Dick’s Sporting Goods debuted two new “House of Sport” locations in Houston this week. A soft opening was held last week at both the Baybrook and Katy locations, expanding existing Dick’s Sporting Goods into adjacent spaces formerly held by Dick’s Field & Stream outdoors stores. Dick’s announced earlier this year that they were discontinuing the Field & Stream brand and would put their focus on the new House of Sport concept. The chain has had somewhat of a hard time entering Houston, that seemed to be related to competition within our market. Dick’s was reportedly in talks to open their first Houston round of stores in 2007, two years after they arrived in DFW via purchasing a competitor with a single location. However, their first Houston stores would not open until 2016, the same year The Sports Authority left. Since then Dick’s expansion in Houston has largely been a fight against the Katy-based Academy Sports and Outdoors. Dick’s would debut both large and small scale stores to attempt to reach markets normally skipped by Academy. In response Academy debuted a small format store of their own last year, only about 2 months after Dick’s became the first sporting goods store to return to Meyerland in years. Dick’s is hedging their bets by moving away from camping, and outdoor goods with these new House of Sport locations. The stores should not be completely unfamiliar to Houstonians, somewhat resembling the now long gone Oshman’s Supersports Concept. Combining both sales and interactivity into one location. The Houston House of Sport attractions include Rockwall Climbing stations, An interactive “Sports Cage” (batting, soccer, etc..), and an increased assortment of athletic wear.
