Academy Sports & Outdoors’ more than 250 stores shuttered for weeks in the early days of the Covid pandemic. But as lockdown orders eased and these stores reopened, many customers still didn’t feel comfortable coming inside to buy camping gear or a new basketball, according to CEO Ken Hicks.
Items like bikes and treadmills, which Academy sells, have been in high demand, as Americans look to entertain themselves outside or keep fit without a gym. But Academy needed to find a better way to get its products into customers’ hands. The answer was curbside pickup.
