Dozens of Olympia Sports stores will close following the purchase of the Westbrook-based sporting goods chain.Olympia Sports was purchased by JackRabbit, a retailer specializing in running and active lifestyles goods. Terms of the sale, announced Tuesday by JackRabbit, were not released.
A spokeswoman for Olympia Sports said about half of the 150 stores the company operates, including some in Maine, will close as a result of the deal. Joanne Kenny, Olympia’s corporate communications director, also said workers at the company’s headquarters in Westbrook will be laid off, although she declined to say how many. Kenny said those layoffs will be phased as stores close.
She declined to say which stores will be closed, but said customers will see liquidation sales at those locations that will be shuttered.
Olympia Sports’ stores are located from Maine to Virginia.
A press release about the purchase said that the transaction would result in JackRabbit operating 135 bricks-and-mortar stores. At the beginning of the summer, JackRabbit had 62 stores in 18 states and in late August announced that it would open two new stores in Texas and had purchased Nashville-based Rhythm Running, a sporting goods retailer with a store in Tennessee.
JackRabbit was founded as The Finish Line. Two years ago, it was sold to CriticalPoint Capital, a private investment firm based in Manhattan Beach, California.
A visitor log at Olympia Sports’ corporate headquarters in Westbrook on Wednesday indicated that Bill Kirkendall, the chief executive officer of JackRabbit, was at the offices.
This story appears through a media sharing agreement with Bangor Daily News.