Dick’s Sporting Goods is now open at Main Street Oak Ridge, and the new store had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. A grand opening featuring former University of Tennessee football player Derek Barnett is scheduled for this weekend.

The store, roughly in the area where Sears used to be between Walmart and the U.S. Post Office on South Tulane Avenue, is 35,000 square foot. It sells equipment for team sports, footwear, apparel, hunting and fishing gear, and bicycles and fitness equipment, said Brian Johnson, community marketing manager for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The store offers top national brands and in-store services such as a glove steamer, a gate analysis for runners and walkers, an archery lane to test bows, and bow stringing, Johnson said.

There are about 62 employees, both full-time and part-time, Johnson said.

He said many Oak Ridge customers shopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods in West Knoxville.

“Now they’ve got it here,” Johnson said. “Oak Ridge is a thriving market. Oak Ridge is an outdoor community.” [Read more…]