Dick’s Sporting Goods May Close Field & Stream After Gun Control Policy Hurt Business
People have gone elsewhere for all their hunting needs.
Stephen Gutowski at The Washington Free Beacon reported that since siding with those who support gun control, business has gone down at Dick’s Sporting Goods and the company may have to close Field & Stream:
Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s, said during the event that the sporting goods chain’s recent 3.9 percent drop in same-store sales was the result of a mix of factors beyond their control as well as some he called “self-imposed.” Specifically, he said, “the decisions we made on firearms” negatively affected their bottom line but the drop in sales was something they expected. They did not, however, regret their decision to change a number of their gun-sales policies and back new gun-control legislation.
“Well I think it’s definitely a factor, and it’s nothing that we didn’t anticipate,” Stack said during the call. “As we put out kind of our guidance for the year and our earnings guidance for the year, we knew this would happen when—we’ve made some decisions on firearms in the past and we’ve had a pretty good idea of what these consequences were going to be. We felt that was absolutely the right thing to do. We would do the same thing again if we had a mulligan, so to speak, to do it again.”
Dick’s first modified its gun-sales policy in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting when it said it would no longer sell AR-15s and certain other semiautomatic rifles. The retailer quickly circumvented that pledge when it opened its outdoor-focused Field & Stream chain. But in the wake of the Parkland shooting earlier this year, the chain once again pledged to stop selling AR-15s and certain other semiautomatic rifles.
The report continued:
Still, Dick’s admitted both firearms customers and the firearms industry have rebutted the retailer because of their gun-control advocacy.
“Well, we’ve made that decision at the end of February, what we’re going to do with firearms,” Stack said. “It’s still a little early to tell. So, we’re taking a look at this. It will depend on a number of things that we’re going to be assessing through the balance of this year. So, we’ve had some vendors who’ve decided based on our decision to not sell the assault-style rifle that was used in the Parkland shooting that they wouldn’t sell us any longer. So, as you know, there’s been some people who said we’re not going to sell you any firearms anymore. We’re not going to sell you our product. We’ve had some other people who’ve indicated that they wouldn’t shop with us any longer. So, we’ve got to take a look, and we’ll assess this through this holiday season, if the brands are going to continue to or not. Some brands are not going to continue to sell [to] us. If consumers [are] upset with us, we will make a decision of what we’re going to do with Field & Stream.”
The company said it may soon close down their entire Field & Stream chain of 35 stores across 18 states.
“My sense is that we can either take a look at closing that store, that concept or reconceptualizing it into a more of an outdoor type concept, and we’re taking a look at all of these things and by the end of—the peak of the hunting season is coming up in—and basically, the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter and as we move into the end of the fourth quarter, we’ll make a decision as to what we’re going to do,” Stack said.
Stack admitted that the gun control policy affected the store’s “foot traffic,” but maintained it hasn’t done anything to profits.
The company sang a different tune just a week ago. Dick’s had to admit to investors “that its decision to remove certain ‘assault-style’ weapons from its Field & Stream stores cost it dearly and may limit its future gains.”
Dick’s stocks went down 4.5% while “J.P. Morgan Chase downgraded Dick’s shares, from ‘overweight’ to ‘neutral.'” The Daily Wire continued:
“Gross margin-driven upside appears less probable given 3Q’s performance, changing comparisons, and rising inventory levels,” an analyst for J.P. Morgan told CNBC. The same analyst noted that same-store sales for Dick’s outlets are expected to grow less than 1% even as the company’s inventory rises.
“The analyst pointed out that Dick’s same-store sales growth for 2019 is expected to be less than 1 percent after averaging 2.1 percent between 2011 and 2015. He also noted that while the company’s 25 percent Black Friday store discount will help boost sales, it will not boost margins,” the analyst continued. “Inventory levels, meanwhile, rose 1 percent in the third quarter after falling 5 percent in the first half of 2018 with inventory days estimated to return back to 2015-2017 levels.”
Dick’s chief financial officer Lee Bolitsky told USA Today that a weak gun market is also to blame. It’s not necessarily President Donald Trump’s fault, but we all know that gun sales tend to go up during Democratic administrations because gun control tends to become a top issue.
But as Emily Zanotti pointed out, people haven’t just chosen not go to Dick’s over the policy, but because they do “not trust Dick’s as an outfitter for any of their other needs – particularly their hunting needs.” That is why the company “removed all hunting gear from 10 stores as a test run.”
I don’t know if Stack and others in charge of Dick’s is surprised by all of this, but I’m not. You cannot hunt without a gun. Well, I guess you can with archery, but you get my point. I haven’t gone to Dick’s since they implemented their new policy, even for my non-gun related items.
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Beyond stupid. A pawn in the Anti-Bill of Rights left, allowed 2 days of praise, endangered his business and may have ultimately destroyed it. BTW, ammo sales are extraordinarily lucrative, with very decent mark up. Such goods as disposable and clay targets, cleaning equipment, etc. have mark ups from 25%-100%. Cabella’s announced a special sale when Dick’s went stupid, to introduce target and shotgun shooters to its fare.
