Sport Authority into Chapter 11

[diamonback68]

Sports Authority today filed for Chapter 11 protection and will close 140 stores. Looking for a buyer for the remaining 310 stores or may have to go out of business entirely. I always liked their store when I had one near me.

 

[DWalt]

I hadn't seen that. The old Oshman's chain of sporting goods stores morphed into Sports Authority.

 

[arjay]

Mediocre products and poor customer service will do that

 

[mcoe74]

SA is closing two stores in my area.

 

[coltle6920]

Mediocre products and poor customer service will do that

Only been in one once...Wasn't a bad experience but neither was it an experience to make me want to come back.Seemed like the only employee was the one at the cash register.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I bought some accessories from them many moons ago, but never a gun as they were always high, but they really cut out firearms and dropped handguns around here when they changed names to Sports Authority. Sorry for anyone losing a job, but it has been a long time since I shopped there.

 

[Arik]

SA sells firearms?

 

[chief38]

Hate to say it but they won't be missed in my neck of the woods. Not that I like to see anyone go belly up, but they just did not carry what the consumers wanted - ESPECIALLY when it came to guns and ammo!

 

[.455_Hunter]

Gart Brothers was THE sporting goods chain store here in Colorado until the late 90's. The "Sports Castle" on Broadway south of downtown Denver had an entire floor devoted to hunting and fishing. Fast forward 10 years, and Garts has been absorbed into Sports Authority, the hunting and fishing department punted to Sportsman's Warehouse, Cabelas, Bass Pro, etc. and replaced by yoga mats and soccer balls. The Sports Authority in Boulder still sells long guns and ammo, but the selection is awful.

 

[Salty RI]

Around here when they started out they were good but went down hill fast.

 

[LVSteve]

No surprise here. The sports store situation reminds me of when there were so many computer/electronics retailers in the late 90s. It was obvious that some would go away. Remember Circuit City and CompUSA?

 

[S&W Fan]

Well living here at ground zero I've seen lots of interesting things happen. From the point SA bought out the Gart family things started changing. No more handguns, full retail on everything, stupid "Sniagrab" sale every year on prior years stuff you could still buy cheaper online.

My daughter-in-law worked in their corporate offices and it was a revolving door since the company dished out $6mil/yr (25yr commitment) for the Broncos stadium naming rights. That same week 100 employees were let go, new ceo brought in. She decided she wasn't going back at the end of her maternity leave.

In the 2+ years since virtually all her close friends were let go or quit.

The big talk is that Dick's is the hot buyer waiting in the wings. I hope regardless of what happens that the Sports Castle in downtown Denver doesn't get torn down. Unique building.

When I moved to Denver in 1984 I became good friends with the guy that managed the gun dept. at the Castle. I brought home some nice Smiths at really good prices.

 

[bushmaster1313]

17 years ago there was a nice selection of new handguns at Sports Authority in New Jersey.

Then overnight they stopped selling handguns. Clerk said it was a corporate decision nationwide.

Several years later they stopped selling long guns and ammo.

Dicks still sells long guns and ammo in NJ. They also have quite a bit of fishing gear.

 

[2ffat]

UPDATE: SA will close ALL stores. Story can be found at CNN Money.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Seems like it's normal for these big box general sporting goods stores to come and go. Around here were had Sports Unlimited, Jumbo Sports and another one I forget the names of. Those are gone and now there's Dick's and Academy. The big box sportsman stores are the big deal around here. We got Gander, Sportsman Warehouse, Cabela's and a Bass Pro Shop will be opening in a few weeks right across the road from Cabela's. I guess business must be good but I can rarely find anything that I consider reasonably priced compared to what I can easily find online.

 

[model70hunter]

20 years ago when we moved to STL there was a new shiny SA a couple of miles down the road. Fishing, guns, ammo.

One day I went in while my wife was at a Hobby Lobby next door. Hadn't been there in a month or so. I walked back to the gun dept and saw a table with fishing tackle on it, marked down 50%. When I got to the gun spot all was gone. Some trash now resided where the pistols did, jocks hung where the ammo was and some yard game stuff finished out the spot. I was told they quit gun sales except for a store way south of STL. I was welcome to drive 25-30 miles to shop. I said pup there are many closer places and your prices were never close to anyone else's except ammo when it was on sale.

I haven't been in one in 17-18 years. So they're gone. I'm Sorry for the employees but not the greedy ones at the top.

 

[Watchdog]

No surprise here. The sports store situation reminds me of when there were so many computer/electronics retailers in the late 90s. It was obvious that some would go away. Remember Circuit City and CompUSA?

Remember both of those chains very well. For a while, CompUSA was the only place around here to buy software like Photoshop, high end Epson negative scanners, and Wacom tablets...I mean they actually kept those things in stock! And printer ink for high dollar Epson printers! Seems like I was in there every other week, spending money I didn't have.

 

[DWalt]

The local SA has been undergoing a liquidation sale for the last several months, at 30% off. They had a LOT of ammo at that time, but even at 30% off, I thought it was still too expensive, at least for those calibers I would consider buying. I spoke to the manager about a better price, he told me that he couldn't budge one millimeter on the 30% off. Earlier this week it was still 30% off, but much of the ammo was already gone, nothing left I would buy even at 50% off.

 

[Bullet Bob]

"The big talk is that Dick's is the hot buyer waiting in the wings. I hope regardless of what happens that the Sports Castle in downtown Denver doesn't get torn down. Unique building.

When I moved to Denver in 1984 I became good friends with the guy that managed the gun dept. at the Castle. I brought home some nice Smiths at really good prices."
______________________________________________

I thought Outdoorman was the place to go in Denver.

 

[JohnSW]

My local Sports Authority store is just kind of a smallish "meh nothing" in a strip mall.

My local Dick's Sporting Goods store is a big two story stand-alone building. The building was originally built by yet another sports store chain that went under. I forget the name.