Modell’s reportedly to close 24 stores as it fights to stay afloat

Modell’s is struggling to keep its 130-year-old family business alive.

The regional sporting goods retailer is closing 24 and is considering offering a minority stake in the company as it looks at various options to keep afloat, CEO Mitchell Modell told Fox Business. (Modell’s has about 150 stores as of January.) The stores scheduled to close include five in New Jersey, eight in New York and four in Pennsylvania, the report said, with the remaining ones in Washington, D.C., and New England. 

The Fox interview comes on the heels of a report by the Wall Street Journal that said the retailer had hired financial advisers following a disappointing holiday season. Modell’s chief told the Journal that the company had stopped paying an unspecified number of landlords and some of its vendors as well as it started discussions with suppliers in an effort to prevent bleeding out cash.

Sporting goods retailers have not had an easy time of it in recent years, challenged by online and discount competition. Among the chains that have shut down operations are Sports Chalet, Sports Authority and City Sports.

To read the full Fox Business story, click here.