I used to buy all of my CCI Minimag .22 there. Even in the shortage they always had a couple dozen bricks of it. I would pick up some other stuff that maybe caught my eye while I was there.
It amazes me that they decided people like me weren’t needed for their business. They have a huge golf/kayak/other sports section that I never saw anybody in. The hunting section was always full of people wandering around.
I used to by the shot shells for my dove and other bird hunting expeditions, at least in part, from Dick’s. Which, if you know me, was not inconsequential. I probably had a larger ammo budget than the Mexican army. But I said, “No more.”
Hopefully I played a small role in shuttering the place.
DickHeads run Dick’s.
Dick Dick’s in “Beyond Blunder-Dumb”.
I stopped shopping at Dicks the moment they pulled that stunt over guns. I just went today for the first time in a local Dicks to see what if anything was available and found out they got rid of all the guns, crossbows, and arrows. Along with all accessories for those things. They expanded the fishing section.
Still never going to shop there again.
Same here.
Vote with your pocketbook.
I have not shopped at Dick’s since the ban and I am going out of my way to avoid them.
I believe Golf Galaxy stores are also part of the Dick’s family, so you other golfers out there may want to consider not going in there either.
Some of us gun owners are also devoted runners. My local Dick’s never carried guns but they lost my other business too. I spent over $600 on running shoes alone this year.
I stopped even going into a Dick’s since they started their AR banning the first time around a few years ago. Before that, I’d swing in to buy ammo and other firearm sundries as needed. Been happier since as I found some various
I’ll buy at Big 5. Fuck them
It just shows that you don’t need a gun to shoot yourself in the foot (wallet).
Could the management be sued by the shareholders for destroying the value of a brand like Field and Stream more or less on purpose?
I mean Dick’s is known for a lot of other things but Field and Stream is a hunting brand and these managers killed it for personal reasons as a way of virtue signalling.
Don’t they have a fiduciary duty in this.
Though the board and exec management are probably protected by the business judgment rule, the shareholders would be wise to vote them the hell out – unless they are holding shares for political purposes, to destroy the brand like the left has done to the NFL. (Soros, anyone? Perhaps Styer?)
Dick’s thought by dissing their hunting and fishing base they’d get all that hunting and fishing business from obama-type girlie-men and Occassional-Cortez outdoorsgirls.
Dick’s corporate management probably got infiltrated by the same prog wimps that run the likes of Macys.
The quote from the CEO was “the decisions we made on firearms” negatively affected their bottom line but the drop in sales was something they expected. They did not, however, regret their decision to change a number of their gun-sales policies”
This seems to indicate it was a conscience decision to loose money based on a personal decision of the CEO. However, I agree with you he is probably protected by some rule or other.
He should loose his job for this and if he is on other company boards I would hope he would loose those positions as well.
Hey, it’s a free market. If this CEO wants to remake the store he’s been charged with running appeal to inner city limousine liberals, let him.
He’ll be looking for another job rather soon. Maybe something in solar panels.
Stack became CEO the old fashioned way. His daddy started the company.
Interesting. I was going to say, get woke, go broke, but I find the human side of a son destroying his father’s business – for just a few pats on the back – to be so tragic that I don’t want to make light of it.
Dick’s is now an international brand and have tied their rise to the international market such is Soccer, Basketball and esp. Golf.
My Dick’s Store, Store No. 1, Vestal, NY is more known by Dick’s Sporting Goods Open which has a huge PGA relationship. Being that his business is in NY State where Cuomo and the SAFE Act arbitrarily mandated gun controls is courting both sides of business and politics at an intrusive level with more controls coming our way. Stack and his sister Kim Myers (Dem. Congressional Candidate for State Dis. #22) have all but thrown their lot in with the democrats who control the state, They have by taking this one action tied themselves to the power triangle between Albany, NY City and D.C.
It’s not a case of being a business owner but a ” Monied Player” in a skins game playing with the other power players.
Hunting was his Father’s Game and son is playing competitive sports.
Where are their non-US locations? I checked Dick’s website and Wiki (admittedly not the best source) and found nothing outside the US.
The international relationship is via the PGA and the PGA players who recognize Dick’s as a major contributor to their Association.
If you have your Q-card or working at getting it, Dick’s has recognition with the players for promoting this national sport that has moved up to 6th place.
I point out that a store location is not required to have a presence in the market place…Think Amazon !!
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/?camp=SEM:DSG_1043797_ecom_brand_465&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9f3t69OR3wIVh-J3Ch1R7wKgEAAYASAAEgK5CvD_BwE
I was wondering this myself, why haven’t the shareholders called a meeting and ousted a couple of booties?
It may be the case that the controlling number of shares are held by the idiots that don’t realize that “Get Woke, Go Broke!” is turning out to be more of a prediction than a Meme.
