Canadian Tire closing all National Sports shops

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. says it’s closing all National Sports stores to reduce overlap in the company’s sporting goods assortment after an internal evaluation.

The decision to close all 18 of the retail stores across southern Ontario — including one in Hamilton — came as the company reported its fourth-quarter profit and revenue both rose significantly compared with a year ago.

“This has been a difficult decision, particularly due to its impact on people,” Gregory Craig, the company’s chief financial officer, told investors on a conference call Thursday. “We’re making every effort to place affected employees within our family of companies.”

The company operates multiple brands including Canadian Tire, Mark’s, SportChek, Atmosphere, Sports Experts and Pro Hockey Life.

Greg Hicks, president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp., told investors that the company’s fourth-quarter results were “nothing short of phenomenal” and that its full-year results were strong despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Across the company’s banners, consolidated comparable sales grew a “record breaking” 9.5 per cent in the fourth quarter while e-commerce sales grew 142 per cent, he said.

Still, the decision to close National Sports is part of Canadian Tire’s strategy to increase efficiencies and focus on core assets, he said.

“It’s a smaller banner for us, for sure, but the decision to close the business is a matter of focus,” Hicks told investors. “There’s always been a fair amount of overlap with this banner and both SportChek and (Canadian Tire).”

He said there is an overlap between e-commerce capabilities as well.