Dick’s accelerating outdoor vision

Dick’s Sporting Goods opened its Field & Stream prototype store last summer and next month the first of eight stores planned for 2014 arrives on the shores of Lake Erie.

The northwestern Pennsylvania community will be home to Dick’s third Field & Stream store with an opening set for June 13. Dick’s began experimenting with the potential new growth format last August when it opened its first location near its home town of Pittsburgh in the suburb of Cranberry Township. A second location opened later in 2013 in Crescent Springs, Ky.

Dick’s indicated earlier this year that it was seeing very positive reactions and enthusiasm from customers, vendors and associates based on the first two stores, and alluded to big things to come for the outdoor concept.

“Our grand openings were the most successful grand openings of any stores we’ve ever opened,” Dick’s Sporting Goods president and COO Joe Schmidt said earlier this year when the company released fourth quarter results. “The vendor community is also excited about Field & Stream, not only about the look and feel of the stores but also about our extremely talented associates, many of whom have run their own outdoor businesses prior to joining the Field & Stream team.”

With eight openings planned this year, Schmidt said the company is very excited about a store format CFO Andre Hawaux said is more productive than Dick’s conventional stores.

“Our two Field & Stream stores are more productive than our Dick’s stores generating higher sales per square foot, are performing above plan and are profitable on a four wall basis,” Hawaux said. “We have clearly created disruption in this space and believe there is a much to be gained here.”