Sporting Goods Stores is a retail business selling sporting and recreational goods, including sportswear, equipment, and related general merchandise.
While many of us may think Dick Sporting Goods is the largest Sporting Goods Store in the World at 800 locations, it is a company named Decathlon with about 1700 stores in 60 countries and territories.
Many Sporting Goods store chains over the years have faced heavy competition through online shopping (Amazon) and other Big Box stores like Walmart and Target causing many of them to shutter or downsize.
Today we will review a list of the Top 10 Forgotten Sporting Goods Stores that no longer exist.
10. Davega Stores
Davega Stores was founded in 1879 at Third Avenue and 34th Street by I. Davega. Among the products sold by the retailer were sporting goods, televisions, radio, and baseball board games.
The company was at its peak in 1953, and it earned a net income of $118,998 amounting to 0.24 per common share. The corporation opened a new store at 152 West 42nd Street, in the Times Square area, on November 6, 1954.
A federal court ordered Davega Stores into straight bankruptcy in April 1963, when its court-appointed trustee could not formulate a reorganization plan under which the chain could pay its debts.
Henry Modell & Co (parent company of today's Modell's Sporting Goods) won a bid of $311,000 in April 1963, and he became the president of the newly formed Modell's Davega, inc. from the 8 stores that were acquired
9. Olympia Sports
Olympia Sports was founded in 1975 as a single store at the Maine Mall in South Portland. The stores sold footwear, sports equipment, and clothing.
At its peak, Olympia stores had about 226 locations mostly across New England, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic. It was headquartered in nearby Westbrook, Maine, and had a flagship store in Boston.
Olympia Sports also housed the Olympia Sports Foundation, a non-profit clothing bank, where unused clothing and vendor materials are donated to individuals in need. The foundation was shut down in 2016 as a cost-saving measure.
In 2019 the chain was purchased by running-apparel retailer brand JackRabbit in a deal that only 75 of the 152 Olympia stores were purchased with the remaining 77 stores slated to close in the months after the sale.
In September 2022, Olympia Sports filed for bankruptcy and shuttered its then remaining 35 stores.
Olympia Sports intellectual properties were sold to Albert Fouerti at an auction on February 17, 2023.
8. Herman's World of Sporting Goods
In 1985, the Dee Corporation of the United Kingdom, unable to expand in the UK due to its extensive holdings, purchased Herman's. To expand the chain, the next year, Dee moved west with the acquisition of Salt Lake City-based M&H Sporting Goods, which operated 41 units under the Sunset Sports Centers and Wolfe's names in western states. By 1992, Herman's had 259 stores in 35 states.
The chain would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 citing its excessive debt load from acquisition and announced it would concentrate on its Northeast region. This includes selling some of its locations to MC Sports, Gart Brothers, and Big 5 Sporting Goods. It emerged from Chapter 11 in September 1994 with 103 units along the Northeast Corridor.
On April 26, 1996, it filed for Chapter 11 again citing a crowded market including such "category killers" as Sports Authority, as well as a harsh winter and recent strikes and lockouts in baseball and hockey for diminishing sales.
It then proceeded to liquidate its stores and Regional competitor Modell's Sporting Goods acquired 16 stores in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
7. G.I. Joe's store
G.I. Joe's began in 1952 when Edward Orkney purchased army surplus sleeping bags and then set up a tent in Portland, Oregon, to sell them to the public. Orkney sold out of the sleeping bags and then started selling other army surplus merchandise in a store that then doubled in size by 1956, making it Portland's largest retailer of sporting goods and outdoor gear.
During the 1960s, Orkney transitioned the company away from military surplus and towards an eclectic combination of sporting goods, automotive parts, and hardware.
In 1991 the chain expanded to the Seattle market and had increased to 14 stores with revenue of $135 million and by 2000, revenue had increased to $161 million from 17 stores, making G.I. Joe's the 12th largest sporting goods retailer in the United States, and largest in the Pacific Northwest.
