Chicks Sporting Goods has completed the first phase of its expansion plans with the opening of three new stores since November of last year and plans to open its largest store this fall in Norco, Calif. Jim Chick, president and CEO of Chick's Sporting Goods, told Sports Executive Weekly that revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30 should top $120 million. Fiscal 2006 revenues were estimated at $103 million.
Chick's has been aggressive in adding new real estate to its Southern California portfolio since the retailer picked up $4.0 million in funding from Nogales Investors Fund I, LP in 2005. The investment has enabled Chick to accelerate his plans for expansion to up to four new stores a year.
The first of the latest new additions came with the opening of a 46,000 sq. ft. store in El Segundo, Calif. in November 2006. Already a strong location, Chick expects the store to get even more traffic now that a Whole Foods market has opened in the same center. Chick's followed with another 46,000 sq. ft. store in Moorpark, Calif. in December 2006.
The most recent addition to the company, a 60,000 sq. ft. format, opened in the Murrieta/Temecula area in late March. The addition of these three new stores brings the total store count to 14, with a 15th location planned for fall of this year. That store, a 64,000 sq. ft. format, will be located in Norco-Corona. Chicks has also signed a lease for a 60,000 sq. ft. store opening in the Summer of 2008 in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Mr. Chick , a 2004 inductee into the Sporting Goods Hall of Fame, said he continues to evaluate new locations. He estimates that revenues should approach the $150 million mark for the period through June 30, 2008, which would represent an increase of nearly 50% in just two years.
