LIDS Sports Group has acquired Buckeye Corner stores, which operate in the Columbus, OH area. The acquisition is made up of four store locations, the e-commerce website www.buckeyecorner.com, and a catalog business. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
A retailer specializing in the sale of officially licensed sports headwear, apparel, accessories, and novelties since 1980, Buckeye Corner has been the official retail partner of The Ohio State University Alumni Association, Inc. since 2004.
Buckeye Corner now operates within the LIDS Clubhouse division of LIDS Sports Group. LIDS Clubhouse operates more than 20 team-specific professional sports and university athletics retail stores and e-commerce websites.
“Buckeye Corner, serving one of the largest and most passionate fan bases in all of college athletics, is a marvelous addition to the LIDS Clubhouse team, and represents the latest example of LIDS Sports Group’s commitment to sports fans to be the premier specialty sports retailer in the country,” said Ken Kocher, president of LIDS Sports Group.
Buckeye Corner store locations include Easton Town Center, Polaris Lifestyle Center and Northwest Square in Columbus, and Lane Center in Upper Arlington, Ohio. LIDS also currently operates five headwear specialty retail stores around Columbus, 32 stores across Ohio, and more than 975 stores across North America.
“We could not be more excited for our customers to join forces with the impressive LIDS brand,” said Buckeye Corner Chief Executive Officer Bruce Harlan. “Our ability to service and provide value to Buckeyes fans through LIDS business model is about to be taken to a whole new level.”
The LIDS Sports Group, operating within Hat World, Inc., is comprised of the LIDS retail headwear stores, the LIDS Locker Room specialty fan retail chain, the LIDS Clubhouse retail stores, the LIDS Team Sports wholesale team sports business and its Internet businesses, www.lids.com, www.lids.ca, www.lidsteamsports.com and www.sportsavenue.com. Operating out of Indianapolis, the retail businesses make up more than 975 mall-based, airport, street level and factory outlet locations nationwide, and in Canada and Puerto Rico. LIDS retail stores offer officially-licensed and branded college, major professional sports teams, as well as other specialty fashion categories all in the latest styles and colors. LIDS Locker Room is a mall-based retailer of sports headwear, apparel, accessories, and novelties, and also operates Sports Fan-Attic and Sports Avenue stores. Most LIDS and LIDS Locker Room stores also offer custom embroidery capability. LIDS Clubhouse operates team-specific professional sports and university athletics retail stores and e-commerce websites. LIDS Team Sports is a full-service team uniform and apparel dealer, custom screen printer, embroidery and sporting goods distributor. Hat World, Inc. is a subsidiary of Genesco Inc.
