Longitudes Group Profiles and Ranks the Top 22 Golf Retail Brands for 2009
Omaha, NE – Longitudes Group announced today it has recently completed a new report for 2009 documenting the market profiles of the 22 largest off-course golf retail brands. The report measures a number of variables for those golf retail brands with five or more stores conducting business in the US market. The report compares and contrasts the brands, and relates how each retail chain impacts the local markets in which they compete. Sara Killeen, President of Longitudes Group, forecasts in 2009, “We’ll see continued contraction and consolidation this year as the larger retail brands close under-performing stores, tightly manage inventories, conserve cash and re-focus on their best customers.”
Key findings of the 2009 research include:
The 22 retail chain store brands analyzed in this report collectively control 644 store locations or 44% of all the doors in the US marketplace. The balance of 808 retailers are those with fewer than four locations.
The sample of chains studied represent 65% of all off-course square feet while serving 57% of the US golf population.
Golfsmith’s market impact leads the retailers with the most golfers served at 3.16M, or over 11% of all US golfers.
New York Golf Center, with stores in densely-populated Manhattan and the New York area, have the highest number of golfers per store at 84,000 golfers, nearly double the next major competitor.
Golf USA is the 2nd ranked brand in total doors and the 5th ranked retail brand for total golfers served making it the largest franchise organization. Its most common markets are in small to mid-size communities that contain high participation golf populations.
Boyne Country Sports, headquartered in Michigan with five stores, benefits from the highest golf participation rates in its trade areas of more than 23%.
“2009 will continue to be extremely challenging for both small and large retailers alike. Since 2004, there has been a 15% expansion in the total square feet in the off-course golf market. Brands that extended their reach into certain retail trade areas, are now realizing that wasn’t a good idea.” states Killeen.
National rankings are also provided in the Brand Profile Report based on three key variables:
1.Total golfers served
2.Total square feet
3.Total golfers per store
Methodology:
Local stores were analyzed with radial trade areas within a 15-minute drive-time of each chain’s individual stores utilizing Longitudes Group’s Golf Market Tool and geographic information software. Variables tracked include the number of total golfers served, competitive density, store size range, total square footage, share of US market square footage and number of stores. The retail brands included in the report are:
Austad’s Golf Stores
Bobby Jones Golf
Boyne Country Sports
Edwin Watts
Golf Discount
Golf Etc
Golf Galaxy
Golf Headquarters
Golf USA
Golfers’ Warehouse
Golfsmith
Las Vegas Golf & Tennis
Nevada Bob’s
New York Golf Center
PGA Tour Shop
PGA Tour Superstore
Pro Golf Discount
Roger Dunn
Special Tee Golf
Tee To Green
The Golf Mart
Van’s Golf Shops
Since 2004, Longitudes Group has tracked the growth and contraction of the Off-Course retail market. Annually, a complete analysis is conducted in 210 markets tracking both the number of stores and the expansion/contraction of total retail square feet. In the overall off-course retail segment, the last eight years brought the large format retailers who were aggressively opening stores across the country, putting many smaller stores out of business. These ‘Big Box’ stores have slowed or even stopped their growth this last year due to the economy. Nonetheless, after the decade of expansion, the Big Box brands represent 21% of all stores, and 59% of all retail space in the channel. Since 2005, the off-course market has experienced a net loss of 332 doors, or an 18% loss. 2009 will surely bring more closures, not only from the mom and pop locations, but from the big players alike.
The report is affordably priced at $275 per copy through Longitudes Group website, www.longitudesgroup.com/reports .
Longitudes Group, LLC, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is a research and marketing company providing unique analysis on the travel and spending behaviors of avid golfers in the US and Canada. Armed with a database containing information on the behavior of 6.0 million avid golfers mapped by county and zip code, Longitudes Group uses a geo-demographic approach to probe both the location and purchase behavior of the avid golfer population. On the supply side, Longitudes Group has built the most up-to-date database of golf retailers including 16,000 golf facilities, 1,452 off-course retail stores and 2,000 chain sporting goods store. Canadian Market Analyses are also available. For more information, visit the company online at www.longitudesgroup.com.
Contact:
Sara Killeen, President
sara@longitudesgroup.com
(402) 991-6620
