Dick's Sporting Goods has won an auction to purchase the United States assets of Golfsmith, according to a Reuters report.
The auction was held Wednesday through the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware which is handling the filing Golfsmith International made on Sept. 14, declaring its intentions to liquidate its assets if a new buyer could not be found. Dick's Sporting Goods teamed with several liquidators, according to Reuters, to win the auction with a bid of approximately $70 million.
So, what does Dick's plan to do with its new assets? Well, mostly shut down Golfsmith locations in the U.S. The company had 109 stores when the filing was made. Reuters reports Dick's plans to retain 30 Golfsmith brick-and-mortar stores. It's unclear if those stores will be rebranded as Golf Galaxy locations. All told, 500 Golfsmith employees will be retained.
Dick's will work with liquidating firms Hilco Global and Tiger Capital Group to wind down the rest. Dick's will obtain a lot of merchandise at a discount through the auction, which they can turn a profit on through liquidation sales and selling through its newly expanded channel of stores.
The New York-based Dick's also won in the auction Golfsmith's intellectual property.
Dick's ultimately beat out Worldwide Golf Shops, which runs golf stores under a variety of names, in the bidding process, the results of which haven't yet been made public. Worldwide had intended to maintain a similar residual Golfsmith footprint of approximately 30 stores.
