The sign reads: “We are closing. Dick’s Sporting Goods (this location only) last day of business 3/16/19. Please shop at these nearby location for all your sporting goods needs or visit dicks.com.”
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Managers at the Springfield location could not answer questions and deferred to corporate. Repeated calls to Dick’s Sporting Goods corporate offices as to why the location is closing have not been returned.
Tom Franzen, Assistant City Manager and Director of Economic Development with the City of Springfield, said the city has also struggled to get in contact with corporate officials at Dick’s.
“We have also reached out and left messages with corporate to try to learn more about this situation and we hadn’t heard back,” Franzen said. “It’s strange since they just made a major investment into that building.”
Franzen said seeing the sporting goods chain leave the area is disappointing.
“We are certainly sad to see them leave,” Franzen said.
The sporting goods chain, located at 1690 N. Bechtle Ave. in Springfield is offering sales of up to 90 percent off some remaining items.
Dick’s Sporting Goods opened in Springfield in October 2016, making it the chain’s 39th store in Ohio and the 673rd nationwide.
The 42,000-square foot building was built in the former Ashley Furniture location. City construction permits for the store came in at about $2.8 million.
Clark County Auditor records show the property where Dick’s is located is owned by U.S. Properties Group. The company owns the properties located on 1590 through 1699 N. Bechtle Ave..
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U.S. Properties Group told the News-Sun they could not comment on Dick’s closing.
Dick’s is the second sporting goods store in the area to close within the last three months. Dunham’s Sporting Goods, located at 1600 Upper Valley Pike, closed its doors for good on Jan. 12 after losing their lease, according to an email sent to customers alerting them to the store’s closing.
Dick’s scheduled closing comes on the heels of a string of retail store closings around the country and in the region.
Sears at the Upper Valley Mall, the chain’s last remaining store in the region, closed Sunday. Sears previously closed stores at the Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua and locations at the Mall at Fairfield Commons and the Dayton Mall.
Sears has been closing stores and selling off major brands like Craftsman and Lands’ End for decades, trying to stave off bankruptcy as long as possible, but the company eventually had no options left and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late October 2018.
Springfield News-Sun
The Springfield News-Sun is committed to covering business developments in Clark and Champaign counties.
FACTS & FIGURES
2016: Year Dick’s Sporting Goods opened in Springfield
$2.3M: Amount of city construction permits for the store
42,000: The square footage of the sporting goods store
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