Dick’s opening in Las Vegas strip mall as other shops flounder

A sporting goods dealer with a recent boost in sales during the coronavirus pandemic plans to open a store near Summerlin, filling a vacancy that was home to a now-defunct rival.

Dick’s Sporting Goods expects to debut on Charleston Boulevard at Fort Apache Road, next to Whole Foods Market, in spring 2021, spokeswoman Lily Herring told the Review-Journal.

Its new home, the Crossroads Commons strip mall, is a case study for the ups and downs of the retail industry.

Before the pandemic hit, brick-and-mortar retail had been on wobbly ground in Las Vegas and other cities amid a glut of stores and fierce competition from e-commerce giant Amazon. Like other industries, it has been hit hard by the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, which sparked government-ordered business shutdowns and other turmoil, but it’s still kicking.

Leaving in ‘middle of the night’

Crossroads Commons has several tenants, including Whole Foods and a Barnes & Noble bookstore. A free-standing building, slated to feature a Chick-fil-A sandwich shop and space for other tenants, is under construction in the plaza as well.

The 41,000-square-foot Dick’s store, formerly occupied by Sport Chalet, has been undergoing demolition and other work for the tenant, which has “Opening soon” banners fastened to the fencing around the site.

Dick’s signed its lease around mid-July, and the store is undergoing more than $4 million worth of work, said Ted Baker of Logic Commercial Real Estate, the center’s leasing broker.

Still, the space has been closed since Sport Chalet went out of business in 2016, and a few other tenants in the suburban Las Vegas retail plaza recently closed, including one that, according to Baker, moved out “in the middle of the night.”

Men’s clothing chain Jos. A. Bank cleared its inventory, locked the doors one day and left, said Baker, who noted he had never seen a national tenant abruptly leave like that in his 33-year career.

Today, the only things left in the store include empty merchandise displays and naked mannequins.

Jos. A. Bank’s parent company, Tailored Brands, whose other holdings include Men’s Wearhouse, announced in July that because of the “unprecedented and industrywide business disruptions” sparked by the coronavirus, it planned to eliminate around 20 percent of its corporate positions and might close up to 500 stores.

It later filed for bankruptcy protection.

Tailored Brands spokeswoman Stephanie Randall declined to comment on the closure at Crossroads Commons.

Meanwhile, Pier 1 Imports also recently closed at the plaza. The home decor chain had said in January it planned to close up to 450 of its 900-plus stores, then filed for bankruptcy protection in February as part of a plan to sell the company.

After the pandemic hit, Pier 1 announced in May it would shutter all locations.

‘In a great lane’

Not every retailer is collapsing.

Dick’s, which boasts more than 700 locations nationally, including in Fashion Show mall on the Strip and in Henderson’s Galleria at Sunset mall, booked $276.8 million in profit in the 13 weeks ended Aug. 1, up more than double from roughly the same stretch last year.

Edward Stack, Dick’s chairman and chief executive, said last month that participation in “socially distant, outdoor activities” has climbed, and there has been a bigger shift toward “athletic and active lifestyle product” as people spend more time working and exercising at home.

There is “uncertainty in the current environment,” he added, but “we are in a great lane right now.”