Sports Authority to close upscale S.A. Elite store in Boulder

BOULDER — Troubled Englewood-based sporting goods retailer Sports Authority is planning to close its S.A. Elite store at Boulder’s Twenty Ninth Street shopping district, a source close to the company confirmed Wednesday.

The impending closure comes as the company gets set to shutter roughly 140 of its 463 stores nationwide, including its location in the iconic, 91-year-old Sports Castle at 1000 Broadway in downtown Denver.

The status of Sports Authority’s other store in Boulder, as well as stores in Longmont, Fort Collins and Greeley, remain unknown, the source said, noting that the chain still is working through its evaluation of all sites and that a store in Greenwood Village is the only other Colorado location known to be closing at this time.

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Sports Authority officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Sports Authority opened the S.A. Elite in Boulder at 1750 29th St., in 2011. S.A. Elite is a specialty line of stores focused on high-end athletic apparel. The website for the store on Wednesday included a banner announcing the store’s closure and touting an extra 75 percent off of clearance items through Feb. 27. The source who spoke to BizWest, however, said the closures could take up to three months.

No such messages were included on the websites for Sports Authority’s other stores in the region. The chain moved its Longmont store into the redeveloped Village at the Peaks Shopping Center last fall, and has plans to move its store at 425 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins into a newly renovated Foothills mall sometime this year. Sports Authority also has another store in Fort Collins, as well as one at 4114 Centerplace Drive in Greeley and one at 3320 28th St. in Boulder.

An official for Foothills mall developer Alberta Development said Wednesday that he wasn’t in a position to comment on the status of Sports Authority’s pending move to the mall. Village at the Peaks developer Allen Ginsborg, meanwhile, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Twenty Ninth Street, somewhat plagued by vacancies early on after opening in 2006, has been running near capacity more recently. Officials with the shopping center couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. But BizWest reported Tuesday that Twenty Ninth Street officials are working through Boulder’s development review process to add beer and wine vendor kiosks in an outdoor plaza adjacent to the S.A. Elite site.

Sports Authority’s woes have been well-documented in recent weeks. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the company is headed toward bankruptcy after skipping a $21 million interest payment, a move followed by 100 layoffs at the company’s Englewood headquarters.