Sports Authority has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Wilmington.
The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that about 10 stores in the Delaware Valley will close.
The Sports Authority store in north Wilmington has also been slated to close, the Business Journal reported. The store was not on the list of the 140 closings, posted by the Wall Street Journal. However, the company had been downsizing even before the Chapter 11 filing.
Sports Authority has about 450 stores.
The closing here would be unusual, since Delaware stores typically perform well, due to the lack of a sales tax in the state.
In a letter, CEO Michael Foss stated that “we have decided to utilize the Chapter 11 process to implement a financial and operational restructuring that we believe is necessary to help us become an even better place for our customers to shop for sporting goods.”
“As part of that plan, we have identified approximately 140 stores that we intend to close or sell in the coming months. This was a tough decision to make, but we believe it was a necessary step in our plan to make Sports Authority an even better partner for our customers. The store closings will occur over the next three months,” he stated.
Sports Authority, which is based near Denver, has struggled to compete with larger Dick’s Sporting Goods, outdoor specialist REI, Modell’s and other chains. Online retailers, such as Amazon, have also become formidable competitors.
The Journal story reported the company is struggling with a heavy debt load.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington is a favorite venue for mid-sized retail bankruptcies. Retail Chapter 11s are not always successful and many cases in the Delaware court have ended with the company going out of business.
