Eager to capture market share, the outdoor-recreation chains are spending millions of dollars on construction costs, creating hundreds of jobs and bringing virtually every type of accessory that a hunter, angler, hiker, camper or any other enthusiast of the outdoors could want — and then some.
These outdoor-store competitors are chasing a lucrative and growing market. The Boulder, Colo.-based Outdoor Industry Association reported last month that sales of outdoor products jumped 6.8 percent to $1.18 billion in June 2014 over the same period a year ago. Los Angeles-based IBISWorld, Inc., an independent industry research firm, projects that sporting-goods industry will see average annual growth over the next five years of 1.9 percent to $47.8 billion by 2019.
Here are some of the most recent local developments:
• Field & Stream has set an opening date of Oct. 10 and has begun hiring for its 50,000-square-foot store at the entrance of Austin Landing, along Austin Boulevard just east of I-75 in Miami Twp. The budding outdoor-store chain, which is owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods, also opened a store in 2013 in northern Kentucky. A spokesman for Dick’s Sporting Goods said earlier this week the new Field & Stream store’s Austin Landing location was chosen in part because of the “vibrant hunting and fishing community” in the area.
• Bass Pro Shops has started construction of a 150,000-square-foot Outdoor World location in West Chester Twp., on Allen Road off Union Centre Boulevard near I-75. An existing store at Forest Fair Village in Fairfield will close and employees will move to the new West Chester location when the new store opens. Bass Pro Shops spokeswoman Katie Mitchell said last week that company officials “are still in the design process” for the store. The initial projection of a 2015 opening has been pushed back to 2016.
• Cabela’s officials last week confirmed they will build an 82,000-square-foot store in the southwest quadrant of Liberty Way and I-75. The store will employ about 200 and will be Cabela’s second in Ohio, joining an 88,000-square-foot store that opened in March 2013 in Columbus. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall, and the store is projected to open in the fall of 2015. Nebraska-based Cabela’s operates 61 stores across North America and has announced plans to open an additional 18 over the next two years.
• Dunham’s Sports has signed a lease to open a 55,000-square-foot store in the Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua. The store, which will sell a variety of hunting, fishing and camping equipment in addition to fitness and training gear, is expected to be open by early 2015. The Troy, Michigan-based chain operates 22 stores in Ohio, including locations in Springfield, Bellefontaine and Celina, and it opened a new store in Harrison, Ohio in early June.
• Dick’s Sporting Goods has moved in recent years from two free-standing stores in the Dayton area into to nearby malls. The chain closed its store at 234 N. Springboro Pike (Ohio 741) in Miamisburg in 2012 and moved into newly expanded space in the Dayton Mall, where it became an anchor tenant. Its 50,000-square-foot space includes a 19,000-square-foot addition that mall officials built to accommodate the move into the north side of the Dayton Mall. Dick’s made a similar move at the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek in 2005.
Sporting-goods and outdoor stores are a popular industry sector across the country as well as in southwest Ohio, according to James Flick, vice president of research and marketing for Cassidy Turley Commercial Real Estate Services in Cincinnati. Building a mega-store along the I-75 corridor north of Cincinnati allows outdoor-store retailers to draw customers from both the Dayton- and Cincinnati-area markets.
Commercial real-estate developers have said that by the end of next year, Cincinnati and Dayton will be a metroplex of 3.5 million people, with the I-75 corridor between the two cities a central point of the population center.
Flick said the overall demographic profile of the region is strong. Hunters, fishermen, campers and other outdoor enthusiasts are often more willing to drive longer distances to get just the right boat, gun, or waterproof boots.
The retail chains in the southwest Ohio market are already touting offerings they believe will distinguish them from their competitors — in some cases, even before their stores are built.
The new Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store in West Chester Twp. will include the chain’s Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill, described in a news release as a “nautical-themed entity located within the store (that) features a unique atmosphere and design geared for family fun and dining. Twelve lanes will offer customers the chance to feel like they’re bowling ‘in the ocean.’”
Cabela’s officials, meanwhile, said in a release that its new West Chester-area store “will be built in Cabela’s next-generation layout, designed to surround customers in an outdoor-like experience with a large mountain replica and museum-quality wildlife displays.
“Additionally, it will include an indoor archery range and archery tech room, deli, gun library, bargain cave, fudge shop, full-service boat shop and a comprehensive selection of wildlife and land management products, including tractors, attachments and implements.”
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