Hibbett Sports to come to Creston

Hibbett Sports, a sports retail store, is approved to come to town, Creston City Council decided during its regular meeting Tuesday.

Hibbett Sports, which has more than 1,000 locations in 33 states, sells clothing and footwear in name brands like Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, The North Face and Jordan.

The store will be located on a 5,000-square-foot lot on Laurel Street near Supertel Inn and Conference Center and is tentatively slated to open in December, said Rick Johnson with United Development Group.

“We’re excited to have them and expand our retail offerings,” said Wayne Pantini, Union County Development Association executive director. “It’ll certainly add some additional retail jobs ... management positions and also other retail sector jobs that complement some of the other primary sector jobs.”

The council unanimously approved a development agreement with United Development Group out of Green Bay, Wisconsin – the same group that brought Dollar Tree to Creston.

The council approved $100,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) for the project. TIF is a public financing method used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure and other community improvement projects.

“Two, three months ago, Hibbett Sports contacted me,” Johnson said. “From there, I started looking for land, and it took me a while to find out who owned that lot across from the Dollar Tree. They’re out of Chicago, and I finally found that person, talked about buying it and we’ve come to terms on buying that lot.”

Hibbett Sports approved the lot, which brought Johnson to the point of making drawings and a site plan.

“From there, it’s a numbers game for the developer,” Johnson said. “Hibbett Sports, how all these big national tenants do, they do their demographics ... and determine what they think they can do in sales and what it’s going to cost them, and then they’ll come back and say, ‘We will pay this much rent.’”

Johnson said after going to a bank, meeting Hibbett Sports’ desire for rent cost was not going to be feasible.

“So, I talked to Mike (Taylor), and that’s a TIF district, so I’m basically here to ask for some deferred TIF money, which is paid over seven to 10 years,” Johnson said during the city council meeting.

The council approved the request, and Johnson said the store should be open before Christmas this year. Johnson said it is 99 percent official that Hibbett Sports is coming to this location in Creston.

“(Hibbett Sports is) a very good operator,” Johnson said. “I think they’ll be a great addition to your town. They basically do every sporting good ... but hockey.”

Pantini said Hibbett Sports will be a good addition in terms of development and job growth in Creston.

“I think competition is good for our community. If we want to continue to grow as a community, we’re going to have to try to grow the offerings here because not everybody can serve every type of demand that’s out there,” Pantini said. “Those things are something that the existing retailers will have to deal with, and it’ll help them take a look at their own offerings and see what else that they are able to provide and compete with.”