Meet Playz International

Known for an extensive range of sportswear, specialising in official American Football, Ice Hockey, Baseball, NBA and European Soccer, Ilyas Yusupov of Playz International shares his wonderful story of 25 years at Dandenong Market.

Ilyas was an Ice Hockey superstar in his hometown of Russia but his love for sport didn’t end there. Ilyas has watched and enjoyed sports from around the world for most of his life, now sharing his passion and his extensive knowledge of sports with Dandenong Market customers.

A qualified dentist in Russia, Ilyas emigrated from Russia to Australia in 1990 knowing not a single word of English. Moving to the outskirts of Dandenong, Ilyas’s grandfather and family started regularly shopping at Dandenong Market, discovering a global community and meeting fellow Russians. Eventually, an opportunity came up at the Market for Ilyas to start a stall. With his deep-rooted love of sport and a gap in the market for sporting goods, Ilyas started up his family business.

As Ilyas learned English, he started to share his amazing sporting knowledge with customers. And as he stocked sporting goods at a great price, the business grew quickly and Playz International eventually became a hot spot with customers from all over Melbourne.

There isn’t a player, team or number that Ilyas doesn’t know, passionately following, watching and reading about every sporting league from around the world.

A family man, Ilyas and his wife have three children, his two sons helping in the Market when they were younger and his daughter now living in Russia.

Ilyas loves shopping and supporting Dandenong Market in every way. His family and the extended Russian community shop for everything at the Market as it is a popular meeting place for coffee and eating and seeing friends.

Visit Playz International at A2-3 The Bazaar.

• Clothing
• Fasion
• Menswear
• Sporting goods
• The Bazaar