Dick's Sporting Goods opens pop-up discount store at Tanger Outlets Deer Park

Dick’s Sporting Goods’ pop-up, warehouse-store concept has reached Long Island, as the chain works harder to compete with off-price retailers by offering its own discount stores.

A Dick’s Sporting Goods Warehouse Sale, the first on Long Island and second in New York State, opened Friday in Tanger Outlets Deer Park.

The store will be open for a year in a 32,050-square-foot space at 152 The Arches Circle, Suite 201, which was vacated by off-price retailer Neiman Marcus Last Call in August, said Nancy Larson, general manager for the shopping center.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. did not respond to Newsday’s requests for comment.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Warehouse Sale locations "offer deep discounts on customer-favorite apparel brands with hundreds of items 70% off or more," the company said in a Feb. 10 statement announcing the planned openings of the Deer Park warehouse store and three others.

There are now 19 warehouse stores, according to the retailer’s website, including one other in New York State, in Amherst, Erie County. There are 728 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores in 47 states, including nine regular stores on Long Island.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to months of business shutdowns starting last March, ushered in record-breaking sales increases for sporting goods retailers because stuck-at-home Americans were engaging in more casual sports and exercise to keep themselves busy.

In its third quarter, which ended Oct. 31, Dick’s had a record-breaking 23.2% increase in sales online and at brick-and-mortar stores that had been open at least a year.

But Dick’s sales had been relatively flat for years before the pandemic, so the retailer is looking for ways to better move its unsold merchandise, and compete more with online retailers and off-price brick-and-mortar chains, such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Burlington, said David Swartz, equity analyst at Morningstar Research Services in Chicago.

In June, the retailer announced two new discount concepts, including Dick’s Sporting Goods Warehouse Sale.

"These clearance stores will provide a temporary pop-up-style shopping experience for customers in these communities over the next six months," Dick’s said of its five new, temporary warehouse stores in a June statement.

It’s more beneficial to Dick’s if it moves unsold inventory to its own discount stores, rather than selling it at a discount to off-price chains to resell, or keeping it on the shelves in regular Dick’s stores, Swartz said.

"It’s … a way to move unsold inventory without having to hold huge sales in the main stores. Dick’s will probably ship unsold merchandise from several surrounding stores to the warehouse store. It clears up floor space in the main stores for better-selling stuff," Swartz said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.com@ToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.