Dive Brief:
- Dick’s Sporting Goods’ experiential House of Sport locations continue see comparable sales growth three to four years after opening, and customers who visit the House of Sport locations dwell longer and spend more than shoppers at traditional Dick’s locations, President and CEO Lauren Hobart said on a Q1 2026 earnings call Wednesday.
- House of Sport and the smaller Field House concept are assets to the business as a whole, Hobart said. “As we look to the rest of the portfolio, the whole chain is benefiting from things like product access and experiential selling and an elevated, curated experience across the board.”
- Dick’s will open more experiential stores to help it maintain its momentum, with plans for 13 more House of Sport and 20 more Field House locations this year, according to Hobart.
Dive Insight:
Dick’s emphasis on the experience in stores and online continue to help the retailer drive strong financial results, according to executives.
“We are continuing to enhance how we serve athletes seamlessly across channels in our stores,” Hobart said. “We're evolving the experience with a greater focus on elevated service and selling, rooted in deep sport and product expertise.”
The sporting goods retailer reported 6% year-over-year comparable sales growth in the first quarter of 2026, according to an earnings report. Net sales at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores rose 6.4% year over year to nearly $3.4 billion.
The online experience is playing a role as well.
In June, the retailer will launch Coach by Dick’s, an AI-powered digital agent in its app. Coach “extends the expertise of our teammates into a personalized conversational experience, helping athletes make more confident decisions across product training and services,” Hobart said.
CX is also playing a part in Dick’s turnaround strategy for Foot Locker, which the company acquired last year. Foot Locker reported its first positive comparable sales since the end of 2024, in part due to changing how it displays products.
In the past, Foot Locker stores stuffed their walls with too many shoes, Dick’s Executive Chairman Ed Stack said on the earnings call. “Before, the Foot Locker footwear wall was really a run-on sentence. It was just filled with a bunch of shoes, and there was nothing important.”
Dick’s has since launched a “Fast Break” store concept for Foot Locker that cuts the number of styles by about 30% and puts a focus on product curation and storytelling, according to Stack. These locations saw double-digit comparable sales growth in the first quarter.
“At its core it's retail 101, and when you execute it with discipline, it works,” Stack said.
