Dick’s Sporting Goods to Shutter Some Foot Locker Stores

Dick’s Sporting Goods is planning to close a number of Foot Locker stores now that its acquisition of the sneaker company is complete, the company said Tuesday when announcing fiscal third-quarter earnings, reports CNBC. The company declined to say how many Foot Locker stores would be impacted and whether the restructuring will include layoffs. As a result, Foot Locker’s comparable sales are expected to be down in the mid- to high-single digits in the current quarter.

Dick’s $2.4 billion acquisition of Foot Locker gave it a massive competitive edge in the wholesale sneaker market, most importantly for Nike products, as well as access to both an international and urban consumer. Thanks to Foot Locker’s revenue, almost $931 million during the quarter, Dick’s sales rose a staggering 36 percent to $4.17 billion from $3.06 billion a year earlier. However, it also acquired some risks with the acquisition. Foot Locker has about 2,400 stores globally and has underperformed for years. Its customer base tends to skew lower income than Dick’s’ and hasn’t held up as well in a softening economy.

Total Retail's Take: Foot Locker will be undergoing some changes as directed by new parent company Dick's Sporting Goods. Dick's completed its acquisition of the sneaker company in September and last week cancelled Foot Locker's planned headquarters move from New York City to Florida. Coupling that decision with its plans to close Foot Locker stores, it appears the sporting goods chain is swiftly enacting a cost-cutting strategy for the sneaker brand.

Dick’s has been a standout performer across the retail industry and now has the challenge of fixing Foot Locker’s business so it doesn’t weigh on its typically strong results. Foot Locker began seeing positive results from its turnaround efforts in 2024. Since its acquisition, Foot Locker began testing changes in 11 stores in North America to see if the fixes improve sales, including cutting products by more than 20 percent, bringing back apparel, and changing Foot Locker’s “footwear wall.”

It's all part of a larger restructuring Dick's is implementing so Foot Locker isn’t a drag on its profits come fiscal 2026, Dick’s Executive Chairman Ed Stack told CNBC’s Courtney Reagan. “We need to clean out the garage,” said Stack. “We’ve taken pretty aggressive markdowns to clean out old merchandise. We’re impairing some store assets. We’ll close some stores … everything we’re doing is there to protect 2026 and just kind of do this one time.”