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Sporting goods snag: Finding the right gear can be a problem

From cleats to shoulder pads, if you have a kid in sports, chances are you've had trouble finding some of their equipment this season.

SCRANTON, Pa. — Parents scrambling to find sports gear for their kids this season have found some luck at Battaglia's in Scranton.

"We've had a lot of people come in here the last three, four months who've been elsewhere and on the internet. 'Can't find it, so we're coming to you," said owner Paul Ezbiansky.

But that doesn't mean they've been without issue here. Ezbiansky says he and his employees spend a lot of time on the phone.

"Every day, we struggle," Ezbiansky said. "We're on the phone with companies. 'When are we going to get this? When are we going to get that?' It's across the board from baseball gloves to footballs to t-shirts, everything."

And prices across the board, too, are through the roof, mainly due to higher shipping costs.

"There probably isn't an item we haven't had to raise prices on."

But Ezbiansky says they're in better shape than some larger companies. That's why customers are coming to him.

"Being a small company, we can be sort of flexible, so we can call different people, take smaller amounts, so we've been pretty good."

For the summer and fall sports season, Ezbiansky says they ordered plenty of soccer equipment, footballs, and shoulder pads. It's just a matter of the products coming in and on time.

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