Academy Sports Store To Open in August

Academy Sports & Outdoors, based in Katy, Texas, will open its 90th store in Fort Smith in August, said Carl Main, the company’s director of marketing.

Construction on the 74,000-SF store began in January. The cost was $3.84 million, according to a construction permit filed with the city.

According to its Web site, Academy carries sporting and outdoors equipment, apparel and footwear. Last year, the company, which was founded in 1938, had $1.5 billion in sales, Main said.

“We’re a lot more than people think of as a traditional sporting goods store,” Main said. “We sell more shoes than anybody in Houston, and we sell more shoes than anybody in Dallas.”

Main said the privately owned company chose Fort Smith because of its demographic for hunting and fishing. Academy has stores in Little Rock, Sherwood, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Edmond, Okla.

The store will employ about 130-140 people, Main said.