I hope you are right about being bought out. The news this morning was saying they were having a hard time finding a buyer.

I think one story reported that all the offers so far were under the amount needed to satisfy the minimum needed. I don't know whether they meant Hawaii specifically though.

But if Hawaii stores are profitable I think we would still see someone buying it here. I am no expert in bankruptcy law but when the company is liquidated, all of that merchandise will have to be sold to someone and I cannot imagine it wouldn't be more lucrative for a company like Dick's to step in than to start from scratch. Since they are successful here then someone will surely step into the market voice left by Sports Authority leaving.

Got an email this morning that they are closing 140 of 450 stores.  No indication of which stores. 

May 3, 2016

Dear Sports Authority Customers,

We appreciate your support and patronage and want you to know that you can continue to shop at Sports Authority stores and online at SportsAuthority.com.

As we communicated in early March when we entered Chapter 11, we are closing or selling approximately 140 of our 450 stores. We continue to move forward with this process, which we expect will be completed by the end of June. During this time, you can take advantage of our ongoing sales at those stores, with big discounts on great brands and merchandise!

The majority of our stores remain open on normal schedules and you can continue to shop on SportsAuthority.com as you always have. For an up-to-date list of operating Sports Authority stores and to find the nearest location, please visit our Store Locator at SportsAuthority.com.

We remain fully committed to delivering value and great merchandise wherever you shop at Sports Authority, and we look forward to continue serving you.
Sincerely,


Michael Foss
Chief Executive Officer

Spend your gift cards sooner than later.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/03/03/sports-authority-store-closure-list/81268900/

Old list from back in March, but none of the Hawaii stores were to close in that round.

Now just waiting for sales

FYI: Sports Authority closing all 450 stores

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/31860382/sports-authority-closing-all-450-stores

Sports Authority is carrying just over $1 billion in debt.

It notified the U.S. bankruptcy court it would not reorganize, and pursue a sale instead.

1 Billion in debt! 

I went to the two closest to me and bought them out on some cleaning supplies I needed. They have always been cheaper than the LGS on some things.

Update: seems like they are totally going away now.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/18/news/companies/sports-authority-closing/index.html

Retail is a bloodbath right now. Sears is circling the drain along with Macy's and quite a few others aren't too long for this world. We now have a stock market that runs on Fed Speech, buybacks, and negative interest rates. The fundamentals of the economy are dismal but the "economists" on TV pretend everything will be ok if Americans can just spend more money, quit saving, and take on more debt. Every time a chunk of the workforce gets laid off and replaced with low-pay service jobs the amount of disposable income out there shrinks. The media likes to call it the Amazon effect, but it's actually the depression effect.

Update: seems like they are totally going away now.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/18/news/companies/sports-authority-closing/index.html

Employees are getting fired this week
Liquidators taking over
Employee discounts end soon, probably today
Cost plus 15 percent
Ammo was still plentiful, as was camping equipment
Employee pricing was in most cases still higher than Amazon or a good sale price
I bought some .45 acp hollow points at a good price because I didn't want to risk not getting them when the liquidators start in
I'll probably go back when the liquidation begins, but I bet there are crowds at first

Employees are getting fired this week
Liquidators taking over
Employee discounts end soon, probably today
Cost plus 15 percent
Ammo was still plentiful, as was camping equipment
Employee pricing was in most cases still higher than Amazon or a good sale price
I bought some .45 acp hollow points at a good price because I didn't want to risk not getting them when the liquidators start in
I'll probably go back when the liquidation begins, but I bet there are crowds at first

Any idea when the liquidations will start?  Went today and prices were normal.

Any idea when the liquidations will start?  Went today and prices were normal.

Today was ... Go see your friend that works at sports authority because its last days of his job day. And collect his severence ... If you get what macsak is saying.

Today was ... Go see your friend that works at sports authority because its last days of his job day. And collect his severence ... If you get what macsak is saying.

Lot of great people who worked there...the gun people were pretty helpful and cool.  Best wishes to them all.

