Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) has announced plans to pull hunting gear from approximately 125 Dick’s stores starting around August. Dick’s defines the hunting gear category as rifles and ammunition, plus “accessories associated with firearms, hunting apparel, anything associated with hunting.” The plan would not include kayaks and items for other outdoor activities.
The removals will be focused on stores where the hunting gear category underperforms. Last year, Dick’s removed hunting items from 10 stores for just that reason. Dicks’s CEO Ed Stack said that after the removal, the stores saw higher sales, margins and foot traffic than when they carried guns. Depending on the outcome of this latest move, the choice may be made to remove hunting gear from more stores next year.
This is not the first time Dick’s has made the decision to remove guns from its stores. Last year, the company pulled assault-style rifles from all 35 of its Field & Stream stores in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. The company had already removed that type of rifle from its namesake stores after the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. Last year, Dick’s also raised the minimum age for anyone buying guns in its stores to 21.
Dick’s also shared plans for the future. The company plans to expand the footprint of the CALIA by Carrie Underwood brand in 80 stores. It also said it would launch a new private brand to replace Reebok before the back-to-school season, ending the licensing agreement it had with Reebok. Dick’s operates 729 namesake stores along with 94 Golf Galaxy stores and 35 Field and Stream stores.
Dick’s had some disappointing news in its latest earnings report. For the fourth quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, Dick’s reported net income of $102.6 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, compared to $116 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, in the same quarter of last year. Adjusted same-store sales fell 3.1 percent when compared to the same period the prior year. Dick’s shares sank more than 10 percent after the news.
