Liquidators have bought all of Englewood, Colo.-based Sports Authority’s inventory in a bankruptcy auction as rival Dick’s Sporting Goods, Pittsburgh, is preparing to purchase a small number of the closed retail locations, according to The Denver Post.
Dick’s will bid for nearly two dozen of the hundreds of leases that will be auctioned in June as part of Sports Authority’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, officials said during a recent earnings call with analysts.
“There’s a small group of stores we would love to get,” Dick’s CEO Edward W. Stack said during the earnings call.
Going-out-of-business sales for the Sports Authority’s stores could start as soon as this week and conclude by Aug. 31, although documents filed in United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware say the liquidators could push out the final closing dates, according to The Denver Post report.
Getting the Sports Authority leases out of Chapter 11 will require Dick’s to assume the contracts as they stand and “cure” any missed payments.
“We don’t feel compelled that we have to take any particular deal,” Stack said. Dick’s also won’t try to chase the liquidation pricing at Sports Authority’s going-out-of-business sales, he said.
Stack also indicated that Dick’s will start marketing to “refugee” consumers, those Sport’s Authority customers who will be looking for another retail outlet after the store closures are finalized. Newspaper and radio advertising already has begun to reach out to Sports Authority customers, offering loyalty-card members $20 to sign up for a similar program at Dick’s. — J.L.