Hi,
 Long time lurker but I created a burner account just to update everyone. I have worked at Sports Authority for a long time and wanted to clear up what is going on. This info is current as of this morning.

 The liquidation bid is not finalized and they will not know until probably Mon/Tues (5/23-5/24). It is assumed that it will pass. The liquidation auction was for the contents of the stores only, not the locations or leases.
 The auction process for the locations is still pending and will finish this week. So maybe another big box sporting goods retailer may move in, probably not though.
 At this time no one is getting fired or laid off  (payroll is still being paid for now). If people are getting fired it is for other reasons. I saw someone get fired the other day but it was unrelated to the bankruptcy. No one as far as I know has been let go specifically because of the bankruptcy but their hours may have been cut.
 It is assumed by management that the stores will still remain under the Sports Authority banner until sometime in June. Liquidation usually takes a long time so it is assumed that Sports Authority in some form will exist at least until August.
 Employee discount is cost plus 15% and it ends on Tuesday 5/24. The cost on items vary widely depending on the brand or item.. Sorry but the markup on guns/ammo is very small so I would not expect huge discounts but who knows? I just picked up some ammo at about 40% off the sticker price.
 Stores are still receiving merchandise but it is completely random. As of today the management was expecting to continue to get shipments though June as the distribution centers clean out inventory. At this time nothing is guaranteed to be shipped but there is a lot of decent stuff coming in (no one knows about guns though). Personally I am going to try to hit up all the stores on Monday/Tuesday to see what has come in and take advantage of my discount.
 Returns or exchanges are still going through as the Sports Authority and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It is unknown at this time what processes the liquidators will implement, it is assumed at that point all sales will be final.
 As of right now the pricing is normal and it is unknown what the liquidators will do in regards to pricing. I am assuming that it will be discounted but no one knows when this will start or how much.
 At this point forward no services will be offered. This includes tennis racquet stringing/bike repairs/pre-sales/drop-ship/etc.
 If you have a pre-sale/drop-ship/online through the store order, I would follow up ASAP to make sure that it is coming, if not get a refund.
 I would not order online through the Sports Authority website unless it is something that you really don't need. I have seen a ton of issues with items selling out and customers eventually getting notifications that the item is out of stock.
 If there is something that you have been eyeing, you may want to consider buying it (sorry not trying to push sales - kind of pointless). As an example there were 10+ guns sold today with a lot of multiple transactions. The basic reason is that the customer was looking at it decided to just get it because Sports Authority is shutting down.

Finally if any of you decide to go into a Sports Authority please be patient. Things are tough now so don't be a dick, everyone, I assume that everyone left is trying their best. With the bankruptcy and people leaving (no new hiring) it is really busy. The jokes about how about I will out of a job and deserve it are really old. Thanks

Thank you insider for the update.

Probably best you don't log in anymore and just view this as a lurker and definitely not when you are in the store.

And thank you and your co-workers for helping us with our purchases all these years.

(I worked a stint in retail ages ago to pay the bills and know how it is from both sides of the coin. Some customers can be real a-holes. It's funny but I still remember some of them after all these years! Not their names or maybe even faces, but what a-holes they were to me or some of my co-workers).

Employee discount is cost plus 15% and it ends on Tuesday 5/24. The cost on items vary widely depending on the brand or item.. Sorry but the markup on guns/ammo is very small so I would not expect huge discounts but who knows? I just picked up some ammo at about 40% off the sticker price.

Does that mean retail markup on ammo is about double of cost? (1.15 x cost = 0.6 x retail)

Does that mean retail markup on ammo is about double of cost? (1.15 x cost = 0.6 x retail)

Firearms and ammo in general have small profit margins.  Most 9mm brands probably sell for $9-$11 a box for the cheap stuff.  Then there's the shipping to Hawaii cost to factor and cost of paradise tax.  Low margins are also attributed to the 10% federal tax on the manufacture of ammo and firearms too.

In other industries, like everyday consumable items, prices are normally doubled at retail.