Academy Sports + Outdoors to open Aug. 19 in Short Pump
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Academy Sports + Outdoors will host a grand-opening event at its new Short Pump location Aug. 19, beginning with a ribbon-cutting at 8:40 a.m., followed by a performance by the Virginia Union University marching band.
When the store – Academy's first in Virginia – opens at 9 a.m., it will provide free “mystery gifts” valued at between $10 and $500 apiece to the first 150 people 18 and older in line. Between noon and 5 p.m., there will be family-friendly games, prizes and free custom t-shirts, while supplies last. Both opportunities will be repeated each of the following days, as well (the former beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday, while the latter will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday).
The store will begin its celebration a day earlier when it presents $150 gift cards to 20 local athletes from the Henrico Police Athletic League and allows them to shop at the store prior to its official opening. The company also will provide a $2,000 gift card to HPAL.
The 58,000-square-foot store is located at 11861 West Broad Street, in the former Toys "R" Us/Kids "R" Us location. It will employ 60 people.
Virginia Union University’s marching band will perform and help welcome customers into the store. Store tours will be offered to media in attendance at this time.
The store will offer three days of deals and discounts at the new location, which it has listed online at academy.com/shortpump.
Academy Sports + Outdoors, headquartered in Katy, Texas, is one of the nation's largest sporting goods and outdoor stores. The company operates 259 stores in 16 southern and midwestern states. The closest stores to Virginia are the company’s 14 in North Carolina.
The company offers a wide assortment of hunting, fishing, camping equipment, and gear, sports and leisure products, footwear and apparel, among many other items. It is a competitor of Cabela’s, which has a Short Pump location just a few miles west of the new Academy Sports location, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has three Henrico locations, including one at Short Pump Town Center, across from Academy’s new spot.
Academy Sports’ sales reached $1 billion in 2003, $2 billion in 2007, $3 billion in 2012, and $4 billion in 2014. In fiscal 2021, sales exceeded $6.77 billion.
