Sport Chalet Shuts Down Online Sales, Plans To Close All Retail Stores
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Sporting goods retailer Sport Chalet announced Saturday it will close all of its stores in coming weeks and has already stopped selling goods online.
The La Canada-based company operates more than 30 stores in Southern California that offer outdoor apparel and sporting goods.
The store said it will honor store credits and gift certificates through April 29.
"Thank you for your loyalty over the years," the company said in a statement on its website.
The company was founded in 1959 by Norbert J. Olberz, with its first store in La Canada Flintridge, where it remained headquartered for the next several decades.
What began as one specialty sporting goods location expanded into a string of full-service sporting goods stores across the Southland, and eventually expanded to Northern California, Arizona and Nevada as well. Sports Chalet went public in 1992.
Sport Chalet had been struggling for years and was acquired by Vestis Retail Group in 2014 for about $17 million plus the assumption of about $52 in bank debt, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported.
Prior to the deal, which took Sport Chalet private, the company had not turned an annual profit since 2007, the LA Times reported.
The company operates 13 stores in Los Angeles County, seven stores in Orange County, four in San Diego County, three in Riverside County, three in San Bernardino County and three in Ventura County.
CBS2's Greg Mills spoke to disappointed customers on Saturday.
"It's kinda sad," said Dashon Pulley, "I come here a lot for football and baseball equipment or anything I need."
Baseball coach Gersom Salmeron found out the store was shutting by an email alert.
"I just got an email telling me it was closing down. That's why I came."
Many customers told Mills they will miss being able to get all kinds of casual wear at the store.
"It's the end of an era," said shopper Jennifer Meneses, "I bought my first flip-flops at Sport Chalet when I moved to California."
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
