ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — All Sports Authority stores will soon be having going-out-of-business sales.
Months after it first filed for bankruptcy and planned to downsize, Sports Authority filed new paperwork Wednesday revealing its plans to close all stores.
The move will likely hit hardest in a Colorado city that doesn’t have a Sports Authority store. Englewood is home to the Sports Authority corporate office and city leaders said they’re preparing for the worst.
Not long ago, Sports Authority was Englewood’s second largest employer. City Manager Eric Keck said the corporation has already gone from 900 employees to roughly 600.
“We’re unsure of the exact number of employees that remain as they’ve had several rounds of layoffs,” Keck said. “We’re preparing for the fact that Sports Authority will not be in our community any longer with their presence and that is difficult.”
Keck said it’s even more difficult because even though the retailer has made it clear that all its remaining stores will be liquidating this summer, very little is known about the plans for the corporate office.
“We actually have made multiple attempts to try and talk to Sports Authority,” Keck said. “Some of the contacts that we’ve had there and we simply have not had a response back.”
Though uncertainty remains surrounding the immediate future of the Sports Authority corporate office, Keck said the landowner is making plans for the site, which could include a mixed-use residential development.
Meanwhile, local businesses are bracing for a ripple effect. Steakhouse 10 is located a couple of blocks from Sports Authority and counts on 20 to 40 employees dining with it every day.
“They’re like family to us. They’ve meant a lot to us,” co-owner Pete Kalasountas said. “It’s a big number considering how small of a business we are here.”
Though the traffic is still steady, he said everyone is anxious to know what the future holds.
“Every day they come in now they’re like, ‘Well, it’s a day-to-day thing. We don’t know where our job is going to end up,’” Kalasountas said.