Academy Sports + Outdoors to Opens New Stores
SPORTS
Academy Sports + Outdoors to New Stores in Q2
Academy Sports + Outdoors, a leading full-line sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer with over 300 locations, announces it will open three new locations this quarter. The first store will open in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which marks the third store in the state, followed by two new Tennessee locations in North Knoxville, Tennessee and Morristown, Tennessee. The openings build on momentum from two new store openings in Q1, reinforcing Academy's ongoing commitment to strategic long-term growth.
Community-Centered Expansion Philosophy
"Our focus remains on staying grounded in what matters most, which is serving families in the communities we call home by making it easier to play, compete, and enjoy the outdoors without breaking the bank," said Eric Friederich, Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Academy Sports + Outdoors. "We know fun can't lose when we pair unbeatable value with the local accessibility customers can count on."
Academy plans to celebrate each new store by donating $15,000 to support more than 60 children through local non-profit organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Blair County, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, and Boys & Girls Club of Morristown. Each location will host a grand opening weekend featuring exclusive deals and giveaways, a ribbon cutting ceremony, and fun for the entire family.
Celebrity Activation and Fan Engagement
The Altoona grand opening weekend will be marked with a meet-and-greet experience featuring collegiate quarterback Rocco Becht. Fans of the football star can expect to get their gear autographed and snap a photo with Becht.
The celebrity activation creates local media appeal while driving grand opening traffic through fan draw beyond typical retail promotional tactics. The autograph and photo opportunities provide shareable social content that extends promotional reach organically beyond paid advertising.
Multi-Year Growth Trajectory and Market Penetration
In pursuit of becoming the best sports and outdoors retailer in the country, Academy opened a total of 24 new stores across 16 states in 2025, including its first locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Academy's expansion efforts resulted in 16 new stores across 10 different states in 2024.
The accelerating unit growth from 16 stores in 2024 to 24 in 2025 signals increased expansion velocity supported by strengthening unit economics and improved site selection capabilities. The geographic diversity across 16 states in 2025 versus 10 in 2024 reflects deliberate market diversification beyond core Southern footprint toward broader national presence.
Digital and Loyalty Infrastructure Enhancement
Academy's store growth is supported by continued investments that enhance the customer experience, including the recent rollout of the new myAcademy Rewards Mastercard Credit Card and enhanced myAcademy Rewards program, providing cardmembers and loyal customers with exclusive benefits and ways to save. Together, these initiatives reinforce Academy's commitment to delivering unbeatable value both in-store and beyond.
The private label credit card launch creates proprietary payment infrastructure enabling deeper customer relationships, purchase data visibility, and margin enhancement through interchange fee capture. The tiered rewards program increases purchase frequency through incentive structures while providing behavioral segmentation data that informs merchandising and marketing optimization.
Product Assortment and Service Differentiation
Every Academy store is a fun destination where families can find apparel, footwear, sports, hiking and camping equipment, hunting and fishing gear, outdoor cooking, and more from top national brands at an everyday value. Academy also offers free services such as grill and bike assembly, scope mounting, bore sighting, line winding/spooling, and propane exchange. Hunting and fishing licenses are also available to purchase in stores.
The free assembly and technical services create competitive differentiation versus online-only retailers while removing purchase friction for big-ticket items that require setup expertise. The hunting and fishing license sales generate foot traffic through necessity purchases that create cross-sell opportunities for related equipment categories.
Private Label Portfolio and Margin Enhancement
Additionally, Academy offers tremendous value and quality through its exclusive private label brands such as Magellan Outdoors, Freely, R.O.W., BCG, H2OX, Redfield, and Mosaic, which offer great choices for outdoor apparel and equipment for the entire family, women's and men's apparel, workout attire, fishing equipment, hunting optics and accessories, and outdoor furniture, respectively.
The private label portfolio spanning seven brands across core categories enables margin expansion while maintaining value positioning through direct sourcing that eliminates brand markup layers. The category breadth from apparel through hardgoods provides private label penetration opportunities across the entire store rather than limiting house brands to single departments.
National Brand Partnerships and Omnichannel Access
Customers can find the best assortment of athletic and casual shoes, sports and outdoors equipment, and clothing from top national brands such as Nike, adidas, Carhartt, YETI, Stanley, Marucci, Titleist, Shimano, Brooks, Blackstone, and Owala in-store and online, and through the Academy mobile app.
The omnichannel distribution enables Academy to compete for digital-first consumers while maintaining physical store advantages in product trial, immediate gratification, and service delivery. The mobile app provides shopping convenience while serving as push notification infrastructure for promotional targeting and location-based marketing.
Employment Impact and Talent Acquisition
Combined, the three new stores are expected to bring nearly 200 total new jobs to their local communities. Individuals interested in careers at Academy can visit careers.academy.com to apply for open positions.
The 200-job creation across three locations suggests approximately 65-70 employees per store reflecting Academy's labor-intensive service model compared to minimal-staffing discount formats. The careers site recruitment reflects increasingly digital talent acquisition patterns where online application portals replace traditional walk-in hiring processes.
About Academy Sports + Outdoors
Academy operates as a leading full-line sporting goods and outdoor recreation retailer in the United States. Originally founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas, Academy has grown to more than 300 stores across 21 states and counting. Academy's mission is to provide "Fun for All" and Academy fulfills this mission with a localized merchandising strategy and value proposition that strongly connects with a broad range of consumers.
Academy's product assortment focuses on key categories of outdoor, apparel, sports and recreation, and footwear through both leading national brands and a portfolio of private label brands. Additional information is available at www.academy.com.