Pittsburgh retailer Dick’s to buy California Chick’s

Pittsburgh retailer DickÆs to buy California ChickÆs Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. said Monday it has acquired the privately held Covina, Calif.-based Chick’s Sporting Goods firm for about $71 million in cash and assumed debt.
   The move makes good on Dick's plan, announced earlier this year, to enter the California sporting goods market with a projection to open up to 90 stores throughout the state.
   The 14-store Chick's chain, with annual sales totaling about $100 million, is a fraction of Dick’s latest fiscal year revenues of more than $3.1 billion.
   Chick's, started in 1949 by the Chick family, employs more than 1,400 employees throughout its chain, including a corporate headquarters facility in Covina and a distribution center in San Dimas, Calif.
   Dick's stated goal is to operate 800 stores nationwide within about seven years, based on 15 percent store growth annually and excluding acquisitions. The firm operates 340 stores in 36 states, primarily east of the Mississippi River. The firm's expansion plan will see the development of at least two stores in each of the contiguous 48 states. Major expansions include California leaping from zero to 90 stores, an increase from three to 60 stores in Texas, and expanding its Florida outlets from six to 40.