How soon they forget the name “Hechingers.” John Hechinger had a chain of lumber stores (300) and decided that supporting Handgun Control Inc was a smart move despite the majority of his customers being redneck tradespeople who hunted on the weekend. You now know his business model as Home Depot and Lowes.
Dick’s is nothing more than a retailer. If they offer something I want. at a bargain price, I’ll probably go there. But, not if the difference in price is immaterial. A dollar won’t do it. $10? maybe on an item that cost less than $20.
As it stands, I have been alienated by Dick’s and see them as an adversary in the day-to-day course of life.
Given the opportunity, I would rebuke Dick’s to level of Pelosi, Schumer, CNN, MSNBC, Dan Rather, dog vomit or an obese train conductor with a sugar confection in her hand.
That might be a reasonable position if all the dicks at Dick’s did was discontinue sales of firearms and accessories. BUT – they also hired three (IIRC) people to lobby Congress for more gun control legislation. So any money you give the dicks will help fund their activities to further restrict your rights wrt firearms. THAT is more than “just a retailer”.
That’s how I treated them before this anti-gun travesty. Now, I’ll never know if they might save me a few bucks because I won’t bother checking.
Stupid comes at a cost.
Well, gee, who could have predicted this? This is a bolt from the blue, without precedent, utterly unforeseeable. Seriously, show of hands, who’d’a thunk that that decision would have this consequence? Huh… That many, huh?
The decision to cease merchandising and selling weapons is one Dick’s management was free to make, even if questionable given the company’s roots, which include a long standing and deep association with hunting, which by default includes an association with guns. This was evidenced by a large hunting and fishing section in what I believe is Dick’s mother store on the east side of Binghamton, NY. However, the wisdom of the decision from a business perspective was callled into question by the great fanfare with which it was announced. It’s reasonable to assume they believed they could and would not only replace the loss of their shooting customers – in all manifestations, not just hunters – but grow it with the attraction and addition of other anti-gun customers. This was apparently incorrect. (Good)
Personally, the reason I will purchase nothing from Dick’s in the future, and will not even shop there, is because they did not return their inventory of weapons to suppliers and manufacturers – they had them destroyed. This was a petty, vainglorious, and attention-grabbing action that served no business purpose whatsoever. The judgement of the board members who endorsed this action is questionable. It was an outright misuse of the power of their position, much as was governor Cuomo’s thinly veiled threat to have NY State stop doing business with financial institutions who did business with gun manufacturers and suppliers (for which he is being sued); they should be condemned and fired for it.
On the bright side, I heard the Dixie Chicks have been supportive and went in once or twice to purchase some athletic clothing.
You mean Chicksie Dicks?
Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Pardon my French, Ladies, and please shut your ears, but finally we have truth in advertising. We have a company that is convinced that that anyone who would buy their products is a Dick.
I, just can’t see how with that kind of johnny-on-the-spot marketing campaign they’re going out of business. It’s a complete ****ing mystery to me.
I’m going to open a new restaurant and have a customer appreciation day on which I ceremonially spit in your food. Should be a huge success, if the Dick’s Sporting Goods business model is to be emulated.
What do you think I should call this holiday?
Great analogy, however I’ve found that the liberal mind is incapable of understanding them
Not too much future having a sporting goods store and then not selling sporting goods. Then advertise the “virtue signaling” of your folly. Incompetence on display!
How can they say in the same breath that it has caused a 4% drop in revenue but also claim it hasn’t effected profits just for traffic?
I went to Dick’s because they had soccer equipment, at a reasonable price. After their decision on guns, I have ceased any purchases from them. How a company could so fundamentally misunderstand their core customer base, while simultaneously advocating for taking away my constitutional rights is gob smacking.
Lefties never seem to learn the law of unintended consequences.
I’m out, as are tens of thousands of people I talk with on gun boards.
There was Dick’s/Field and Stream has a location location where I lived last, and I wouldn’t go in there.
Ol’ Ed Stack picked the single line of goods, guns, that were immune from competition by Amazon, and got rid of it for the sake of virtue signalling his friends. He is demonstrated himself to be entirely unfit to manage any size company in the US, let alone a large retailer. I predict Dick’s Sporting Goods will be out of business within a year.
The problem is they put a lot of mom and pop local stores out of business already.
Let the many weak PC virtual signaling stooges running other businesses across America learn from Dick’s mistake, OR DIE.
Dick’s Sporting Goods
maybe they should be in the business of selling condoms?
I’m not sure anyone really bought guns at Dicks outside of Black Friday. Their prices were outrageous considering a gun show comes to town about every other month.
Unfortunately like Best Buy, Dick’s has eliminated most competition from general sporting goods stores. There will be options when they go under but show rooming opportunities will be limited.
Really hope Dick’s doesn’t close. Where else will I go to buy $80 under armour shirts and a batting helmet in any color I can imagine???
Close it. As far as I’m concerned, the Dick’s owner doesn’t deserve a sporting goods store.