EYE ON RETAIL: Playing for growth

Academy Sports + Outdoors has ambitious expansion plans.

The sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer plans to open 160 to 180 new stores during the next five years, company executives said on the chain’s earnings call. Initially, the new stores will be split evenly between new and existing markets.   

“As we move into 2025 and beyond, our goal will be to go into new markets, with a greater density of new store openings around the same time,” Academy CEO Steve Lawrence told analysts. "The end result of all this work, is that we believe we have an opportunity to open up, even more stores than we initially modeled in our long-range plan." 

Lawrence added that it's also important for the company to balance its openings by time of year.

"We’ve learned that stores open in the first half of the year, get out of the gate faster than stores open up in Q3 and Q4," he said. Based on this, starting in 2025, building roughly 50% of the stores for each year will open up in first and second quarters, he said.

Also during the call, Academy CFO Carl Ford said that, longer term,  Academy sees runway to have 800-plus stores nationwide.

The retailer will kick off its expansion by opening 15 to 17 new stores in its current fiscal year. The expansion includes its recently opened location in Knightdale, N.C., and an upcoming store in Greenwood, Ind., which will host its grand opening on April 12-14.

"Academy Sports + Outdoors is excited to provide our customers with new convenient stores that carry a localized assortment that meets the needs of active families in these communities," said Eric Friederich, senior VP of retail operations at Academy Sports + Outdoors. "We're looking forward to helping our loyal customers in Knightdale and Greenwood get to the fun faster and continue to be their destination for the top brands and the lowest prices at these new locations."

Academy stores offer apparel, footwear, sports and camping equipment, hunting and fishing gear, outdoor cooking, and more from top national brands as well as its exclusive private label brands. The retailer also  offers free services such as grill and bike assembly, scope mounting, bore sighting, line winding/spooling and propane exchange. 

In addition, hunting and fishing licenses are also available to purchase in stores.

Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, Academy has grown to 283 stores across 18 states.