A crowd gathered in front of the Dunham’s Sports at the Warren Mall for the store’s grand opening Friday morning.

Dunham’s Sports is now open in the Warren Mall.

The twenty-ninth store the franchise has opened in Pennsylvania, Warren’s new Dunham’s Sports has taken over the old Big Lots location inside the mall. Store manager Trevor Long cut the ribbon on Friday morning, and a crowd of shoppers stepped in for the first time shortly afterward.

Long is no stranger to Dunham’s Sports. A native of Dubois, long worked at Dunham’s as a summer job during college. When the store decided to open in Warren, Long said, “I came back for the opportunity for growth.”

The addition of Dunham’s to the Warren Mall has been a project about two years in the making, Long said. But he knew that he wanted to be a manager for the company. “Were here for the customer,” said Long. We have the big names at super low prices, and really everything we do is for the customer.” Providing customer service at the new location, said Long, is what he’s all about.

The store is continuing its opening momentum with doughnuts, baloons, specials, and complementary merchandise throughout the weekend, Long said. Customers at the grand opening Friday got to claim a free tee shirt for showing up. Saturday, said Long, the store will be giving away hats. They will also be giving away a basketball hooop, an air rifle, and a Berne work jacket during the opening weekend celebration, Long said.

For Long’s part, he said, he’s just looking forward to being a part of the community to “provide sporting goods to the customer, for the kids in sports, for them to be able to come in and get what they need. We have it all under one roof,” Long said.

Dunham’s Sports is open at the Warren Mall Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.