Dick’s Sporting Goods Opens New Experiential Store In Rochester, NY

Dick’s Sporting Goods, after performing well amid the pandemic, will be rolling out a new experiential store in Rochester, New York, called Dick’s House of Sports, which will feature an indoor rock-climbing wall, wellness spaces and more, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The store will give consumers an opportunity to get advice from fitness experts, who can aid them in choosing appropriate equipment and workout routines, the report stated. The goal is to create a kind of fitness community, which could hold interest for consumers.

Offering the in-store experience could work well for the company, as it could offer a new kind of service as more customers seek online modes of buying items, according to the report.

Dick’s was something of a rarity in terms of businesses in 2020, finishing the recent quarter ending Jan. 31 with $3.13 billion in revenue and shooting past analyst expectations, the report stated. Other retailers have been imperiled, closing stores at a quick pace amid slowing foot traffic, although digital sales had been encroaching on the in-person sales for some time.

If the experiential store is a hit, it could help solve some of the issues faced by increasingly vacant malls and shopping centers, according to the report.

Dick’s House of Sports will have a grand opening April 9-11, according to its website.

Other trends embraced by in-person retailers include “store within a store” concepts, such as Target’s new expanded relationship with Apple announced earlier this month. Christina Hennington, executive vice president and chief growth officer at Target, said the idea is that Apple products are popular with those who shop at Target, and the Apple connection will help boost Target’s electronics selection.

There are other such partnerships enacted to help retailers survive in the current climate, and for those stores, there’s a need to give people reasons to come to the store before they start buying things.