Since 1993, we have been compiling a directory for the sporting goods business. We have a few databases from the past that, along with some of the research we do every year on the floor space of major sporting goods chains, provides some interesting snap shots about what’s been happening in our industry. We don’t pretend that we capture every store in these databases, but we cast a pretty wide net. The numbers certainly back up what many of you have observed anecdotally.

In 2000, the earliest year we could find data, we were able to list 13,000 retailers in total. ... Log in to view full article.