Headlines

Olympia Sports to Shutter Remaining 35 Stores

The closures mark the end of a 47-year run for the regional sporting goods chain, which once operated 226 locations on the East Coast

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2022

VMSD Staff

Olympia Sports to Shutter Remaining 35 Stores — jjbers (CC BY 2.0)

jjbers (CC BY 2.0)

Olympia Sports is hanging up the cleats for good as it prepares to close its 35 remaining locations by September, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The sporting goods chain, founded in 1975, operated 226 stores between Maine and Virginia at its peak. The company was acquired by private equity firm CriticalPoint Capital in 2017, with that deal resulting in 76 store closures.

In 2020, the firm bought Shoes.com from Walmart, which bundled that property with Olympia Sports and a brand called JackRabbit under a banner called “Running Specialty Group,” the article explains. JackRabbit was later sold to running retailer Fleet Feet (Carrboro, NC).

“It is kind of sensitive for a lot of the store managers,” an Olympia Sports store manager told the outlet. “A lot of people have been here for 30 plus years. A lot of people, they’ve never worked anywhere else. We only found out on Monday morning, and we’re already running the closing sale. … It’s still kind of sensitive and raw for a lot of people.”

Read more at the Portland Press Herald.

VMSD Staff

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