Dick's House of Sport, an expanded version of the sporting goods store with a rock climbing wall and other athletic facilities, will open next year at the Cherry Hill Mall.
The 120,000-square-foot Dick's House of Sport store will be built at the site of the One Cherry Hill office building that's awaiting demolition in the coming months. PREIT, which owns the Cherry Hill Mall, said the superstore will anchor a new entrance to the mall.
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Dick's introduced the House of Sport concept in New York in 2021 as a foray into experience-driven retail, a business strategy that uses amenities and personalized store features to attract customers. The Cherry Hill location will have an outdoor track and field, a bay of golf simulators and a multisport cage that can be used for baseball, softball, lacrosse and soccer. Dick's House of Sport stores also host community events, classes and camps.
Dick's has opened House of Sport stores in more than 20 locations in 17 states. The closest to Philadelphia are those in Wilmington and Scranton.
Dick's often markets its House of Sport stores by flying blimps over the regions where new locations are planned. One of them was spotted in Delaware County in the fall before the Dick's House of Sport opened at Wilmington's Brandywine Town Center, where Eagles running back Saquon Barkley appeared for a signing event in October.
PREIT has long considered the Cherry Hill Mall the "crown jewel" in its portfolio of malls, which includes seven in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Amid struggles in the retail sector, PREIT filed for bankruptcy twice during the COVID-19 pandemic before emerging last year as a private company under new leadership.
The Cherry Hill Mall also will welcome several other new stores by the end of the year, PREIT said. They include luxury fashion brand Coach, footwear brand Dr. Marten's, activewear brand Offline by Aerie and toy company Pop Mart.
