Fear & Loading: Dick’s Closing More Gun Departments, Despite Plummeting Sales

by
posted on March 13, 2019
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
fayetteville-dicks.jpg

A financial report issued this week by Dick’s Sporting Goods, with figures that cover the year since it enacted policies that drew criticism from Second Amendment supporters, shows the firm’s, “… same-store sales fell 3.1 percent in the 12 months that ended Feb. 2 from the comparable period a year earlier,” according to the New York Times. The corresponding decline in profit, however, didn’t deter the company from also announcing it will stop selling firearms, hunting gear and associated products at another 125 of its nearly 850 retail stores. Ten of its outlets closed their departments in the fall.

The Wall Street Journal notes, “Dick’s has struggled with declining sales since its CEO Ed Stack made a public decision to stop selling guns to buyers under 21 and take assault-style weapons [sic] out of all stores …” Company income for the last quarter, according to USA Today, totaled $102.6 million. The figure a year ago, pre-policy, stood at $116 million.

“Public reaction to the policies Dick’s introduced after the Parkland shooting was a ‘meaningful driver’ in the declines, Mr. Stack said in a conference call with analysts on Tuesday,” according to the New York Times article. MSN Money ominously reported, “Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped ‘the bomb’ in its earning call that has hurt a number of retail stocks of late and investors should refrain from buying shares, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday.” Stocks in the publicly traded firm dropped by more than 10 percent during the day’s trading.

Selection in the stores was vastly reduced early last year when Mossberg, Springfield Armory, Hi-Point, Hogue and many others in the industry pulled their wares from the retailer. Dick’s Sporting Goods was also expelled from National Shooting Sports Foundation membership. The  financial impact was felt as early as August, when the company’s quarterly report reflected a drop in same-store-sales 3 times higher than anticipated.

The company didn’t release locations that will have firearm and hunting gear removed from inventory.   

Latest

Hearing Healthy
Hearing Healthy

Summer Suppressor Deals On Now

Whether it is a BOGO deal from SIG or free tax stamps from Guns.com and Silencer Central, there's plenty of hearing-safe savings to be had this summer.

Rifleman Report: Defending Freedom For 250 Years

"Anyone who claims not to understand the plain and simple intent of the Second Amendment—especially if that person happens to be a constitutional law professor, Supreme Court justice, congressman, senator or president—is likely hiding nefarious intent: to strip individual liberty from American citizens for the express purpose of making them susceptible to a tyrannical government."

Book Review: 2025 Traveler’s Guide To The Firearms Laws Of The Fifty States

Newly updated for 2025, the 29th edition of the Traveler’s Guide To The Firearm Laws Of The Fifty States is packed with all the need-to-know information for cross-country trekkers seeking to bring their arms along with them and remain legal in all localities.

Springfield Kuna: A PDW For The Masses

Small, yet fierce, the namesake of Springfield Armory’s latest large-format pistol is a revered forest dweller in the land of its Croatian manufacturing partner, HS Produkt. The new Kuna is poised to be just as welcome in America.

The Armed Citizen® June 30, 2025

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Book Review: Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers Of Elisha Collier & Artemas Wheeler

The result of a decade of research, Clockwork Basilisk is a comprehensive, two-volume history of the rare revolvers that preceded the development of the well-known Colt guns of the 1830s.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.