Sales at Canadian Tire’s sporting goods banners jumped 17% in the final quarter to C$637.8 million ($458.8 mm) from C$546.8 million, boosted by an extra week this year and a +9.5% comp. Key growth categories included outerwear, fanwear, and hockey, while footwear and hard goods were stable. The sales growth is even more impressive given the downsized fleet. Across all banners, store count was reduced by 5% to 354, but most of the shuttered stores were smaller formats, and total square footage declined just 1% to 7.1 million.

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