Academy Sports & Outdoors to open store on OKC's south side

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Apr 9, 2002 by Matt Maile

Sporting goods retailer Academy Sports & Outdoors plans to open a store on Oklahoma City's south side by September and will employ about 75 people, company President and CEO David Gochman told The Journal Record.

The store would be the third in the Oklahoma City metro area.

The Katy, Texas-based retailer said it has leased about 80,000 square feet of space at 7700 S. Walker Ave. in a vacant building on property at the southeast corner of Interstate 240 and Walker Avenue. The property is a former Builder's Square facility that has been vacant for several years.

"We've been looking for seven years for a spot on the south side of Oklahoma City," Gochman said. "And we're very excited about it."

The new store is part of a broader expansion by Academy Sports & Outdoors in the southeast United States. The company opened its 61st store Thursday in Tulsa. By the time the new Oklahoma City store opens in September, Gochman said Academy would have 65 properties.

The company also is looking at Midwest City for possible expansion, he said, and may relocate or expand its Edmond store when the lease for that property expires.

In the deal this week, Academy Sports & Outdoors signed a five-year lease for about 80,000 square feet in the vacant 105,920- square-foot Builder's Square building. The lease will include an additional 20,000-square-foot former garden center that will be converted for use as a display area for boats, Gochman said. The company will have options to renew the lease that could extend the term another 20 years.

"The south side of Oklahoma City is a vital market for us," Gochman said. "People in Oklahoma have a propensity to hunt and fish. It's a great demographic for us."

The retailer said its talks to lease the property were delayed somewhat by the bankruptcy of Troy, Mich.-based retailer Kmart Corp.

Kmart, which controlled the lease on the vacant Builder's Square building, was in talks to sublease the property to Academy Sports & Outdoors before Kmart filed for bankruptcy in January. Kmart later withdrew from the property, clearing the way for Academy to negotiate a lease directly with the property owner.

Gochman said the new Oklahoma City store will be patterned after his company's other stores at 4261 NW 63rd St. in Oklahoma City and at 324 Bryant Ave. in Edmond. The south side location, however, will be larger than the existing metro properties.

The company plans to submit its request to the city for necessary permits for the development April 15 and then spend about $1.5 million to renovate the property, he said.

The Academy Sports & Outdoors president has been a vocal critic of plans by Oklahoma City to use financial incentives to attract another sporting goods retailer to the metro area, namely Bass Pro Shops.

Gochman spoke before the Oklahoma City Council earlier this year to oppose taxpayer- supported financial incentives for the development. He is also a member of a citizens group, Citizens Against Taxpayer Abuse, which launched advertisements critical of the Bass Pro Shops development in media outlets this month.

The city is in talks with the Springfield, Mo.-based Bass Pro Shops to locate a Bass Pro Sportsman's Center in Bricktown. The deal is expected to include an offer by the city to build an 110,000-square-foot building and make other improvements valued at $17.2 million and then lease the property to Bass Pro Shops at below-market rates. Oklahoma City will retain ownership of the building.

The city said it would recover the investment through lease payments by Bass Pro Shops to the city and through future sales tax collections that would result from the retailer's development.

Gochman said he is not happy with the incentives for Bass Pro Shops.

"The city of Oklahoma City is contemplating giving what I see as basically an $18 million subsidy to one of my competitors to build an 110,000-square-foot store," he said of the proposed deal.

The row over the proposed Bass Pro Shops nearly caused Academy Sports & Fitness to reconsider developing a new store in Oklahoma City. Gochman said the company agreed to go ahead with the development to remain competitive in a market in which it already has stores.

"It's an unfortunate situation, but we have to run our business," Gochman said. "We'll just tough it out."

The expansion of Academy Sports & Outdoors is expected to boost revenues and same-store sales for the retailer this year.

The company, which employs more than 5,000 people nationwide, had revenues of $802 million last year. Gochman said that number should grow by 15 percent or 16 percent this year.