![]() ![]() At the time, Dick's had 22 stores in four states.Ī resolute Alex Alexander and his warm relationship with "Dutch," Stack's grandfather Karl Krupitza, swayed Stack to save the PGA Tour event that was about to be pulled from Broome County. We had a few recruits in to talk with us, and they tended to love Dick's but balk at moving to our humble little city."įorty-nine of the company's office staff of 51 also made the move. "We had a hard time attracting talent to Binghamton, the kind of top talent we'd need to further grow the business. "There was a strategic argument for the move, too," Stack writes. He had long promised his wife at the time, Denise, the family would eventually move to a city. ![]() "I felt a sharp pang of doubt," he writes, when his second-born son, Brian, asked to sit in the back seat of the family's Toyota minivan because "I just want to look at our house for as long as I can as we drive away." Most poignant for the Binghamton community was the chain's decision to move its headquarters to Pittsburgh in 1994, a choice that pained even Stack as he drove away from his Vestal house for the last time - with his children in the back seat. In the book that seems to be written much in the mold of Phil Knight's "Shoe Dog," Stack reviews several mileposts in the chain's more than 70-year history. "And it's a safe bet we will trade exclusively in those weapons designed for real sport." "I can see the day coming when we sell guns in only a fraction of our locations," Stack writes. There is speculation Dick's will eliminate guns for all its non-specialized outlets in the not-too-distant future. In many of the stores where guns were removed, the floor space was dedicated to higher-margin merchandise. In conference calls with analysts, Stack has said firearms are a low-margin business. ![]() Subsequently, Dick Sporting Goods removed all guns from many stores, first in 12 markets, and then in another wave upped it to 125. "People came into our stores with donuts, pizza and flowers for the staff," Stack writes. Those who were endeared to Dick's assault-style weapons ban organized "buycotts." On the other side, many expressed support. But he's at ease making the distinction between guns and artillery used for sport and firearms with a questionable purpose. "They bought baseball gloves, running shoes, and sportswear for themselves and their families." Dick's ditches gunsĪdditionally, rather than returning the banned firearms to manufacturers, the chain "sawed $5 million worth of rifles into scrap," turning the pieces over to a metal recycler.Īs a professed gun owner, Stack writes he understands and supports Second Amendment rights. "The people we'd anger didn't just buy firearms from us," Stack writes. ![]() Comparable store sales declined by as much as 4% following the decision. It trimmed about $250 million from the chain's top line as the boycott movement among opponents took hold, affecting not only gun sales, but other assorted merchandise. Executives knew the reaction would be fast and furious with ripples to overall sales. "The military variant of the AR-15 has just one purpose: to kill people."īanishing assault-style weapons from the chain's stores came with due diligence. "AR-15s and other military-style rifles are like catnip to the deranged," Stack writes. If Congress wasn't going to take a stand on sensible gun laws in the wake of those tragedies, then someone else had to step in, Stack recalls. Dick's goes from Binghamton to big timeĮven though Dick's Sporting Goods was on track to become the largest sporting goods retailing chain in the nation, Stack never sought the spotlight - until the mass school shootings at Sandy Hook and Parkland. Make a Difference" (Scribner, $28), scheduled to hit the shelves Tuesday, Oct. "I cannot stand businesses that cannot mind their own business."Īnd that was one of the milder selections from a collection in Stack's new book, "It's How We Play the Game: Build a Business. "I will never buy anything from Dick's," wrote a Twitter commenter after Stack announced Dick's was halting some gun sales. Social media reaction from detractors was swift and often brutal.įor Ed Stack, the chief executive - who delivered the new corporate policy in a string of three network interviews following the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Florida, not far from his Florida home - it even meant the temporary end of a long-term friendship. Some firearms manufacturers cut the chain off from all their wares. When Dick's Sporting Goods decided to remove assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines from more than 700 stores nationwide, the blowback was predictable. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |