Richard "Dick" Stack started the company as a fishing tackle store in
Binghamton, New York, in 1948. He began with a $300 loan from his grandmother.
Edward W. Stack and his siblings purchased Dick's from their father in the early 1980s, when the company had two locations in
Upstate New York. Stack established a board of directors, opened additional stores, and relocated the company's headquarters to Pittsburgh in 1994. He became chairman and chief executive officer following his father's retirement in 1984, and led the company during its initial public offering in 2002. Dick's operated primarily throughout the Eastern United States until 2009 and has since expanded across the country. There are more than 800 Dick's stores in 47 states, as of 2023. In 2012, the company opened three True Runner stores targeting runners in
Boston, the St. Louis suburb
Brentwood, and Pittsburgh's
Shadyside neighborhood. The stores closed in early 2017. mall in
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Dick's launched the women's
athleisure, fitness, and lifestyle store Chelsea Collective in 2015, opening two stores in Pittsburgh and
Tysons, Virginia, in the
Washington, D.C. metro area. The shops closed in 2017. The company launched Dick's Team Sports HQ in early 2016, offering youth sports teams websites, uniforms, and sponsorship options. Dick's opened its first
Field & Stream store in Cranberry Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in 2013. Thirty-five Field & Stream stores were open across the country as of 2018. In 2023, Dick's shuttered its Field & Stream brand by converting its remaining Field & Stream stores to its House of Sport concept or large format Dick's stores. Dick's has never carried
bump stocks. and the most recent, in Conklin in
Southern Tier, New York opened in January 2018. It was expanded to fulfill online sales a few months later. In 2019, Dick's launched its
private-label clothing line called DSG. The company's other
brands include the women's line Calia, and their menswear brand VRST. Dick's opened its first "House of Sport"
concept stores in
Victor, New York, and
Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2021. The stores are larger than Dick's flagship locations, sell higher-end gear and include features such as an outdoor
turf field and track, climbing wall, batting cages, and a digital golf range. Dick's also launched Public Lands in 2021, a chain of stores that focuses on outdoor recreation including camping, hiking, and biking. In 2021, Dick's opened its first Public Lands store. Public Lands donates 1% of sales to the Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation's Public Lands Fund, which promotes conservation and outdoor activities. In 2022, Dick's Sporting Goods launched DSG Ventures, an investment fund worth $50 million.
Acquisitions Dick's acquired
Galyan's in July 2004. The company agreed to purchase Golf Galaxy for $225 million in November 2006. Dick's acquired Chick's Sporting Goods in November 2007 for $71 million. At the time, Chick's operated 15 specialty sporting goods stores in Southern California. Dick's purchased the San Diego–based sports management technology company Affinity Sports for an undisclosed amount in mid-2016. Dick's acquired
Golfsmith, the largest golf retailer in the United States, at a bankruptcy auction in October 2016. Dick's bid approximately $70 million for all of Golfsmith's intellectual property and inventory. The company planned to retain around 30 of Golfsmith's more than 100 locations and 500 employees. Dick's rebranded 36-38 Golfsmith stores in 16 U.S. states as Golf Galaxy in 2017. That increased the number of Golf Galaxy stores to 98, located in 33 states. In 2016, Dick's Sporting Goods also acquired
GameChanger, a mobile scoring app company. In February 2023, Dick's Sporting Goods purchased
Moosejaw from Walmart for an undisclosed amount. In May 2025, Dick's Sporting Goods announced its acquisition of
Foot Locker, Inc. The acquisition was finalized in September 2025.
Lawsuits and legal proceedings • In February 2014, Dick's brought a lawsuit against
Modell's Sporting Goods CEO Mitchell Modell (who featured on an episode of
Undercover Boss in 2012), for going undercover into one of their stores to gain access to retail secrets. The lawsuit was settled out of court by April for undisclosed terms. Independent analysts suggested that Modell visited the store on a whim rather than as part of some plot to steal information. One case was settled in November 2018; details of the settlement are confidential, but it did not directly result in any changes to the retailer's policies. The second case was reported as "resolved" by an attorney for the plaintiff in late 2018 without disclosing details of any settlement. ==Partnerships and sponsorships==