Hibbett Sports opened a retail outlet Saturday in the building that for many years housed Blockbuster Video, 1606 N. State St.
The store’s colorful and eclectic offering drew a crowd Saturday and with word-of-mouth advertising a line formed in front of the store for its noon opening on Sunday, said Scott Smith, a former Iolan who returned to manage the store.
According to a press release from company headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., the Iola store will have eight employees.
In announcing the opening, Jeff Rosenthal, president and CEO of Hibbett Sporting Goods, characterized the store’s convenient location, in a shopping corner that also has Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, as a “win-win for the company and the Iola community.”
He noted Hibbett stocked a large selection of athletic footwear, apparel and team equipment.
“With the buying power of a national company, we offer our customers the convenience of buying the best in sports right in their own neighborhoods,” said Rosenthal.
“We research markets we enter to learn what customers of that area want from a sporting goods store,” he added. “We constantly update our merchandise assortment to offer the latest in product technology, performance and fashion.”
Kansas has been a target of the company’s expansion for several years.
With the Iola store’s opening, the company has 24 in Kansas. Coffeyville’s was the first in 1998. Hibbett also has stores in Fort Scott and Pittsburg.
In business since 1945, Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc. operates more than 900 sporting goods stores in small to mid-sized communities, in 28 states predominantly in the Sunbelt, Mid-Atlantic and Lower Midwest. The typical store, such as Iola’s, contains about 5,000 square feet of floor space.
