Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc. operating as Hibbett Sports opened its newest store Friday in Brownwood located at 523 West Commerce Street.

According to store manager Toby Bowers, Hibbett Sports is expanding and has opened this store as an additional location.  Hibbett Sports will continue to operate their location in Heartland Mall as well.

“This is a second location, we are not closing the Early store,” stated Bowers.

The soft opening on Friday was to see just how many people would come into the new location, Bowers said.  A Grand Opening will occur in approximately two weeks.  Bowers characterized the first day as “very busy”.

This larger store located in Commerce Square features a public corridor with restrooms and handicap accessibility.

In an announcement, Jeff Rosenthal, President and CEO of Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc. said, “This convenient new location is a win-win for our company and the Brownwood community. We are very excited to be serving the customers in this area.”

According to Bowers, the new location will employ 10 people while the Heartland Mall location in Early employs 6 to 7.

Bowers stated that Hibbett Sports has been expanding nationally with about 13-14 stores per year.

“We research the markets we enter to learn what the customers of that area want from a sporting goods store,” added Rosenthal. “We constantly update our merchandise assortment to offer the latest in product technology, performance and fashion so that we can meet the diverse needs of our customer’s active lifestyles.”

Texas has been a target of the companies’ expansion for several years now. With the addition of the Brownwood location, the company has 80 stores open in Texas. Of those stores, Longview was the first to open in 1998. The Brownwood location joins a growing number of Hibbett Sports stores in central Texas, including stores in Killeen, Stephenville and Abilene.

In business since 1945, Hibbett Sporting Goods, Inc. operates over 800 sporting goods stores in small to mid-sized markets, predominantly in the Sunbelt, Mid-Atlantic and the Lower Midwest. The company’s primary store format is a 5,000 square-foot store located in dominant strip centers and enclosed malls. Each store typically lies within 150 miles of another store location.

Hibbett Sports stocks a large selection of athletic footwear, athletic apparel and team athletic equipment.