Dick's Sporting Goods, getting traction in its effort to turn around Foot Locker, is doubling down on the rollout of its "Fast Break" initiative to refresh that chain's stores.
Pittsburgh-based Dick's, which closed on its $2.4 billion acquisition of troubled Foot Locker last September, on Wednesday reported that remodels done at some of the athletic footwear seller's stores have boosted sales. The number of Foot Locker stores with Fast Break remodels will rise to about 250 from roughly 100.
Foot Locker reported its first quarter of positive comparable sales since the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Dick's officials. As a result, Dick's increased its overall corporate guidance for the year.
The sporting footwear and apparel sector is growing in popularity with the public but is extremely competitive among retailers. Dick's is trying to bring mall staple Foot Locker up to speed. The competition includes Great Britain's JD Sports, which is expanding in the United States but recently announced a pullback. It is downsizing its Hibbett athletic apparel chain, closing roughly 175 of its U.S. stores.
Fast Break began as an 11-store pilot program to remodel Foot Locker stores and is now being rapidly scaled this year. Dick’s has said it planned to revitalize its acquisition by closing underperforming stores and clearing out excess inventory. During fiscal 2026, 62 Foot Locker stores have recently been shuttered. Now the remodels are part of the Foot Locker turnaround strategy.
"Our Fast Break stores are performing exceptionally well, reinforcing our conviction in this capital-light remodel initiative," Dick's Executive Chairman Ed Stack said Wednesday on the company's fiscal first-quarter earnings call. "We expanded Fast Break by approximately 90 stores, bringing the total to approximately 100. Across that expanded footprint, our Fast Break stores delivered double-digit comps in Q1 and meaningful merchandise margin improvement."
Back to retail 101
For the back-to-school season, there will be Fast Break refreshes across 250 Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Champs locations globally, according to Stack. Dick's has over 3,000 stores overall globally, including 1,537 Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Kids Foot Locker and WSS stores in the United States and Canada.
The Fast Break revamps at Foot Locker are "built on retail fundamentals, a more-focused shoe wall, improved storytelling, and the reintroduction of apparel with curated and complimentary offerings," according to Stack. The goal is to have a better presentation of merchandise and a "more curated, focused assortment," according to an investor presentation.
Asked about Foot Locker before Dick's purchased it, Stack said its "footwear wall was really a run-on sentence," adding: "It was just filled with a bunch of shoes, and there was nothing important."
By reducing Foot Locker's product assortment by roughly 30% to focus "on key styles, key colors and key stories," now consumers know what's important, according to Stack. The Fast Break store updates "are fast to implement, typically completed in a few days, and require limited capital," he told Wall Street analysts.
Sports, culture intersect
"Looking across the entire Foot Locker business, we are very excited about our assortment heading into back to school," Stack said. "This marks the first season where our team had full control over the buys, and we feel great about the product that will be in the stores."
Dick's is also planning a brand relaunch for Foot Locker, according to Stack.
"With improvements in our supply chain, we're moving product faster and getting it to the right stores," he said. "We're playing greater discipline around pricing and using real-time data to drive better decisions and sharper execution. Finally, our brand partners remain fully engaged."
Dick's is upbeat on consumer desire for athletic gear, footwear and apparel.
"The intersection of sport and culture has never been stronger, and we sit squarely at the center," Dick's said in its investor presentation.
Dick's House of Sport — a large-format concept where customers can try out sports gear — has become a favorite of mall landlords like Macerich as a tenant to fill vacant big-box space and drive foot traffic. Lauren Hobart, Dick's president and CEO, cited retail property owners embracing Dick's House of Sport on the earnings call.
There were 35 House of Sport locations at the end of fiscal 2025, and there are plans to open roughly 14 additional stores in fiscal 2026.