Sports Authority is set to close all of its 450-plus stores across the country, including the location on Dempster Street in Niles, after the bankrupt company wasn’t able to secure a buyer, according to a new court filing.
The Colorado-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March with the intention to sell or close 140 of its locations, including 11 of its 28 stores in Illinois. Sports Authority was unable to reach a deal with lenders and creditors and was sold at auction. The retailer’s assets were purchased by a group of liquidation companies. The stores leases will be sold off at another time and it’s unclear when the locations will close. According to a March filing, the retailer said store closures would take up to three months.
A manager at the Sports Authority in Niles, located at 7233 Dempster St. in the Super City Shopping Center, declined to comment stating that he was not authorized to disclose any information.
Katie Schneider, executive director of the Niles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Sports Authority has operated out of that location for at least a decade.
“The Sports Authority on Dempster Street is in a pretty high traffic strip mall. I would anticipate that when it closes there’s probably going to be significant interest in the space. I think the Michaels and the Big Lots there do very well,” she said.
She said store closings of this magnitude can have a negative impact on sales tax revenue for municipalities, but given the popularity of the area, she’s confident there would be interest from other businesses in leasing the space.
Economic development coordinator for Niles, Ross Klicker, said he’s waiting for confirmation of the closings from Sports Authority before he’ll believe the Niles store is actually going to shutter.
“I’ve seen things like this come up in the past few weeks and they haven’t been true,” he said. “If it is true, we’ll be sad to see them go and we’ll work diligently with the landlord to get a suitable replacement in for their space.”
He estimated that the store occupies a space in the 40,000 to 50,000 square foot range. Klicker said the loss of the store would negatively impact sales tax revenue in the village, but could not say to what degree.
Going-out-of-business sales will begin at Sports Authority locations next week.
The sporting goods chain, like other big-box retailers, has struggled in recent years with competition from online sales and in the brick-and-mortar environment.
“I don’t think (the closing) is indicative of a local economy as it is a national, global economy,” Schneider said. “A lot of those stores have to be hurt by internet sales and competition. It’s unfortunate. I know there’s a lot of jobs at stake… You certainly don’t want to see large stores like that sit vacant.”
The company was founded in Fort Lauderdale in 1987, purchased by Kmart in 1990 and bought by a private equity firm in 2006.
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Sports Authority reported $3.5 billion in revenue last year and employs 16,000 people, according to Forbes magazine. Representatives from Sports Authority declined to comment.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.