FARGO - It’s the end of the road for Finish Line at the West Acres mall, at least, for now.
The athleisure store which features athletic shoes and apparel from top brands such as Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma, Champion and Timberland is closing at the end of the business day Saturday, Feb. 1.
The mall made the announcement in a Facebook post on Thursday morning, Jan. 30.
“We are cherishing the last few days of having Finish Line as a part of the West Acres family. We’re so grateful for all of the wonderful years they spent in the mall!” the post said.
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West Acres said another store is preparing to lease the Finish Line spot and will start construction this spring to open this fall. No further details on the new tenant were released.
Finish Line store Manager Wes Tellis said Thursday that the decision to close came down to the store’s lease ending and another store being willing to pay more for the space.
Tellis said he believes Finish Line is “consistently looking for another spot in the mall” or elsewhere in Fargo.
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Senior company officials have said “they plan on coming back into either the West Acres area or the Fargo area,” Tellis said. “Obviously they want to keep a place up here, because the next closest store is, I believe, in the (Twin) Cities.”
The store’s remaining inventory will be shipped to other stores, Tellis said.
In 2016, Finish Line announced that it would close about 150 of its then 617 stores. Those stores were supposed to primarily be underperforming, with sales averaging about $1 million per year.
In 2018, Indianapolis-based Finish Line was acquired by the United Kingdom-based JD Sports Fashion Plc for $558 million.
The JD Group now has more than 2,400 stores under several different brands in 19 countries, including more than 700 JD Sports stores, the corporation’s website said.
