Dick’s Goes Soft Again, Pulling (Guns) Out Of 125 Stores

Last year, Dick’s Sporting Goods yanked guns from 10 of it’s stores and prohibited the sale of ‘assault rifles’ across the board after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Now, they’ve made the decision to remove all guns and hunting equipment from 125 of it’s locations.

From Fox Business;

The in-store sections will be replaced with “merchandise categories that can drive growth,” (CEO Ed Stack) said.

Following a shooting in Florida in February 2018 that left 17 students and staff dead, Dick’s hiked the minimum age to purchase a gun to 21 and prohibited the sale of AR-15 style rifles.

While Stack previously predicted it would bring in new customers, the decision has led to a decline in earnings in the firm’s hunting business.

In the three months through Feb. 2, declines in the sector drove a 3.7 percent drop in same-store sales. Overall, sales dropped 6.5 percent to $2.5 billion, the company said on Tuesday. Profits fell to $694 million, or adjusted to $1.22 per share – higher than analysts expected.

While sales are down, someone is still buying their merchandise. It isn’t us, and it probably isn’t you. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Field & Stream locations are (and have been) off-limits to serious gun owners.

h/t TTAG