New Retail Outlet – Pickleball Life – to Open on Bainbridge Island, the Birthplace of Pickleball, Later This Month

New shop from Island Life founder and former Disney merchandise artist Alex Sanso grew organically from years of customer demand

By Denise Stoughton

More than 60 years after pickleball was born on Bainbridge, the island is getting its first retail outlet dedicated to all things pickleball.

Pickleball Life, a new retail concept from artist, designer and Island Life Artisan Gifts founder Alex Sanso, will open Thursday, October 29, in Downtown Winslow, next door to Island Life. A Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting is planned for approximately 4 p.m. that same day.

The idea for Pickleball Life grew organically inside Sanso’s existing shop. A few months after opening Island Life, a store centered on Bainbridge Island and the experiences people have here, Sanso created a T-shirt acknowledging the island as pickleball’s birthplace. It was an immediate hit. One design led to more designs and products, many drawing on the mid-1960s aesthetic of the era when the game was invented and celebrating its Bainbridge roots. Customers responded not only to pickleball, but to the history behind it.

“Once they find out that they are indeed where it all began, the history and legacy of the sport really matters to them,” Sanso said. “They respond to the fact that not only are they buying the product at the birthplace, but that the product itself was designed right here, by us.”

Over time, the pickleball collection became such a prominent part of Island Life that Sanso began hearing customers tell friends on their phones, “I’m at the pickleball store.” She started joking that perhaps she should actually open one. Then the retail space immediately next door became available. “If there’s any time to give this a try, it is now,” Sanso recalled thinking.

Design, Place and the Things We Take Home
Pickleball Life is also the next chapter in a much longer creative career for Sanso. Before opening Island Life, she spent years as an artist and art director of merchandise and product design for Disney Theme Parks. There she developed a philosophy that continues to shape her work on Bainbridge: even the smallest object can become a lasting physical memory of a place and experience.

At Disney, that might have been an enamel pin, mug or dish. At Island Life, it has become an ornament, postcard, magnet or T-shirt that reminds someone of time spent on Bainbridge. After her first year at Island Life, Sanso remembers thinking about the hundreds of people who had purchased Christmas ornaments featuring her artwork and realizing that each year, as those ornaments returned to their trees, they might remember a visit to Bainbridge that had lasted only a few hours.

“That’s what drives me as I work on every single new item,” Sanso said. “Each one is individually and thoughtfully designed for a person who loves this place and wants to remember it for a very long time.”

Pickleball Life brings that same philosophy to a game that began on Bainbridge in 1965 and has since grown far beyond the island.

More Than a Store
Sanso also sees an opportunity for Pickleball Life to connect visitors with the living pickleball community surrounding the game’s birthplace.

Although running her businesses and creating artwork leave her little time to play, Sanso first tried pickleball around 2008 or 2009 after spotting it in a Bainbridge Parks & Recreation catalog. She loved its accessibility and sociability and the fact that people of different ages and athletic abilities could quickly find themselves in a rally. She is now a member of Bainbridge Island Pickleball (BIP) and has been talking with the organization’s leadership about ways the new shop might eventually help visiting players connect with coaches, groups and other pickleball experiences on the island.

“I want the shop to not just be a place where people can buy pickleball gear, but where they can find and connect with fellow enthusiasts who share in their passion, learn more about the history, and leave wanting to share what they learned with their friends and family back home,” Sanso said.

For Sanso, opening a store dedicated to the sport on Bainbridge also carries personal meaning. “I’m so proud that this humble little game from this beautiful tiny island is taking the world by storm,” she said. “It means the world to me that these local leaders of the game feel that I’m doing right by honoring the legacy of the sport.”

Pickleball Life officially opens to the public Thursday, October 29. The Chamber’s ribbon cutting is planned for approximately 4 p.m. on October 29.

About Pickleball Life
Pickleball Life is a new Bainbridge Island retail concept from artist and designer Alex Sanso, founder of Island Life Artisan Gifts. Located next door to Island Life in downtown Winslow, the shop celebrates pickleball through Sanso’s distinctive design perspective and the history and culture of the sport at its Bainbridge Island birthplace.

Denise Stoughton is a Bainbridge marketing professional and free-lance writer.