Hibbett Sports will close 175 stores around the country over the next three years. Its parent company, JD Sports, is looking to aggressively reorganize its footprint.
JD Sports acquired the popular sporting goods retailer in 2024. The massive deal was valued at around $1.1 billion. The acquisition was heavily viewed as a way to enhance JD's presence in the lucrative North American footwear market.
Hibbett had 1,169 stores across 36 states as of May 2024. Now, the company is moving to drastically reduce its overall store count as part of a larger cost-cutting strategy.
Hibbett Sports is closing roughly 175 stores across the U.S. over the next three years as parent company JD Sports restructures its North American footprint.
The move targets underperforming locations as the company shifts toward a “fewer, bigger and better” store strategy… pic.twitter.com/OasLAQFpf4
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JD Sports CEO Regis Schultz discussed the plan on the company's fourth quarter earnings call. He noted that its "second key strategic initiative is driving store productivity and optimization of our store estate. Our net store movement last year was a reduction of 39 stores, demonstrating our fewer, bigger, and better store strategy."
"In North America, we will leverage group best practice to optimize EBIT store footprint and profitability. As part of this, we will close around 170 underperforming EBIT stores over the next three years," Schultz added.
The company confirmed that at the start of its fiscal year in February 2025, there were 999 Hibbett stores. That figure declined to a total of 982 when its fiscal year officially ended in January 2026. The group actively consolidated its operations following the massive Hibbett acquisition.
JD's Chief Financial Officer Dominic Platt added that the group is planning to open about 20 new JD stores. The company is also converting between 70 to 80 Finish Line stores to JD locations across North America.
After factoring in JD Sports' specific plans in Europe, the group expects its total store count to "stay broadly flat for the year," Platt said.
JD Sports' stock is currently down about 1.7 percent year to date. However, the company is trading around 1.8 percent higher over the last year.
The troubling news comes as Hibbett's retail footwear rival, Foot Locker, announced its own store closure plans. Those massive closures were announced last November following its $2.4 billion acquisition by Dick's Sporting Goods in September 2025.
The company did not specify exactly how many Foot Locker locations would close under the new leadership. However, nine Dick's locations closed in 2025, along with about 11 Foot Locker-owned stores and four licensed stores.