Academy sports and outdoors has been sold

[Bill M]

Let's put a little positive thinking into this thread folks! Hoping both parties work together to bring good changes while keeping it the Academy we all love!

[Throwin Darts]

I hope they change the website. It's terrible.

i bet these investors see this as a real opportunity. if they had a half decent website they could do a whole lot more business.

[cosmiccowboy]

Hmmm....It will definitely change. KKR has a history of doing these LBO's and going in and slashing overhead and jacking profits so they can re-sell the company at a higher price or take it public. They typically aren't a buy and hold type investor.

[Sidekick]

they could stock real bow hunting supplys!

Hahah

[FISHUNTER]

Probably go the way of Sports Authority and get rid of all hunting and fishing stuff and go strickly field sports. Hunting and fishing are not P.C. you know

There are no plans to change anything at all.

[Legdog]

Let's put a little positive thinking into this thread folks! Hoping both parties work together to bring good changes while keeping it the Academy we all love!

Positrive post back-at-work-Tuesday-pre-Mavs has arrived!

[mhbaseball]

crap, hope this changes nothing

[camo_cowboy55]

I found at this morning when i got to work, nothing is changing! everything is going to be the same!

[Texas8point]

On a bright note I read Wal-Mart is going to bring back guns !!!

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is quietly bringing back rifles, shotguns and ammunition to hundreds of U.S. stores as the hurting retail giant seeks to reinvigorate its one-stop shopping appeal and attract more male customers.

The world's largest retailer stopped selling hunting rifles and bullets at all but a third of its U.S. stores five years ago, citing diminishing sales. It is now restoring them to hundreds of locations, bringing the total to nearly half of its more than 3,600 U.S. namesake stores, as part of a larger push to restore "heritage categories" of merchandise such as fishing rods and bolts of sewing fabric that it removed in an attempt to go upscale that backfired.

We made a business decision to sell them in certain stores because we have realized the appeal was perhaps broader than we thought," said Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar. "But we are committed to doing it as responsibly as possible, as always, in compliance with all applicable local, state and federal laws."

The Bentonville, Ark., retailer is in the midst of its worst-ever U.S. slump—with seven consecutive quarters of sales declines at stores open at least one year—and has begun a major retooling of its U.S. operations in a bid to go back to basics and re-establish the formula of broad assortments and "everyday low prices" that late founder Sam Walton made famous.

A couple of years ago, Wal-Mart pared thousands of items in an effort to declutter its stores and focus on faster-moving products. Now, after a customer backlash, it is restoring much of what it took away.

The retailer acknowledged that it may have underestimated the importance of carrying hunting and fishing gear, as well as items such as sewing fabric, to its traditional clientele, and that the slower-selling items were more crucial to driving customer visits than it had originally thought.

Wal-Mart declined to disclose how many rifles and shotguns it sold last year.

[M16]

I wish Academy would change. Their cheap made in China junk ain't worth buying. Quality does cost more but not in the long run. I hardly ever stop there anymore and don't miss it one bit.

[Texpppr]

Oh I bet it will bring some changes at Academy. Not the first week, but in time.

[grizzman]

I found at this morning when i got to work, nothing is changing! everything is going to be the same!

Maybe nothing is changing for now, but I'm sure it will be. Firms like KKR don't buy companies just because they want to be in the sporting goods retail business. They want maximum return in a short period of time. They may hold on to it for a while, but they want to get their money back out of it, or pay off incurred debt as soon as possible. I agree with the previous poster that they will probably cut overhead and maybe inch up prices a little at a time.

[Phdan]

I hope the people that bought it owned Gibsons at one time. loved that store. Academy could take over the old Gibsons building in Lawton, OK, Then I wouldn't have to drive 60 miles to one.

[jerp]

I wish Academy would change. Their cheap made in China junk ain't worth buying. Quality does cost more but not in the long run. I hardly ever stop there anymore and don't miss it one bit.

I'm not impressed with alot of their "Game Winner" stuff. Some of it is OK, but you gotta be careful, alot of it is very cheaply made. I'm sure their profit margins are higher now that they've gotten big enough to have in-house brands, but there's a reason "Magellan" fishing shirts are less expensive than "Columbia" and it's not just paying more for the label.

[blacksunshine]

I'm not impressed with alot of their "Game Winner" stuff. Some of it is OK, but you gotta be careful, alot of it is very cheaply made. I'm sure their profit margins are higher now that they've gotten big enough to have in-house brands, but there's a reason "Magellan" fishing shirts are less expensive than "Columbia" and it's not just paying more for the label.

it's not just magellan, it's the austin brand of cheap shirts and pants and shorts, all the house brand boots, the H20 brand of everything fishing, lures, rods, reels, tackle.....It has all been a good marketing ploy, the only problem is their prices are just barely under the name brand prices and are generally what is on the rack come clearance time at pennies on the dollar....couldn't begin to tell you the amount of stuff they clearance out for waaaaay cheap prices....employees make out like bandits on that stuff....stuff gets hidden and after a while it is out of the system...oh, looky here, we found a case of this or that...mark it at a penny....never hits the floor......

I will say I do so love many of their stores slacking employees who are responsible for making sure stuff gets marked down and I hope they keep slacking