Golf superstore in expansion drive to open 82nd Street location in former Babies ‘R’ Us

Fast-growing golf retailer PGA Tour Superstore plans to open its first Indiana location this fall in a 36,000-square-foot former Babies "R" Us store in the Lake Clearwater area, just east of Keystone at the Crossing.

PGA Tour Superstore sells a variety of golf clubs, accessories, shoes and clothing for men, women and youth. It also offers golf simulators, lessons, clinics, custom club fittings and equipment repair. It has a long-term licensing agreement with the PGA Tour, which allows it to operate under that organization’s name.

Randy Peitsch, the retailer’s senior vice president of operations, said the company has had its eye on Indianapolis for some time because of the high number of golfers and golf courses in the area.

“Indianapolis was a very key market for us to try to get into,” Peitsch told IBJ. “We felt like it was an underserved market for golfers.”

The collapse of Toys "R" Us, which closed all of its Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores earlier this year, provided PGA Tour Superstore a chance to enter the Indianapolis market sooner than it might have otherwise, Peitsch said.

“We have a list of places that we want to go worldwide. We’re always looking for real estate opportunities. Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us (closures) allowed us to get into some of those markets earlier than expected,” Peitsch said.

Toys "R" Us’ former stores are being disposed of through a series of auctions, which is how PGA Tour Superstore acquired the lease to the Indianapolis site. The retailer has also secured locations at two other former Toys "R" Us sites where its plans to open stores–one in northern Chicago and one in the Boston area.

Peitsch said PGA Tour Superstore plans to participate in future rounds of Toys "R" Us property auctions with the goal of picking up some additional locations.

At a time when other retailers have seen sales declines and store closures, PGA Tour Superstore says it plans to add another million square feet of brick-and-mortar space over the next four to five years, opening five to seven new stores a year.

The retailer said it saw double-digit comparable store sales growth for the first four months of this fiscal year, on top of 15 percent comparable store sales growth in 2017. Comparable store sales, which measure sales at stores open at least a year, are an important performance metric in the retail industry.

Peitsch said PGA Tour Superstore is finding success because its stores carry an extremely large selection of merchandise and put an emphasis on customer service.

“Once they’re in the store, we give them an experience that’s literally second to none,” Peitsch said. “We want someone to walk out and say, ‘Why would I ever want to go anywhere else?’”

The chain started in 2005 when two former Home Depot executives bought a golf and tennis store in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank purchased the company in 2009 and now serves as its chairman.

PGA Tour Superstore, which is based in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia, has 33 stores in 14 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

The retailer is part of the Blank Family of Businesses, whose other holdings include the Atlanta Falcons NFL team; the Atlanta United Major League Soccer team; both teams’ home field, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana; and other ventures.