UK high street sports retailer to close 175 underperforming stores

A popular UK sports retailer is set to close 175 stores in the US after struggling overseas. JD Sports will shut 175 Hibbett stores in America in the following three years to focus on more profitable locations. The British retailer took on the Alabama-based brand in 2024 for $1.1 billion as part of its expansion in the US. At this time, Hibbett has nearly 1,200 stores across the nation. Over the past two years the sporting outlet has faced tough competition, including from Dick’s Sporting Goods, which bought Foot Locker for $2.5 billion. JD Sports has decided to scale back the operation and will cut underperforming stores to place more focus on more popular locations. CFO Dominic Platt says the goal is to build “fewer, bigger, and better” stores that generate more sales and allow for greater investment in technology , store design, and the overall customer experience. "In terms of last year, you saw we closed 39 stores overall," Platt said. "We will see the beginning of the closure of the stores in North America with Hibbett, 175 stores probably over around three years." JD Sports CEO Régis Schultz said that smaller stores were not driving enough profit to justify keeping them open. "The problem of our small stores is that you need someone to open, you need someone to close," Schultz said. "When sales [are] going down a little bit, you have no leverage, whereas with a larger store, you have leverage because you can invest in technology and all that stuff." JD Sports Fashion confirmed it has closed more than 20 of its stores across the UK. Following closures in the UK the sports retailer blamed geopolitical factors including the situation in the Middle East for its impacted profits.