The only explanation I can think of to explain Sports Authority and their long term presence in the retailspace...
They had a shelf model. Instead of stocking what the customers demanded, they let manufacturers decide what they wanted to pump out and choose the space and pricing to their liking, tacked on another premium and vola. Similar to Footlocker, but with more gear. Also, it doesn't hurt that most schools limit the equipment that you can use for sports. We all know what happens when standards are forced in, you get $150 calculators that don't outperform $50 ones, because they know they can get away with it. Multiply that by all the different high school sports, the limited choices of gear allowed by brand/model(instead of using the superior product specification model, which would improve this problem and selection of products greatly).
Then everyone looking at their choices wind up seeing a very discombobulated selection of products. Even worse, having a very limited awareness of what existed for them to purchase, creating the illusion that they could not do any better and the 'you get what you pay for' fallacy. I'm a big saucony fan, but I think around 70% of what saucony puts on the market is junk. Yet, when I go into a Sports Authority, they seem to only carry the worst products, then you go on saucony's site and see what shoes are the top sellers, it's flipped upside down.
Basically, to all the loyal Sports Authority customers over the years, I really believe you have been bailing out product design teams mistakes without knowing/accepting it. And yes, when someone is suckered into impulsive purchases on a mediocre product, the ego doesn't like admitting the mistake(creating fanboys sometimes). So really, those shitty shoes nobody wanted because they hurt feet and fell apart easily(but they had a gimmick, like a pump, light-ups, or two sets of laces! woo!) are sitting in your closet. Thank you loyal sports authority customers. Without you, Reebok would have to make more good shoes.