On February 5, 2007, G.I. Joe's was sold to Gryphon Investors in a private equity deal for about $50 million.
The newly acquired company announced that it was dropping the "G. I." from its name to simply become Joe's to better reflect its product line, which had not included military surplus in many years.
On March 4, 2009, the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with hopes of selling the company.
The company began liquidation sales on April 10, 2009, and all stores were closed by the end of May with 1600 employees laid off.
Dick’s Sporting Goods would take over 5 former Joe stores which were part of the plan by the former managers to resurrect a small part of the company.
In January 2010 former Joe's executives established a small storefront in a strip mall in the Portland suburb of Bethany, using the original G.I. Joe's moniker. Within 6 months, the attempt failed after Joe's founder Edward Orkney, was sued for trademark infringement by UFA Holdings, the company that had acquired the right to the name and related trademarks such as "Seize the Weekend".
The former executives had thought they had legal standing since the UFA wasn't actively using the name.
6. Sport Chalet
Early on, Sport Chalet stocked products that few other stores sold, such as scuba and mountain-climbing gear. When surfing became popular in the early 1960s, the store began carrying longboards and wetsuits. The stores also featured large apparel and footwear departments complemented by an array of specialized departments and sections.
It wasn't until the 1980s that the store opened its second location and soon started to expand throughout Southern California. Some stores were also opened in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
In 1997 Craig Levra came on board as president and in 1999 took over as CEO. By this time Sport Chalet began trading publicly on the NASDAQ exchange.
Founder Norbert Olberz would sadly pass away in La Cañada Flintridge on July 15, 2011, survived by his wife Irene and his son Eric.
Just a few years later at 47 stores, Sport Chalet was sold to Vestis Retail Group for $17M, as well as absorbing its current $50M in debts in 2014.
On April 16, 2016, Sport Chalet announced that all stores would close with May 15 being the last day for customers to use gift cards and store credits, and that online merchandise sales had already been stopped. Parent Company, Vestis Retail Group, (which owns the Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob's Stores sporting goods chains as well as Sport Chalet), announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. By June 2016, all stores had closed.
5. MC Sports
MC Sports was an American retail sporting goods chain founded by Jack Finkelstein and Genevieve in 1946 as Michigan Clothiers.
In the beginning, it sold men's clothes and specially targeted military surplus items before it switched its gear from clothing to sports goods, and it sold products like apparel, sports equipment, exercise equipment, and footwear.
MC Sports accelerated its expansion through the acquisition of Morrie Mages' Sports, a three-store chain located in the Chicago area, and the 19-store chain Browns Sporting Goods.
At its peak, it operated 75 locations in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Iowa. It faced heavy competition from Sports Authority and was ranked the 75th largest retailer of Sporting Goods in the United States.
In February 2017, the company announced that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which was ultimately converted to Chapter 7 liquidation. All stores were closed by June 2017.
4. Galyan's Trading Company
Many of the stores featured rock climbing walls, golf simulators, and archery ranges.
The Limited would eventually sell 60% of the company to the investment firm of Freeman, Spogli & Company and Galyan’s became a publicly traded company when it released its IPO on NASDAQ in 2001.
By 2004, Galyans had 47 stores in 21 states and rival Dicks Sporting Goods Inc. was in talks of purchasing the company for $362 Million along with 57 million dollars of its debts.
Limited Brands Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, which still held a 22 percent stake in Galyans, said it would sell its 3.9 million shares as part of the deal.
The deal closed in October 2004 with Dick's Sporting Goods now operating 216 stores in 32 states (With the addition of Galyans),
3. Oshman's Sporting Goods
Oshman's Sporting Goods was founded in 1919 by J.S Jake Oshman (an immigrant from Latvia). He opened the first store "Oshman's Dry Goods," in Richmond, Texas.
