Companies in bankruptcy don’t have to honor gift cards, but many do to keep customers happy.
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Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the day of the filing and the amount of assets reported by Sports Authority.
Some of those 140 stores could be sold to Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has only grown while Sports Authority struggled.
Foss said that no stores will be immediately shut as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.
The Cortez Road store is Bradenton’s only Sports Authority.
The company, which filed for bankruptcy in a federal court in DE, now operates 463 stores in 41 states and Puerto Rico.
The store closings will take place over the next three months. Store managers and sales people at the affected stores could get bonuses for staying with the company through completion.
Other sporting goods stores in Bradenton include Champs Sports, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Finish Line and Play it Again Sports, as well as other sports-specific shops such as Tennis Goal Pro Shop.
Sports Authority said that it expects to have sufficient liquidity during the Chapter 11 process when factoring in cash from operations and anticipated access to up to $595 million in debtor-in-possession financing.
Documents filed in the District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court reveal that the company estimates that its assets are worth less than $50,000 while its liabilities total between $1 million and $10 million.
Neither Sports Authority nor Dick’s has commented on the report.
For Sports Authority, the online competition has come from online retailers such as Amazon and Fanatics, and also retail sites run by sports leagues such as the NFL and National Basketball Association.
Dick’s would bolster its market leadership if it acquired more stores, and such a deal would face low antitrust risk, said Jennifer Rie, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Retailers are figuring out that the big store that is trying to carry everything for everyone doesn’t work anymore”.
“We are taking this action so that we can continue to adapt our business to meet the changing dynamics in the retail industry”, Michael E. Foss, Sports Authority’s CEO, said in a statement.
Sources previously told The Denver Post that the Sports Castle store at 1000 Broadway, Sports Authority’s “Arapahoe” location at 9000 E. Peakview Ave.in Greenwood Village, and its SA Elite store in Boulder were among those 140 locations.
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If you have a warranty on a product you bought at Sports Authority, it is still in effect for the same period of time.
