Academy to open sporting goods store in Waco in 2006. - Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, TX)

Byline: Mike Copeland

Aug. 10--Academy Sports & Outdoors will open a 77,000-square-foot store at Franklin Avenue and New Road, in the vacant Kmart building, in 2006. It will be the second-largest Academy operated by the Houston-based chain, smaller only than a new store in Corpus Christi.

Negotiations had dragged on for more than a year between Academy and Levcor Inc., a Houston real estate development company that now owns the nearly 200,000-square-foot structure that once housed Super Kmart.

Carl Main, a spokesman in Academy's marketing department, confirmed Tuesday that a lease has been struck.

'I just found out about it this morning,' said Main, speaking by phone from company headquarters in Katy, Texas. 'We've got 82 stores, and the Waco store is going to be one of our bigger ones. We have an 81,000-square-foot store in Corpus Christi that opened last month, so Waco's will be the second-largest.'

Main said the Waco store will open in late spring or early summer 2006. The typical Academy store employs between 125 and 140 people, said Main, but Waco's likely will hire more than that.

'We love the Waco market. It's the kind of community we wanted to be in, and we've been trying for two or three years,' said Main. 'You have a lot of hunting, fishing and team sports.'

Some Waco residents now make the half-hour drive to Temple, where Academy already operates a store. Waco attorney Coke Mills is among them. He's pleased the chain has decided to open a store in Waco.

'Unfortunately, it places temptation in my path,' he said with a laugh.

Mills said he likes Academy for its fishing and grilling equipment and outdoor clothing.

'That's one of the things I like about Academy: they have a wide range of merchandise,' Mills said, adding: 'A lot of people from Central Texas come to Waco for other shopping purposes, and I think Academy will be one of the things they look at while they're here. I'm glad to see that.'

Milton 'Bubba' Smith oversees development for AIG Baker, the Birmingham, Ala., company that is creating Central Texas Marketplace at Interstate 35 and West Loop 340.

That center is home to such retailers as Kohl's, Belk, Books-A-Million and The Sports Authority. It would appear to be a competitor for the growing retail environment at Franklin Avenue and New Road, where such stores as Wal-Mart, PETsMART and Goody's Family Clothing do business and where Academy soon will set up shop.

But Smith said he sees Academy as an asset, not a threat.

'I think it is great for Waco,' he said in an e-mail to the Tribune-Herald . 'As stated previously, the delivery of Central Texas Marketplace helped fuel the fire of putting Waco on the map for retailers. Academy's announcement proves the theory. This will become crystal clear when we start announcing retailers for our Phase 3 very soon.'

Smith has said he soon will release the names of more retailers who want to locate in the marketplace.

Leo Bradshaw, who began selling sporting goods at Cogdell's in Waco in 1954 and still buys and sells used guns, said he's pleased but surprised to hear that Academy will open a store here.

He said when Academy opened a store in Temple in 2000, he thought Waco would never see one. 'But most people on the outside,' he said, 'see Waco as a diamond in the rough.'

Bradshaw said that Academy 'is terribly smart and fiercely competitive,' and that other retailers 'had better put their track shoes on' to keep pace.

'Good for Waco and good for that building,' said Kandace Menning, manager of Waco's Richland Mall, upon hearing the news that Academy has taken space in the vacant Kmart. 'Academy runs a nice store, and I think they will definitely get into our primary and secondary market, our secondary market being 45 miles around Waco.'

Hibbett Sports operates a store in the mall, but Menning said its merchandise mix is different from that of Academy. She said Academy's biggest competition locally will come from The Sports Authority.

A manager at The Sports Authority referred comment to company headquarters in Englewood, Colo. But the public relations office for the 385-store chain had not released a statement by early Tuesday evening.

Menning said the Academy in Waco may keep local sporting enthusiasts from wandering off to Academy in Temple or to the new Cabela's sports and outfitter stores in Fort Worth and Buda, Texas.

Jon Spelman, a local real estate agent, said he's impressed with the size of the proposed Academy.

'That's a large store,' he said. 'When you think about it, that's probably twice as big as anything we've ever had, in terms of a sporting goods store.'

He, too, sees a grudge match shaping up between The Sports Authority and Academy.

'Choices make better competition, and competition makes it better for you and me, the users,' he said.

Scott Gordon, with Levcor Inc., had been working to finalize a lease with Academy. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but he recently told the Tribune-Herald he also is pursuing a health club for the building.

Gold's Gym, 5156 W. Waco Drive, could be considering a move, said Dave Reiseman, a spokesman for the chain, speaking by phone from company headquarters in Venice, Calif.

'The only thing I can really say right now is that we're exploring options for expansion in Waco,' said Reiseman. 'We have nothing firmed up.'

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