Another sporting goods retailer, this one nearly 50 years old with roots in Maine, is getting out of the game.
Westbrook-based Olympia Sports, which once had more than 200 stores mainly in the Northeast, is shuttering its remaining 35 locations, according to the Associated Press. Liquidation sales have already started. The retailer didn't immediately respond to an email from CoStar News on Monday.
But on LinkedIn, the chain's vice president of store operations confirmed the shutdown.
"After 47 years, of which I have been honored to be part of 14, Olympia Sports will permanently close its business at the end of September 2022," Shelby Wheelock posted. "There are countless outstanding employees who will soon be looking for their next opportunity."
Olympia is the latest sporting goods retailer to close all its stores in the face of competition from huge national chains such as Target and Walmart, which sell some sports items, as well as Coraopolis, Pennsylvania-based Dick's Sporting Goods, which has 729 namesake stores. In 2016, The Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and had 450 stores. The chain ended up being liquidated. Most recently, in 2020 during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Modell's Sporting Goods filed for bankruptcy protection, and it ultimately shut all its locations. The company, which was about 130 years old and had 153 stores across the Northeast, had billed itself as the nation's oldest family-owned sporting-goods retailer.
Olympia was founded in 1975, opening its first store at the Maine Mall in South Portland. The retailer eventually expanded to have about 226 stores. The chain was purchased by running-apparel retailer brand JackRabbit, based in Denver and then owned by CriticalPoint Capital, in October 2019.
In that deal, JackRabbit purchased only 75 of Olympia Sports' 152 stores, with the remaining 77 then slated to close in the months after the sale.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Olympia Sports brand into the JackRabbit family,” Bill Kirkendall, JackRabbit CEO, said at the time of the acquisition. “Olympia has been a leader and household name in providing premium athletic-specialty brands and sporting goods in the Northeast for 45 years. This acquisition continues JackRabbit’s expansion and commitment to providing the most complete, high-performance product offerings, services, and experiences to the active lifestyle fan across all markets and channels. Additionally, we will continue to operate the acquired stores under the Olympia Sports banner.”
JackRabbit was sold last December to Fleet Feet, the largest franchiser of locally owned and operated running stores, which is headquartered in Carrboro, North Carolina. That deal did not involve Olympia Sports. Fleet Feet didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Olympia Sports' remaining stores are in New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont.