Since 1965, people have played the sport of pickleball, but the game came into its own during the 21st century. Originally created by three Washington state dads to entertain their children, it grew in popularity from play on Bainbridge Island, WA, down the coast to California, then throughout the US. Today, people play pickleball around the globe. Perhaps you, too, would like to try this fun, easy-to-play sport.
But where do you buy pickleball equipment? Where would you shop for pickleball paddles, balls, and nets online?
You can find pickleball equipment on the websites of most major e-tailers, such as Walmart, Kohls, Macy’s, and Amazon, plus at every major athletic store. A few online shops even specialize in pickleball supplies, such as The Pickleball Exchange.
Let’s explore the choices, so you can find the perfect shop for your pickleball needs.
Related To: How are Pickleball Paddles Made? | Types of Pickleball Paddles
1. The Pickleball Exchange
Start your shopping at The Pickleball Exchange, the largest specialty store devoted to the sport. This shop carries most of the major brands, including Pursuit, K-SWISS, Fila, Joola, Trident, and Encore Pro. You might think that you would pay more by shopping at a specialty store, but that’s the opposite of the fact.
Besides the massive selection available at The Pickleball Exchange, it offers a resale shop for used equipment, which can help players land sweet equipment for much less than it would cost new. The store also offers regular sales of its new equipment. The shop offers paddles, balls, nets, bags, gloves, and shoes.
2. Pickleball Central
Shop Pickleball Central for a massive selection of pickleball equipment. The entire store services only this one sport. Find Fila, Champion, Rally, Franklin, SwiftNet, and many more brands at this store. This shop offers a huge selection of nets, both portable and permanent. It also carries net accessories like PVC sleeves for the net posts and carrying cases for portable nets.
The store offers a vast selection of clothing, shoes, and hats. Choose your new paddle from pages and pages of choices. Pickleball Central offers more than 120 paddles and more than 20,000 user reviews to help you choose just the right racquet online.
3. Pickleball Galaxy
As vast as Central’s selection, it can’t beat Pickleball Galaxy, which offers things that I haven’t even seen on Amazon.com and that’s saying a lot. Sure, you can find plenty of paddles, balls, nets, and clothes. The site offers shoes, gloves, and hats, too. None of that surprises a person. Neither do the bags, but this store offers the only selection of pickleball eye guards.
The store offers models of eye guards that cover prescription glasses and those you’d wear alone. You can also purchase a pickleball pitching machine here and choose from four different models. Two of these use oscillation and two do not. The store also offers lead tape and shoe inserts. Pickleball Galaxy offers equipment that’s exclusive to its store and a pickleball learning center.
4. Academy Sports + Outdoors
One of the many major sporting stores to carry pickleball equipment, Academy Sports + Outdoors, offers a decent selection. Its choices don’t range as wide as a specialty store, but it does offer a few options for each equipment type. Purchasing here can net you a discount since you use shopping cashback sites like MyPoints to earn money off of your purchase.
It’s Academy and the store carries most major brands. You’ll find a vast selection of shoes, but few specifically for pickleball. That’s because few shoes specific to the sport exist yet. Typically, cross trainer shoes work well or shoes for tennis. The shop offers paddles, balls, nets, bags, gloves, and shoes.
5. Dick’s Sporting Goods
To no one’s surprise, Dick’s Sporting Goods offers a massive selection of pickleball equipment, including shoes. The major retailer carries more than 900 distinct pickleball products. Shop here to find options from ASICS, Franklin, Monarch, Nike, Fila, Onix, and JOOLA. Dick’s probably has the most comprehensive shoe selection specifically for the sport.
This includes the Fila Volley Zone line for men and women. Dick’s also carries a wide selection of balls for both indoor and outdoor use. The shop offers paddles, balls, nets, racquet bags, gloves, shoes, clothing, paddle covers, socks, paddle grips, and much more. Besides a specialty shop, Dick’s offers the most comprehensive selection of pickleball equipment.
6. Selkirk
At Selkirk, you’ll find Selkirk brand items. The manufacturer sells its own brand direct to the public via its website. Selkirk makes portable pickleball nets, paddles, balls, bags, and gloves. The selection won’t be huge here since the brand only sells its own items, but they do produce some of the better equipment.
You can also purchase their equipment on various major retailer sites. Since pickleball equipment can get expensive, this lets you comparison shop between the manufacturer and retail to catch the better sale.
7. Anthem Sports
Shop Anthem Sports for a decent selection of Champion, DuraFast, Wilson, Oncourt, Jugs, First Team, and other major brands. While it doesn’t rival the massive Dick’s selection, Anthem does manage to offer quite a bit of equipment from which to choose and some clothing.
