Small Towns Brace: 175 Stores Axed

A red 'CLOSED' sign hanging on a storefront door — SMALL TOWNS BRACE SHOCKER

JD Sports paid $1.1 billion for Hibbett Sports in 2024, and now it plans to close 175 of those stores — raising a simple question: did it buy a chain or a clearance sale?

Story Snapshot

JD Sports plans to close about 175 Hibbett Sports stores across the U.S. over the next three years.
JD Sports bought Hibbett in 2024 for roughly $1.1 billion to grow its North American footprint.
The company says the closures target underperforming locations and will shift focus to fewer, bigger, more profitable stores.
Hibbett has long served small and mid-sized markets in the Southeast, Southwest, and lower Midwest — the exact communities most likely to feel these closures.

A $1.1 Billion Deal That Now Needs a Trim

JD Sports, the British athletic retail giant, bought Hibbett Sports in 2024 for about $1.1 billion. ^[1] The deal was sold to investors as a way to deepen JD’s reach into smaller American markets.

Hibbett had built its brand in towns that Nike flagship stores and big-box retailers mostly ignored. That was the pitch. Two years later, JD Sports is cutting 175 of those locations. The math is hard to ignore.

Hibbett Sports owner plans to close 175 underperforming stores in major North American reorganization https://t.co/SYgGFpK67q

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) June 8, 2026

JD Sports Chief Executive Officer Régis Schultz announced the closures on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. ^[1] His exact words: “In North America, we will leverage group best practices to optimize store footprint and profitability.

As part of this, we will close around 170 underperforming stores over the next three years.” The company’s Chief Financial Officer echoed the same theme — fewer stores, bigger stores, better stores. That is the official story, and so far, no one has produced hard evidence to contradict it.

What “Underperforming” Actually Means for Small Towns

Hibbett has always operated differently from most sporting goods chains. ^[5] It built its identity in small and mid-sized communities across the Southeast, Southwest, and lower Midwest — places where it was often the only serious athletic footwear retailer in town.

Those stores may not generate the same revenue per square foot as a location in a suburban mall near a major city. But for the communities they serve, they are not just convenient — they are the only option.

When a company like JD Sports runs a store-by-store earnings analysis, smaller-market locations almost always look worse on paper. Lower foot traffic, lower average transaction size, and higher relative operating costs make them easy targets in a portfolio review.

That does not mean those stores are failures. It means they serve a different customer in a different market. The closures will hit hardest in the towns that have the fewest retail alternatives — and that is worth saying plainly. ^[4]

The Post-Acquisition Playbook Almost Every Retailer Runs

There is nothing unusual about what JD Sports is doing here. After a major acquisition, companies almost always trim the store fleet. The acquirer inherits leases, staffing models, and locations that made sense under the old ownership but do not fit the new strategy.

Closing underperforming stores, converting some to a different banner, and focusing capital on higher-volume locations is standard operating procedure in retail. ^[3] JD Sports is not inventing a new move. It is running the same play that dozens of chains have run before.

🏬 Overview:
A major U.S. sporting‑goods retailer — Hibbett Sports, owned by JD Sports — is set to close 175 stores across the United States as part of a multi‑year reorganization and cost‑cutting strategy.

📉 Core Facts:
– Hibbett store closures — JD Sports will shut about 175…

— Washington Report (@Washington_Rep) June 8, 2026

That context matters because it cuts both ways. Yes, the closures are a rational business decision. But they also raise a fair question about the original acquisition. If 175 stores were always going to be cut, were they ever really part of the growth plan?

Or did JD Sports pay $1.1 billion partly for the brand, the supply chain, and the customer data — and always planned to shrink the physical footprint? ^[2]

No public document answers that question directly. The company’s framing dominates the narrative because no independent financial analysis has been released to challenge it.

Who Loses When the Store Closes

The employees at those 175 stores will face job losses. ^[4] The landlords in those strip malls and small shopping centers will face empty anchor spots that are hard to fill. The towns themselves will lose a retail touchpoint that many residents relied on. None of that means JD Sports is wrong to make the cuts.

Businesses have to make hard calls. But the human cost of “portfolio optimization” does not show up on an earnings call, and it deserves to be named. This case says a company that spends over a billion dollars on an acquisition should have a clearer plan than cutting 175 stores two years later.

What to Watch Over the Next Three Years

JD Sports says the closures will happen over three years, with the goal of building a leaner, more profitable North American operation. ^[3] The real test is whether the remaining Hibbett stores actually grow. If the surviving locations generate stronger sales and the brand holds its footing in mid-sized markets, the strategy will look smart in hindsight.

If the closures accelerate, the store count continues to shrink, and the brand loses its identity as the retailer for smaller communities, then the $1.1 billion acquisition will look like an expensive lesson in what not to buy. Either way, the next few earnings calls will tell the real story.