Limiting Gun Sales Cost Dick’s $150 Million

By Tom Knighton

Dick’s Sporting Goods became a sporting good itself last year. The company decided that it was going to turn on gun owners–a major group of customers–so they could signal to anti-gunners that they held the right opinions. They began issuing company-level restrictions on who they would sell firearms to and employed a lobbying firm to push for a federal assault weapon ban.

This did not play well with that major group of customers I mentioned previously.

How badly? Try to the tune of $150 million.

Last February, when Dick’s Sporting Goods boss Ed Stack announced he was restricting gun sales at the country’s largest sports retailer, he knew it’d be costly.

It the time, Dick’s was a major seller of firearms. Guns also drove the sale of soft goods—boots, hats, jackets. What’s more, Stack, the retailer’s chief executive officer, suspected the position could drive off some of his customers on political principle.

He was right. Dick’s estimates the policy change cost the company about $150 million in lost sales, an amount equivalent to 1.7 percent of annual revenue. Stack says it was worth it.

“The system does not work,” Stack said. “It’s important that when you know there’s something that’s not working, and …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms