Building on its leading position in hockey and lacrosse retailing, Pure Hockey LLC, based in Holliston, MA, acquired all of the assets and ongoing business of SportsGiant LLC., which owns the Hockey Giant chain.
Based in Carlsbad, CA and founded in 1999, Hockey Giant operates nine hockey stores in seven states (California, Wisconsin, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York and New Jersey). It also runs hockeygiant.com, one of the original online sellers of hockey gear and related product and still among the largest online retailers.
Headquartered in Holliston, MA and founded in 1994, Pure Hockey has 22 locations in the northeast with sales of $70 million in 2014. It also owns and operates ComLax, a 22 store lacrosse chain with its stores sitting alongside Pure Hockey. The stores range in size from 5,000 to 25,000 square feet. Its e-commerce sites are Purehockey.com, Puregoalie.com and Comlax.com.
Pure Hockey said it began discussions to acquire SportsGiant LLC this past summer and with the acquisition strengthens its position as the largest ice hockey retailer in the U.S.A., operating 31 retail locations and multiple websites.
“This is a transformational acquisition for Pure Hockey; one which allows us to provide more value to our customers and increases our presence in some excellent hockey markets,” said David Nectow, president of Pure Hockey parent company TSG Enterprises, LLC. “It also allows us to better compete in an evolving competitive environment. We are beyond excited to introduce ourselves to all of the valued HockeyGiant customers in the U.S.A.”
In conjunction with the acquisition, Pure Hockey will relocate its corporate headquarters to a 345,000-square-foot building in Holliston, MA. According to Nectow, the move to the state-of-the-art office and distribution facility will accommodate the company's plans for current and future growth.
The acquisition follows the acquisition in June 2015 by St. Louis-based Total Hockey Inc. of Denver-based hockey and lacrosse sporting goods retailer Players Bench Corp. Helping the chain expand into several key markets including Colorado, Ohio and Texas, Total Hockey now has 32 stores with sales of $70 million.
Other major players in the hockey space include Perani's Hockey World, with 21 U.S. stores with a heavy concentration in Michigan as well as three in Canada.
MonkeySports operates seven superstores in Irvine, CA; Santa Ana, CA; Greenwood Village, CO; Norwood, MA; Derry, NH; Woodbridge, NJ; as well as one in Södertälje, Sweden. The Allen, TX-based retailer also operates hockeymonkey.com, goaliemonkey.com, homerunmonkey.com, and lacrossemonkey.com.
Other larger hockey-themed stores include Gunzo's, with three stores in the Chicago area; Jerry's Hockey Warehouse, with six stores in Illinois, The Hockey Lodge, with four in Minnesota; as well as the websites, icewarehouse.com and greatskate.com.