In 1931 he moved to Houston by buying the stock of a bankrupt army-surplus store known as Crawford-Austin and liquidating its inventory. During the process, he discovered that sporting goods, especially fishing and hunting supplies, sold well.
This led to the first Oshman Outdoor Store opening in 1933 in Downtown Houston at Capitol and Fannin. It was later incorporated as Oshman's Sporting Goods 15 years later as the country emerged from World War 2.
The company would expand throughout the Greater Houston area then other areas such as Bay City, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, and Pasadena.
J.S Jake Oshman would pass away in 1965 and by that time, Oshman’s was Texas's largest sporting goods chain and the largest sporting goods chain in the Southwestern United States.
In the 1970’s after expanding into the Los Angeles area, Oshman purchase the right to the trade name of Abercrombie & Fitch for $1.5 million.
As of October 31, 1987, the company operated 185 traditional stores, one Super Sports USA store, and 27 Abercrombie and Fitch stores. Oshman’s would later sell its Abercrombie and Fitch division to The Limited.
In 2001, Gart Sports Company announced that it would buy Oshman's for a combination of cash and stock valued at around $82 million. In June of that year, it merged into GSC Acquisition Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gart. Many of Oshman's stores became Sports Authority stores
2. Modell's Sporting Goods
Through the years it remained a family-owned business passing through four generations of the Modell Family.
While best known as a sporting goods retailer, Modell's also operated a chain of "full-line" discount retailers in the New York metro area known as "Modell's Shopper's World" (and for a short time as "White-Modells") from the mid-1950s up until 1989.
Modell’s operated 152 stores at its peak mainly in the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania area, but soon expanded its way to Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Its flagship store was at 234 West 42nd Street near Times Square.
In the early 21st century, Modell's faced declining sales which then CEO Mitchell Modell blamed on increased competition, poor performance by professional sports teams, and increased temperatures caused by climate change.
in February 2020 the company announced that it intended to close 24 stores. However, in March 2020, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced that it would liquidate its 134 remaining stores. The liquidation began on March 13, 2020. All their stores were closed by the end of August 2020
Modell's was acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a holding company founded by Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez, for $3.64 million. The acquisition was finalized on August 14, 2020, and The Modell's website was relaunched in 2020.
On March 2, 2023, Retail Ecommerce Ventures, Modell's current parent, announced that it was mulling a possible bankruptcy filing.
1. Sports Authority
It was acquired by Kmart in 1990 and eventually expanded to 136 stores in 26 states before it was spun off from parent Kmart in 1994.
Gart Sports which also operated Oshman’s and Sportmart completed a “merger of equals” with Sports Authority on August 4, 2003, taking over the Sports Authority name as the combined company.
By May 2006, the remaining stores that were not operating under the Sports Authority name were re-branded to the Sports Authority name.
Also, that same year, Sports Authority agreed to be purchased in a leveraged buyout by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity investment firm, in a transaction valued at $1.4 billion.
At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico.
The company would also launch a new store brand “S.A. Elite” in 2010 based on consumer research and testing. These stores were smaller than typical Sports Authority stores and carried more high-end sports apparel and accessories.
In 2011, Sports Authority would also purchase the naming rights for the Broncos Stadium in Denver Colorado calling it Sport Authority at Mile High.
On February 4, 2016, it was widely reported that Sports Authority was set to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due to debt problems.
After considering restructuring, Sports Authority announced that on April 26, they would sell all of their assets, including all of the remaining store locations.
Rivalry stores Academy Sports + Outdoors and Dick's Sporting Goods had expressed interest in purchasing Sports Authority's assets.
On May 18, however, it was announced that the effort to avoid liquidation was unsuccessful, causing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to be converted to Chapter 7 meaning all remaining stores would be closed.
As of July 28, 2016, the Sports Authority website redirected to Dick's Sporting Goods website as it won the auction for Sports Authority's brand name and intellectual property.
The naming rights of the Stadium ended in 2018 as well.
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