The story of the 1980s in sporting goods was thegrowth of brands. Nike in particular comes to mind, but dozensof other good examples are available-Adidas, Callaway, Coleman,Fila, Reebok, Spalding and Wilson-to name a few. These brandsestablished a powerful hegemony over the market and, in effect,created retail opportunities for which the most important qualificationwas the ability to talk a landlord into signing a lease.

Not surprisingly, retail concepts of all sizes andshapes, ranging from good to bad, succeeded in this environment.Any retail space with a decent location and access to the powerfulbrands created by the sporting goods industry was able to makemoney ... Log in to view full article.