Dick’s Launching Texas Expansion

Pittsburgh - August 21 - Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. is finalizing lease documents for a handful of new locations in the Houston area, according to a source close to the deal. The retailer should open its first store by mid to late 2008, according to a report in the Houston Business Journal.

Local market sources say Dick's Sporting Goods is in talks to open a first wave of locations in Simon Property Group’s West Grand Promenade in Katy, Texas; in CBL & Associates Properties’ mixed-use project, Pearland Town Center at State Highway 288 and FM 518 in Pearland, Texas; in Willowbrook Mall and in Baybrook Mall, both in Houston. Fidelis Realty Partners also says Dick's will have a two-story, 83,000-sq.-ft. store in its west Houston retail center project at Interstate 10 and Bunker Hill.

The retailer, which operates one-story, 50,000-sq.-ft. stores and two-story, 80,000-sq.-ft. stores, currently has three stores in the Texas market. According to the company's Web site, a Dallas store is coming soon.

Dick's is also said to be scouting additional sites in San Antonio, Dallas and Austin, Texas.

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