Pembroke Pines Golfsmith closing amid bankruptcy
Retailer shutting some larger stores
Golfsmith, an Austin, Texasbased golf gear retailer, is closing its Pembroke Pines store as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court lastweek.
The closing of the store at 12151 Pines Blvd., near the Pembroke Lakes Mall, is one of 20 announced by the chain. The company’s website on Wednesday stated that the store is closing and invited shoppers to save “up to 30 percent at this location only.”
The company’s court filing stated “such closures will improve the debtors’ financial outlook and liquidity profile and will allow them to focus their efforts around the restructuring or sale of a smaller footprint of their most profitable stores in target markets with the potential for sustainable growth.”
A news release detailing the bankruptcy reorganization and store closings quoted Golfsmith CEO David Roussy as saying, “We will continue in our commitment to provide our customers with the exceptional service and highquality golf products they have come to expect fromus.”
Underperforming stores identified in a “systematic review” by the company and its advisers “are subject to above-market rent, are in regions over-saturated with retail sports stores, or are too large for the debtors’ needs,” the filing said.
Not on Golfsmith’s closure list are stores in Hollywood, Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens, among others in Florida. However, the bankruptcy filing said the company is continuing to evaluate its lease portfolio “to seek out opportunities for cost savings, including the possibility of seeking rent concessions from landlords.”
The 34,000-square-foot Pembroke Pines store opened in August 2014 with a huge indoor putting green, a performance improvement center with PGA teaching professionals, seven hitting bays and four club-fitting studios, according to a story in the Miami Herald.
The company’s Sept. 14 news release said it planned to sell more than 50 Canadian stores branded as Golf Town to a purchaser group, while a story in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 15 quoted Golfsmith attorney Michael Walsh as saying the company over-expanded, had too many stores and had some stores thatwere too big.