The brand new Dick’s Sporting Items retailer has a driving vary and an out of doors monitor

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

Dick’s Sporting Goods opens the largest store it has ever built on Friday.

This new format is called House of Sport and offers a variety of functions. The retailer’s goal was to create a space where visitors could not only buy sneakers, but also enjoy sports and other physical activities for an afternoon.

The more than 100,000 square meter space is located in the Eastview Mall in the Rochester suburb of Victor, New York. It includes an indoor climbing wall, golf courses, putting green, and health and wellness shop, as well as an outdoor track and grass field – all things Dick’s is testing for the first time.

Dozens of well-known brands, including Yeti and Vans, have their own spaces in the store to showcase new products. They sit next to Dick’s trademarks DSG, Calia and VRST. Nike has the largest square of them all, including an area near the entrance to the mall for the Jordan brand. It’s the largest room Dick’s Nike has ever given in a store.

Dick’s is already planning to open its second House of Sport in Knoxville, Tennessee this year.

Ed Stack, executive chairman, chief merchant and former CEO, said more stores will open in other states with this format in the coming years.

“The vision I created for this concept was that we wanted to build the store … the experience that would put Dick’s sporting goods out of business,” Stack said in a recent interview.

“This is the greatest innovation we’ve ever made,” he said. “This is the greatest advance in any concept we’ve made. And I think we got it right.”

According to Lauren Hobart, CEO of Stack and Dick, certain elements of House of Sport are slowly being incorporated into more current Dick locations depending on how well they are received. For example, the mini health and wellness juice shops or the room for stollen could be found in dozens of other retailer’s stores.

The company plans to allow local sports teams to use its field for meetups and has a conference room that can be booked for other types of gatherings.

“Between the service model that we entered [House of Sport], the experience, the games, the product … we really see it like it’s almost like starting a brand new company, “said Stack.

Here’s a look inside and out

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

Beyond the shoe department there is an area for cleats that holds more than 380 pairs of shoes.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

The climbing wall rises 30 feet and can be booked online in advance.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

A mini health store sells local juice, snacks, vitamins, yoga equipment, and other wellness products.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

In the baseball department, Dick’s brought batting cages with an automatic pitching machine for customers to test products.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

In addition to the golf goods, there are three virtual driving areas that can be booked for special occasions.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR

A 17,000 square meter section of the parking lot has been converted into an athletics field. Dick’s plans to turn the area into an ice rink in winter.

Source: Dick’s Sporting Goods PR