Academy Sports and Outdoors

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Academy Sports + Outdoors

Type	Sporting Goods, Private
Founded	San Antonio,USA (1938)
Headquarters	Katy, Texas, USA
Key people	Max Gochman Founder David Gochman, Chairman, President and CEO Rodney Faldyn, CFO
Industry	Retail
Products	Discount stores
Revenue	▲ US $1.2 billion, (2005)
Net income	▲ US $65.0 million
Employees	Over 11,000
Website	www.academy.com

Academy Sports and Outdoors (Sometimes Academy Sports + Outdoors) is a sports goods discount store headquartered in Katy, TX. It is a privately held company owned by the Gochman family, with David Gochman as the company's current Chairman, President and CEO. Academy is one of the largest sporting goods stores in the US, operating 105 stores across the southeastern United States.

1 History
2 Business
3 Stores
4 Locations
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

In 1938, founder Max Gochman started the Academy Tire Co. in San Antonio, Texas. Eventually, in 1956, he moved the business to Austin, Texas, started selling military surplus supplies, and changed the name to Academy Super Surplus. It was during this time that he expanded to four stores. Max's son Arthur opened six Academy Super Surplus stores in Houston, Texas in 1973. In the 1980's Academy started selling sporting good supplies, and by 1990, had expanded into the store that it is today. They recently opened their 105th store.

[edit] Business

Academy stores have six departments:

Team Sports (Including the Golf Shop and Fitness Flex)
Footwear
Camping (Including patio furniture and cooking supplies)
Hunting and Fishing (Including firearm sells, boating, and truck and trailer accessories. Academy is the second largest distributor of firearms in the US.)
Apparel
Front End (Cash Registers, including hunting and fishing license sells at select registers)

The company ensures good customer service by not only training associates when they are first hired, but also through department specific training modules throughout the associates' career at Academy. Instead of selling a few items at rock bottom prices, and selling other items at marked up prices, Academy sells everything at it's Every Day Low Price. Academy is one of the major sports and outdoors stores in the nation even with a little over 100 stores in the south and southwest regions of the US. Academy's business model of wide selection and low prices drive the company.

[edit] Stores

Academy stores are generally painted white on outside, with familiar red and blue signage. On the inside, they are similarly painted white, giving stores an open, clean appearance. With over 100,000 square feet, the floor plan in all stores are similar. Walking into the store, team sports and footwear are on the left wall, camping on the back wall, hunting and fishing on the right wall, apparel in the middle and the registers on the front wall, leading to the exit. Many stores feature a small putting green to test out putters on in its Golf Shop.