Hibbett Sports 2012 Annual Report Download - page 10

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Our Store Concepts
Hibbett Sports
Our primary retail format is Hibbett Sports, a 5,000 square foot store located primarily in strip centers, which are usually
influenced by a Wal-Mart store. In considering locations for our Hibbett Sports stores, we take into account the size, demographics,
quality of real estate and competitive conditions of each market. Of these stores, 625 Hibbett Sports stores are located in strip
centers, which include free-standing stores, with the remaining 187 stores located in enclosed malls, the majority of which are the
only enclosed malls in their county.
Hibbett Sports stores offer a core selection of quality, brand name merchandise with an emphasis on team sports. This
merchandise mix is complemented by a selection of localized apparel, footwear and accessories designed to appeal to a wide range of
customers within each market. We strive to respond quickly to major sporting events of local interest. Such events in the last few
years included The University of Alabama’s and Auburn University’s historic football seasons and ultimate victories in the Bowl
Championship Series (BCS) National Championship games as well as the successful seasons of the LSU Tigers college football
team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers professional football teams, the Texas Rangers, St. Louis
Cardinals and New York Yankees professional baseball teams, and the Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas
Mavericks professional basketball teams.
Sports Additions
Our 19 Sports Additions stores are small, primarily enclosed mall-based stores, averaging 2,500 square feet with
approximately 90% of merchandise consisting of athletic footwear and the remainder consisting of caps and a limited assortment of
apparel. Sports Additions stores offer a more fashion-based merchandise assortment compared to our Hibbett Sports stores. All but
four Sports Additions stores are currently located in enclosed malls in which Hibbett Sports stores are also present.
Sports & Co.
We operate one Sports & Co. (Superstore) that was opened in November 1995. The Superstore is approximately 25,000
square feet and offers a broader assortment of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment than our Hibbett Sports stores. Athletic
equipment and apparel represent a higher percentage of the overall merchandise mix at the Superstore than they do at Hibbett Sports
stores. We have no plans to open any Superstores in the future.
Team
Hibbett Team Sales, Inc. (Team), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is a leading supplier of customized athletic
apparel, equipment and footwear primarily to school athletic programs in Alabama and parts of Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.
Team sells its merchandise directly to educational institutions and youth associations. The operations of Team are independent of the
operations of our retail stores.
None of our store concepts meet the quantitative or qualitative requirements of the Accounting Standards Codification
(ASC) Topic 280, Segment Reporting.
Our Growth Strategy
We currently have identified markets for our Hibbett Sports stores within the states in which we operate to grow to over
1300 stores. Our clustered expansion program, which calls for opening new stores within a two-hour driving distance of an existing
Hibbett location, allows us to take advantage of efficiencies in distribution, marketing and regional management. It also allows us to
build on our understanding of merchandise selection for the local market.
In Fiscal 2013, we expect our net store openings to accelerate over Fiscal 2012. We have identified potential markets but
have experienced difficulty in securing suitable real estate or leases within the targeted market over the last few years. Although new
construction store sites continue to be a challenge to find, we have been able to capitalize on prime locations left vacant by franchised
and entertainment-related business closings. While we expect new store growth at a faster pace than the last few years, we still
anticipate that the current economic environment, particularly in the commercial real estate market, will continue to make it harder to
open our stores at our historical rate of growth. Because of the slowdown of new store openings, we have turned our focus
somewhat on expanding high performing stores and have seen successful results from this strategy.
In evaluating potential markets, we consider population, economic conditions, local competitive dynamics, availability of
suitable real estate and proximity to existing Hibbett stores. Our continued growth largely depends on our ability to open new stores
in a timely manner, to operate them profitably and to manage them effectively. Additionally, successful expansion is subject to
various contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. See “Risk Factors.”