboards, bikes, benches and weights.

The store will buy, sell and trade quality used sports and fitness equipment. It is expected to create nearly 10 jobs in the community.

For more information or store hours, call 860-440-8425 or visit https://www.playitagainsports.com/locations/waterford-ct.

Training & Education

The local chapter of SCORE will hold a free business webinar from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, on how to “Plan Your Website for Online Success.”

Jessica Baldwin, co-founder of Cardsetter, will cover such issues as your website’s audience; feature and functionality needs; content planning; how to choose the right platform, and best practices.

To register for this Zoom webinar, visit the SCORE mentoring site at https://www.score.org/easternct).

Baldwin will help owners and principals develop a comprehensive plan for their business’s website. Attendees may also request the free workbook upon completion of the webinar.

Cardsetter is a website platform with custom design and setup included. Learn more at https://cardsetter.com/.

SCORE Eastern CT is based at 1 Main St., Old Saybrook. For information, email ScoreChapter@gmail.com or visit https://www.score.org/easternct.

People & Places

Tim Love of Stonington just announced the release of his latest book, “Discovering Truth: How to Navigate Between Fact & Fiction in an Overwhelming Social Media World,” published by Internationalist Press.

The book is based on Love’s popular podcast series, “Discovering Truth,” which examines the difficulty of determining truth in a world of heightened social media information and data, not to mention propaganda and lies.

The book draws insights from marketing and communication legends like Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever; John Pepper, former chairman of Procter & Gamble and The Walt Disney Company, and even legendary ethologist Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. The book also includes Love’s personal “Truth Memoirs” which include his meeting P&G’s legendary CEOs Redwood Dupree and John Smale.

Love is a former vice chairman of Omnicom Group, the leading worldwide advertising and marketing services company. Since retiring, Love has taught an MBA course at Oxford University’s Said School of Business on “Branding and Communication.” Prior books by the author are “Think Like The Sun” (Aspatore) and “The Book That Gets Better With Age” (LID London).

Love said he will be presenting the book to the Stonington-Mystic Men’s Group on morning of June 2 at Mystic YMCA.

Nonprofits & Clubs

Niantic Rotary will be helping to plant potatoes and spread compost during its Day of Service on May 20. The club’s Rotarians and East Lyme High School Interact club hope to raise enough funds through a raffle to purchase a compost spreader for the East Lyme Giving Garden, which provided almost 8,000 pounds of food to area food pantries last year, and offers free classes to the community.

Another Rotary project is the Miracle League of Southeastern Connecticut. The club wants to continue support by making a substantial donation towards a phase 2 restroom/playscape project.

Raffle tickets can be purchased online until June 12, by going to nianticrotary.org. Paper tickets can be purchased at Max’s Package Store in East Lyme. Visit nianticrotary.org or follow their page on Facebook @ nianticrotaryclub.