The large scale retailer Dick's Sporting Goods is removing all firearms and hunting gear from 125 stores amid slowing sales.
Dick's Sporting Goods has continued their effort to quit selling weapons and hunting gear.
According to news reports, 125 slumping stores will see all firearms and hunting gear removed, totaling about 17 percent of the chain's locations. The move will be executed starting in August, said Dick's Chief Executive Officer Ed Stack on Tuesday.
The new strategy comes after the retailer banned the sale of high-capacity magazines and "assault-style weapons" last year after the Parkland, Florida school shooting. They also stopped selling firearms to anyone under 21, which led to some legal trouble.
Bloomberg reported that the news and continued sales declines led to shares falling "as much as 11 percent, the most since August 2017, to $34.45 in New York trading. The stock was up 25 percent this year through Monday."
Stack said that fourth-quarter sales rose in 10 trial run stores where hunting and shooting products with replaced with things like kayaks and team sports equipment.
The decision could be expanded to more stores if proven successful, according to the Bloomberg report.
The National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Foundation criticized Dick's when they changed their guidelines last year, and similar reactions are flowing in from sportsmen organizations. On the contrary, gun control groups are applauding the change.
According to Bloomberg, "Dick's was once a major vendor of firearms in the U.S., and though the industry was struggling before the decision, Stack has made it clear that the blowback hurt sales."
Dick's runs 729 stores, plus 94 Golf Galaxy stores and 35 hunting- and fishing-oriented Field and Stream stores.
NEXT: MOSSBERG TERMINATES RELATIONSHIP WITH DICK'S SPORTING GOODS
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