Sporting goods retailer to open Wednesday in Daphne

 

Dick's Sporting Goods at Jubilee Squqre Shopping Center

DAPHNE, Alabama -- A new 48,000-square-foot Dick’s Sporting Goods store is scheduled to open Wednesday at Jubilee Square shopping center, officials with the nationwide retail chain announced Monday.
As the store was built in recent months, in the space formerly used by Goody’s and Books-A-Million, much of the parking lot was re-paved and a 90-foot pylon sign erected near Interstate 10.
"Hopefully, the arrival of Dick’s will be just the start of a revitalization of that entire area of Daphne," Council President Cathy Barnette said Monday. "That was the intention of creating the overlay district."
Dick’s was attracted to the area, in part, by decisions made last year and in January to make exceptions to the city’s restrictive sign ordinance in the area along Daphne’s I-10 corridor beside Exit 35, Mayor Fred Small said.
In January of last year, the City Council unanimously approved new zoning rules creating an "overlay district" that includes Jubilee Square and surrounding businesses off U.S. 90 just south of the interstate.
In that commercial area beside I-10, exceptions to both zoning and signage rules apply.
Originally, Academy Sports expressed interest in the Goody’s/Books-A-Million site, but the company later backed out, city officials said. But the major sports retailer may still be interested.
Academy Sports representatives spoke with the city’s Planning Commission in April, seeking tax incentives and exceptions to the city’s sign ordinance for a location east of Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, Barnette said. The Medical Center lies on the north side of U.S. 90, across the street from the very east end of Jubilee Square.
The city hasn’t heard back from Academy Sports since that meeting, Barnette said.
The new Dick’s location is visible across I-10 from mega-sports retailer Bass Pro Shops, located at the Spanish Fort Town Center retail development on the north side of the interstate.
"We felt Jubilee Square would be a great addition to the other stores we have on the market," said Matthew Edgeworth, community marketing manager for Dick’s Sporting Goods.
The Jubilee Square location will be the chain’s 449th store nationwide and its 10th in the state of Alabama, Edgeworth said. Details will be announced soon on the official grand opening festivities, planned for June 3, he said.
The location will open at 9 a.m. Wednesday with about 60 full- and part-time employees, he said. The chain, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has locations in 42 states, mostly across the East Coast and Midwest.