A more than 100,000-square-foot Dick's House of Sport is set to open inside Crabtree Valley Mall in North Raleigh, filling a former Sears space that sat empty for almost eight years after the department store closed for good in November 2018. The grand opening is scheduled for Friday, October 9, with a weekend of giveaways and player appearances meant to draw crowds back to a corner of the mall that had gone dark since before the pandemic.
A Long-Vacant Anchor Gets New Life
According to the Raleigh News & Observer, the Sears building was sold for $20 million before Dick's Sporting Goods moved in to build out the new store. The opening marks Crabtree Valley Mall's biggest tenant debut in years, giving the Research Triangle's largest mall a long-awaited replacement for the anchor space that once drew shoppers to that end of the property. The News & Observer reports it will update its story after receiving a response from Macerich, the mall's owner, about the redevelopment.
The timing lines up with sweeping changes at Crabtree since Macerich bought the mall for $290 million in 2025, after the property had sat on the market for three years. Macerich's own announcement described Crabtree as a Class A retail center spanning roughly 1.3 million square feet with more than 200 stores and dozens of restaurants, and the company said it plans to pour approximately $60 million into redevelopment and leasing at the property through 2028. Separately, The Business Journal reported Crabtree received a $16 million upfit specifically tied to building out the House of Sport store.
Climbing Walls, Golf Bays and a Multi-Sport Cage
Per a press release, the new Crabtree location will provide athletic products alongside a climbing wall, golf bays with simulators, augmented reality technology and a multi-sport cage that supports baseball, softball, lacrosse and soccer. The mall's own event listing adds that shoppers can expect gear and activity space spanning baseball, softball, golf and football. Those features echo what Dick's has built into other House of Sport locations around the state and country, where stores typically include climbing walls, multiple golf bays with TrackMan simulators, and multi-sport cages, as previously reported by the News & Observer in coverage of a planned Durham location.
Crabtree's store is the third House of Sport in North Carolina, joining existing locations in Durham and Fayetteville. Nationally, the format has been central to Dick's growth strategy: the retailer told CNBC it planned to have 35 House of Sport stores open by the end of 2025 and as many as 100 by the end of its fiscal 2027. That planned expansion is a central part of Dick's growth strategy.
Grand Opening Weekend Brings Local Sports Star Power
The grand-opening house party runs Friday, October 9, through Sunday, October 11, according to the mall's event listing. North Carolina Tar Heels guard Matt Able is scheduled to sign autographs for wristbanded fans from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 10, at Crabtree Valley Mall. Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is set to do the same the following day, Sunday, October 11, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Steve Smith will also be featured in the store's ribbon-cutting ceremony, per the press release.
The House of Sport format traces back to a company with deep roots: Dick's Sporting Goods was founded in 1948 by Dick Stack in Binghamton, New York, after he received a $300 loan from his grandmother to start what began as a fishing tackle business. By the late 1970s the company had expanded its product line well beyond that original niche, eventually growing into the national sporting goods chain now anchoring malls like Crabtree, which was originally built in 1972.