While the store offers the essentials of paddles, balls, nets, bags, gloves, and shoes, you won’t find many options for pickleball clothing unless you could also wear it for tennis. Many of the options offered fall into that dual option.
8. Tennis Sport
Although the store’s name says tennis, Tennis Sport also offers a small boutique of pickleball items. The shop carries Selkirk, Nettie, Yonex, Head Gravity, and Gamma Dart brands. Its selection tends to focus on paddles/racquets, but also includes balls, nets, gloves, and shoes. Some bag options could double in use as a general sports bag.
9. Kohl’s
Yep, pickleball has grown so popular that Kohl’s department store carries equipment for it. The selection won’t overwhelm you, but the store does offer Champion, Zume, Onix, and Franklin equipment including nets, paddles, balls, bags, and pickleball sets.
If you shop at the right time of year, you’ll earn Kohl’s cash, which later the same year, works just like actual cash, but only at Kohl’s. While the store doesn’t offer pickleball-specific shoes, it does offer numerous athletic shoes.
10. Macy’s
Macy’s department store also carries a small selection of pickleball equipment. You’ll have a page of items from which to choose, but it’s pretty comprehensive. The department store offers multiple full sets of pickleball equipment, meaning that in addition to the paddles and balls, the set also includes a net. Some sets also provide sandbags and a carrying case.
Macy’s also carries standalone pieces of equipment, such as paddles, balls, bags, gloves, and nets. It offers Hathaway, Franklin Sports, Champion, and Calvin Klein. Did I get you with that last brand? Calvin Klein designs a line of women’s pickleball wear. Sorry guys. Nothing for you.
11. Wayfair
This should tell you just how major a sport pickleball has become. Even Wayfair, the household décor and home shopping site, carries pickleball sets and single pieces of equipment, such as paddles. The items became so popular that Wayfair frequently sells out of its stock of everything. At the time of this article’s writing, Wayfair had sold out of every item it carries for pickleball.
The store carries Rally, Jugs, Top, and Hathaway brands. Because Wayfair has a partnership with Walmart, its items consist of part of the stock of Walmart’s online inventory. The shop offers paddles, balls, nets, and bags. It doesn’t offer gloves or shoes specifically designed for the sport but does offer cross trainers and shoes for tennis, which you can also wear for pickleball.
12. Amazon
It’s Amazon. It carries everything. The merry band of sellers on Amazon ensures that the major e-tailer outdoes every online store. The selection seems endless and includes things you probably didn’t conceive of existing. From pickleball-themed socks to t-shirts regaling the world of your love of the sport, Amazon offers it.
The store carries major brands like Monarch, Onix, GRM, and Fila. It also carries smaller brands, less well-known brands, off-brands, and unbranded. Essentially, everything pickleball possible. It sounds like I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. I mean, how about a gender-neutral Sucipi Pickleball Bag Backpack in a wild island print or solid color?
You get a choice of eight colors. There’s the book, “Pickleball: Food for Thought: A Collection of Tips, Strategies, and Observations,” and shirts titled, “Just Dink It.” Happy shopping. Need some pickleball lead tape? Just set aside a few days and scroll through each page to see everything.
Some of the items inspire hilarity, others seem necessary, and still, others seem professional in nature. If you decide to open your own pickleball fields, you could shop here to obtain the equipment, including professional nets.
Frequently Asked Questions
You’ve still got shopping questions and we’ve got answers. Ask away!
Q. What equipment must I have to get started playing pickleball?
At a minimum, you will need a paddle, a set of balls, a net, and an area that you can either tape off or chalk or paint lines onto to demarcate the court. Unless your playing partner has their own equipment, you’ll need a paddle for them, too.
Q. How much should I expect to spend to get started?
Pickleball costs very little to start playing. You can find paddles for less than $20 and a pack of balls for between $7 and $12. If you live near playing courts, you won’t need to purchase a net. Athletic shoes like those used for tennis or cross trainers also work well. Try the sport first, before sinking too much money into it. If you do begin playing it seriously, expect to invest more money in a racquet. A top-of-the-line paddle costs between $150 to $200.
Q. How do I know that my gear meets pickleball standards?
The Us governing body of the sport offers a free equipment guide that discusses all equipment standards. You can download a .pdf copy of the guide to equipment from the USA Pickleball Association. This guide includes minimum and maximum measurements for all equipment and explains the measurements of the pickleball court, including the non-volley zones.
Q. Wow, some of this gear gets expensive. How can I save money on it?
Join a local pickleball club. Many of the local clubs create an agreement with an athletic store or online chain. For instance, in Prince William County, the Woodbridge Pickleball Club has two such preferred vendor agreements that net its members with a five percent off discount on any equipment purchase.