Dick's Sporting Goods Opens Golf Specialty Store

I early spoke about the pending Clubbuilding War between Golfsmith and Golf Galaxy. Well, now there’s a third big box player emerging Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Very quietly, this major sporting goods retailer has seen how nicely golf fits into it own niche that they have recently rolled out a new specialty golf store appropriate called The Golf Shop.

The store is located in Robinson, a suburb of Pittsburgh and will occupy a former 36,000 square foot Media Play location. Golf merchandise is one of Dick’s store-within-a-store departments and they already private label a line of golf equipment under the Walter Hagen name so a complete store from this sport retail giant doesn’t seem too far off the mark.

The Pittsburgh Business Times quotes Mitchell Kaiser, a retail analyst with Piper Jaffray and Company, as saying that Dick’s, by having a stand-alone shop, will have access to higher-end clubs and the hope is that more retiring baby boomers will help to reinvigorate a flat golf industry. The major sporting goods chains only represent 10% of the $7 billion dollar equipment industry.

Now with three well-funded public companies vying for the golf equipment market (Golfsmith just announced an IPO and Golf Galaxy and Dick’s Sporting Goods are both public companies) expect some major changes in golf retailing with major pricing pressure on the brand name club manufacturers and smaller retailers like GolfUSA and Nevada Bob’s feeling the heat to innovate or die.