Dick’s Sporting Goods Loses Money After Changing Gun Policies
After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February of 2018, Ed Stack, CEO of retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods, responded by taking some types of firearms off his shelves and enforcing tighter gun policies on customers.
Dick’s no longer sells assault-style weapons, high-capacity magazines and so-called “bump stocks.” The retailer also stopped selling firearms to those under the age of 21.
But the company’s new policies came at a cost. For the fiscal year ending on Feb. 2, same-store sales fell 3.1%, according to company earnings, and Stack has put much of the blame for that fall on gun issues.
“A number of people have said to me that this had to be a really hard decision,” Stack told the Washington Post in a recent interview. “It was not.”
A lack of firearms sales might not be the only source of Dick’s recent financial struggles, though. Increased competition from other hunting and outdoor retailers like Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops and Gander Outdoors has ramped up in recent years.
“I give Dick’s a lot of credit for the steps they’ve made,” Brian Nagel, an analyst at Oppenheimer told the Washington Post. “But I think they’ll struggle for a while.”
Additionally, more than 60 employees of Dick’s quit after the announcement of tighter gun policies was made.
Still, Stack is looking for other ways to reduce the sale of guns even more.
Last year, the retailer took guns out of 10 stores and filled the empty space with products aimed at those markets. Items like sports team merchandise and watersports equipment. Those stores outperformed the rest of the chain, Stack said. Dick’s also announced in March that it planned to take guns out of 125 stores of its’ approximately 730 locations.
Stack said that the retailer is thinking about adding even more locations to that roster.
“What I promised the families in Parkland when I left is that we would keep this conversation going,” he said. “And that’s what I’ve done.”
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