Sport Chalet's Game Plan

LA CANADA, CA-Sport Chalet has come a long way since founder and chairman emeritus Norbert Olberz bought a small ski and tennis shop here 45 years ago and expanded it into a chain of 31 sporting goods superstores, and now the chain has a game plan for going even farther. Sport Chalet, which remained primarily in Southern California throughout most of its expansion, recently opened its first Central California store in Visalia, an opening that followed by one week the debut of a new location in the Northern California community of Elk Grove.

The Elk Grove and Visalia stores, both more than 42,000 sf, represent some of the latest moves in Sport Chalet’s plan to grow in other parts of the state besides Southern California as well as other states. In addition to Elk Grove and Visalia, as part of its fiscal 2005 expansion the company has opened a new store in the Sacramento area community of Roseville, plus one in Pleasonton in the East Bay area near San Francisco, as well as another Southern California location at the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia.

The Visalia and Elk Grove openings follow five other expansions in the past several quarters by the company, which ends its fiscal year on March 31. “Our growth strategy had historically focused on Southern California, but now includes opening new stores throughout California and Nevada as suitable locations are found,” the chain said in a recent SEC filing. Sport Chalet already has two stores in Las Vegas and also has said it plans to move into Arizona. The Arizona expansion will kick off with an initial opening of four locations in the Phoenix area in fiscal 2005-2006.