Academy Sports + Outdoors eyes Midwest growth with third DC

Academy Sports + Outdoors has opened a 1.6 million square foot distribution center that dramatically increases the company’s ability to support store expansion and omnichannel initiatives.



On April 26, Academy said it opened its third distribution center in Cookeville, Tenn., and said the facility would support growth of its network of stores throughout the Midwest along with a growing e-commerce business, which launched in 2011. The new facility’s strategic location also enables Academy to relieve pressure on an existing DC near Macon, Georgia, that opened in 2009. The company’s other DC is located in Katy, Texas, just west of Houston, where Academy is headquartered.



Academy has doubled in size the past 10 years and today operates more than 200 stores which generated annual sales last year of $4.6 billion. The company was acquired by KKR in May 2011 when it operated 131 locations with annual sales of $2.7 billion. Since then Academy has entered new markets such as North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana and Kentucky to complement existing markets such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.



Last year, Academy named former Meijer president James Kevin Symancyk to the role of president and CEO. He spent 10 years with Meijer and prior to that he was with Sam’s Club for 12 years. Symancyk filled a position held by former Academy CEO Rodney Faldyn who had been with the company for 10 years.