Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fate of Sports Authority stores is unclear
The fate of Exton store isn’t known; Schuylkill Valley says fierce competition led it to close mall store
The fate of Sports Authority stores, including one in the Fairfield Plaza shopping center, is unclear.
WEST WHITELAND >> The fate of Sports Authority stores, including one in the Fairfield Plaza shopping center, was unclear Tuesday as contradictory reports swirled about their fate with the parent company in bankruptcy.
Several news organizations on Monday reported the company was liquidating and all of the stores would close. On Tuesday, some news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, reported that Sports Authority is still seeking a buyer.
“Liquidation is not in our vocabulary,” Robert Klyman of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who represents the ailing sportinggoods chain, told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware.
An employee at the Exton Sports Authority said they were told their store will remain open. Multiple messages left for Sports Authority corporate employees were not returned as of late Tuesday afternoon.
The decline of 450-store Sports Authority, based in Englewood, Colorado, is the latest evidence shopping habits are evolving as customers looking for team sportswear flock online instead of the sports store to their local mall.
Sports Authority Holdings Inc. made its Chapter 11 filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Locally, the problems in the industry are evident not more that a quarter-mile away, where Schuylkill Valley Sports left the Exton Square Mall in January.
“We weren’t making enough money,” Jerry Williams, president of Schuylkill Valley Sports, said in explaining the company’s decision to close the store in Exton Square.
He said Schuylkill Valley is negotiating with the mall to come back in November and December in a temporary setup because the store always did well during the holiday shopping season. It is possible the store could re-enter the mall on a lease after that if the sides can agree to terms, Williams said.
There were too many competitors clustered in Exton area, including Sports Authority, Modell’s, Rally House, Foot Locker and more, he said. Plus, the store did not do a big business in team uniforms, which help sales at the other 15 stores in the Schulykill Valley Sports regional chain.
At the same time it closed Exton, Schuylkill Valley also closed a store in the Concord Mall and just this week it closed its Coventry Mall store in favor of a nearby location.
Williams agreed the biggest challenge for stores is online shopping but said he expected brick and mortar operations to remain.
“People still want to go out and enjoy the experience,” Williams said. “There’s a social aspect to it.”
At Sports Authority, meanwhile, an asset auction is set for May 16, as is a separate auction for about 140 leases on stores the company does intend to liquidate. At that sale, two bidders will compete for some of those leases, according to court papers Sports Authority filed Tuesday, the Journal reported.
An employee at the Exton Sports Authority said theywere told their store will remain open. Multiple messages left for Sports Authority corporate employees were not returned as of late Tuesday afternoon.