When I heard that DICK’s Sporting Goods had opened a big discount warehouse store in Franklin, I was very interested in writing a column about it.
So, I made my trip out to the store in the old Trees ‘N Trends space nestled between Big Lots and Aldi on Royal Oaks Boulevard in Franklin to gather information.
I had no intention of buying anything. But that changed in a flash once I was inside the store.
The deals were so good that I came home with a bag full of goodies purchased at discounts of between 50 percent and 75 percent off retail.
The warehouse, which opened Aug. 19 and will be open for at least through the Christmas holidays, has merchandise (mostly apparel and shoes) for men, women and children. Sale staffers said there will be new weekly markdowns and said they will be adding more merchandise to the floor every day.
“We just got in 10 more pallets today,” I heard one staffer say.
The inventory is almost all shoes and apparel and consists of last-season items, excess merchandise, returns, floor samples etc. But there are also a few other items scattered in like firepits, sunglasses and bags and backpacks.
The Franklin location is one of 30 of these DICK’s warehouse outlets around the country, with other locations in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Cincinnati.
Brands that I saw on my two visits included Slazenger, Lady Hagen, Columbia, Nike, Prince, Fila, The North Face, Calia, Tail and Carhartt, along with a lot of merchandise in the Dick’s house brand lines, DSG and VRST.
The inventory includes all sizes for men and women, from small to plus, and an area of toddler and children apparel items.
As far as prices, a ladies Nike golf top with an original price tag of $60 was priced at $30.97. A Nike sports bra with an original $50 tag, was marked down to $31.97 while a $40 Under Armor sports bra had a warehouse sale tag of $9.97.
Brightly colored men’s Walter Hagen golf shorts with $70 tags were priced at $25.
The signage and advertising say “savings up to 70 percent.” But the truth is there were random super specials with even deeper discounts, like a rack of $20 T-shirts that rang up at $1.73, and maybe the best deal of all, some boys basketball shorts that would cost only 98 cents per pair.
Shoes are another big category, with the store featuring hundreds (maybe thousands) of pairs of athletic shoes, with men’s and women’s brands including Merrell, Adidas, Nike, Brooks, Puma, Under Armor and more.
A pair of Brooks “Ghost” model ladies running shoes was priced at $79.99 instead of the $139.99 original price. And we saw a pair of Under Armour men’s athletic shoes with an original $119 tag on a special sale for $16.98.
Store’s manager Daniel Parke said new shipments come in weekly and that additional merchandise is added to the sales floor daily. Extra saving sales, with additional markdowns, are added weekly too.
“You will see something new every time you come and different sales on different days,” he said, pointing out that the apparel is organized by category and then by size and color to make shopping easy for patrons.
He said that the store has been well received by the community and that very few shoppers leave without a bag in hand. Plus, “We have had a lot of people coming back to shop again.”
It makes a lot of sense, since some of these prices are cheaper than the ones at area thrift stores. Check it out!
Stay cheap!
Mary Hance, who has four decades of journalism experience in the Nashville area, writes a weekly Ms. Cheap column. She also appears on Thursdays on Talk of the Town on NewsChannel5. Reach her at mscheap@mainstreetmediatn.com and follow her on Facebook as Facebook.com/mscheap
