Where is jjb sports

Whelan's talents as a salesman and entrepreneur quickly came to light. Soon after, Whelan opened a second stall, at Wigan's market.

By the end of the s, Whelan had moved to an actual shop, on the edge of Wigan, before opening a second shop in the center of town. Whelan incorporated his stores under the name Whelan's Discount Stores, expanding to a full supermarket concept and building up a chain of ten stores by the end of the s.

In , Whelan agreed to sell his chain to the northern-based Wm. Rather than retire, at age 60, Whelan turned to a new retailing direction. In , Whelan had purchased and incorporated a small bait-and-tackle and sports shop on the outskirts of Wigan.

The store had been in existence since , when it was opened by rugby player J. After Broughton, the store came under the ownership of another former athlete, J. Bradburn, with fishing equipment and model railroads providing the bulk of sales.

Whelan took the shared initials of the store's former owners, naming the store JJB Sports. When the store's refrigerator broke down, Whelan decided to redirect his shop's focus to a less perishable product. As such he began stocking his shelves with sports equipment and related items, eliminating model railroads, and reducing emphasis on fishing supplies.

By , JJB Sports had become solely dedicated to sports equipment and to strong growth. By the end of , Whelan's retail experience had enabled him to build a chain of seven stores.

JJB Sports arrived just in time to ride a boom in the sporting goods market. Beginning in the late s and taking off into the early s, the United Kingdom, like the United States, saw a huge increase in consumer interest in sporting activities, and in the products that accompanied the various sports.

Inspired in part by a building awareness of the importance of personal health and fitness, consumers began looking to fill their leisure time with participation in sports. While consumers continued to play traditional sports, new sports categories and their supporting products had appeared, thanks to booms in jogging, aerobics, and general fitness. JJB Sports quickly became a regional center for the new wave of amateur athletes.

Whelan was joined by son-in-law Duncan Sharpe in Already a professional golfer for some seven years, Sharp, then 23, started out as an area manager with JJB Sports, before rising to become the company's managing director--and chosen heir to Whelan's leadership. Whelan and Sharpe continued to build JJB Sports and to refine their sporting goods concept through the s. While stores tended to be small, city-center based shops, the company began introducing the superstore concept adapted from the United States.

The company also launched a side chain of Alpine Sports shops, concentrated on items for the climbing, hiking, and ski markets. Whelan continued to pursue other entrepreneurial side projects. In , for example, he purchased a Wigan pie shop and renamed the shop's pie specialty as 'Wigan's Pie,' which he then began marketing throughout northwestern England. But the pair have big plans. Gymshark chief executive and founder Ben Francis has quashed rumours of an upcoming stock market flotation, despite doubling sales year on year.

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No comments. Mr Ronnie left the company in , but subsequent bosses have failed to stop the rot. Yet just three months later Dick's announced that it had written off the investment, saying JJB's sales had "materially deteriorated from its expectations". Meanwhile, former JJB boss Chris Ronnie was earlier this year charged with three counts of fraud, two money-laundering offences and two counts of furnishing false information relating to his time at the company. He denies the charges and the case has yet to go to court.

Matt Piner, lead consultant at retail research group Conlumino, said everything started to go wrong at JJB as soon as Dave Whelan departed. And it went spectacularly wrong," he said. Despite JJB struggling with debts going back to the buyout, Mr Piner said its core problem was a lack of retail focus.

While JD Sports is at the fashion end of the sportswear market. Both are very focused. It didn't have a coherent offering, so there was no reason for customers to want to go there - it was more expensive than Sports Direct and did not have as fashionable an offering as JD Sports.

From Mr Whelan's point of view, he has publicly blamed the various bosses who have led JJB since he left the company.

Bryan Roberts, retail insight director at Kantar Retail, agrees with him. Mr Roberts said: "Since Mr Whelan departed, the company has been run into the ground by lacklustre management teams.