UNLOADING
Dick’s Sporting Goods to pull guns, hunting gear from 440 more stores
About a year after replacing its hunting products in over 100 stores with other merchandise, Dick’s Sporting Goods is quadrupling down on its move away from selling guns, ammunition and accessories, with plans to swap out the shelves in about 440 stores by mid-year.
In 2018, Dick’s Sporting Goods caught the national spotlight when the Findlay-based retailer said it would, among other policy changes, stop selling modern sporting rifles at its Field & Stream stores following the massacre at a Parkland, Fla., high school. Later
— Ed Stack, chairman and CEO
that year, the company decided to dedicate less space to the gun rack.
Hunting products — a low-margin business — were replaced with other merchandise like outerwear and batting cages.
To date, Dick’s has removed hunting gear from 135 stores, Ed Stack, chairman and CEO, told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday. What ends up replacing that department in the next several hundred stores to be switched out over the next six months — leaving hunting merchandise in about 12% of Dick’s locations — will vary depending on the local market, Mr. Stack said.
The company has been investing in youth sports and baseball for years and is restructuring its soccer and golf business. It’s also launching an initiative in women’s sports and fitness.
The women’s initiative “will deliver an expanded assortment across several key sports including
“The demand from these other categories as we looked through this was very high ...”
basketball, soccer and softball. In addition, our marketing in early 2020 will amplify Dick’s as the go-to destination for her,” said Lauren R. Hobart, president.
But the decision to nix hunting merchandise in many of its stores is more than just leaving a low-margin business, Mr. Stack told analysts.
“The demand from these other categories as we looked through this was very high — the demand of what we could do in the baseball business, what we can do in the soccer business.
“We are unable to serve these athletes with the space allocated to the hunt area, and we took a look at this, there is a sales upside we believe and we think there is a margin rate upside to these other categories, and they’re growing where the hunt business is not growing.”
Still, some stores in rural areas will offer hunting items.
“There are stores in more rural areas where hunting is an important part of people’s lives to feed themselves,” Mr. Stack said. “They hunt, not just for sport, but they hunt to feed their families. And as we’ve taken a look at that, we think that that’s important to continue to provide that.”
As of Feb. 1, Dick’s operated 726 locations across the country.
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported consolidated net income for the full year ended Feb. 1 of $297.5 million, or $3.34 per diluted share, compared to $319.9 million, or $3.24 per diluted share, in 2019.
Net sales for the full year rose 3.7% to about $8.75 billion. Consolidated same store sales, a key measure that tracks stores open at least a year, also increased 3.7%.
The company’s stock closed Tuesday at $35.87, up 4.03%.