Olympia Sports store closes in Westport

Abbie Goldstein '22, Paper Opinions Editor

January 27, 2020

The sports store Olympia Sports on Post Road East announced it’s closing and has started its closing sale on many items.

Olympia Sports, a retail sporting goods company, is closing its Westport location along with eight other stores throughout Connecticut due to a change in ownership.

JackRabbit, a different sporting goods company, recently purchased the company and is continuing to operate 75 different Olympia Sports stores across the country. Seventy-six stores nationwide are closing because they were not part of the acquisition.

Located on Post Road East, the area where Olympia Sports resides is convenient for many. Some Westporters are upset to lose the store’s location.

“Olympia Sports is close to where I live, so it’s a lot easier to go there to get those things [sports equipment],” Tessa Moore ’22 said

The company has numerous discounts weekly that customers can take advantage of, and Westport athletes are disappointed that they will no longer have easy access to these costs.

“The store offers high-quality sportswear for affordable prices, which is nice, especially because sportswear has to be bought frequently,” Dylan Qi ’23 said.

Now that the store is closing, it is selling around $44 million worth of inventory, and offering discounts of up to 40% to their customers. Many Westport residents will be going to the store to purchase cheaper items for the last time.

“I’m definitely going to go there and buy my sports equipment for cheaper prices because of their sale,” Connor Neblock ‘21 said.

Many Westport residents are against these retail stores being replaced, and will miss having Olympia Sports in a local area.

“It’s sad that businesses like Olympia Sports are closing,” Anabelle Harr ’22 said, “because they can’t compete with growing technology.”