As it undergoes a review of its hunting business, Dick’s Sporting Goods is preparing to shed several of its Field & Stream outdoor recreation stores.
The Coraopolis, Penn.-based retailer has entered into an agreement to sell eight of the hunting and fishing outposts — located in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina — to Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, which made the announcement on Monday. The total purchase price of the deal, expected to close on Oct. 11, amounted to $28 million for inventory and assets.
Dick’s move to offload the Field & Stream stores — of which there are 35 across the United States — comes seven months after the company revealed that it would not be opening more locations of the hunting-focused business. The strategy is part of its exit from the guns business, which started two weeks after last February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
The retailer then started the process of destroying assault-style rifles it once sold in its stores and raised the age restriction to 21 for purchases of firearms and ammunition as well as took down items that resembled assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys.
Watch on FN
Additionally, during last year’s Q3 period, Dick’s had replaced hunting products with other merchandise at 10 stores where the category was underperforming. (The swap has led to three consecutive quarters of positive comp sales and better margins at those locations.) This year, the firm is also continuing with its plan to remove hunting gear from 125 more stores.
“The hunt business continues to be soft,” Dick’s CEO Edward Stack said in a conference call with investors following its Q2 earnings report on Aug. 22. “Though it’s too early to discuss performance, we’re optimistic these changes will better serve our athletes in these communities and generate positive results.”
Want more?
Dick’s Sporting Goods, Toms and 140-Plus Company Leaders Call for Tougher Gun Laws
Dick’s Sporting Goods’ New Merchandising Strategy Is Working
One Year After Its Gun Ban, Here’s What Dick’s Sporting Goods Is Focused On
