First Look: Academy Sports + Outdoors opens its first store in two years

Academy Sports + Outdoors has restarted its expansion.

The sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer has opened its first new store in two years, in Conyers, Ga. The 58,000-sq.-ft. outpost is Academy’s 260^th location overall, 11th in metro Atlanta and 19th in Georgia.

The new location is the first of two new stores Academy will open in the metro Atlanta area in 2022. This fall, the retailer will open near Perimeter Center.  

Academy plans to open a total of eight stores and complete several store remodels in 2021. Looking further out, the company has set a goal of opening 80 to 100 stores during the next five years.

The Conyers store features top brands such as Nike, adidas, Under Armour and Columbia along with Academy’s private-label brands, including Magellan Outdoors, Freely, BCG, H2O Xpress, Game Winner, O’Rageous and others. In addition to sporting goods and related apparel offerings, the merchandise assortment includes patio sets, barbecue grills, and outdoor games. The retailer also sells hunting and fishing licenses.

Academy offers free services such as grill and bike assembly, scope mounting, bore sighting, line winding/spooling, and propane exchange.

Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, Academy has grown to 260 stores across 16 contiguous states. The company’s product assortment focuses on key categories of outdoor, apparel, footwear and sports and recreation through both leading national brands and a portfolio of 20 private label brands, which go well beyond traditional sporting goods and apparel offerings.