CHARLESTON — A major sporting goods chain is now competing with itself to a degree in Mount Pleasant with the opening of its latest immersive retail outlet.
Golf Galaxy Performance Center held its grand opening this past weekend after completing renovations to part of a former Bi-Lo supermarket near Highway 17 and the Isle of Palms Connector.
The specialty chain is owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. It has has been working on the Sweetgrass Corner store, its first in the Charleston region, since late 2024.
It’s the fourth Golf Galaxy to tee it up in South Carolina, joining others on Hilton Head Island, in Greenville and Myrtle Beach.
Along with traditional playing equipment, footwear and apparel, the new 20,000-square-foot East Cooper location is equipped with high-tech simulators and hitting bays. The store also offers lessons and custom club fittings.
“Its arrival at Sweetgrass Corner brings a valuable new resource to the Mount Pleasant community — one that supports the area’s active lifestyle and love of the game,” according to Continental Realty Corp., which owns the retail property.
Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods bought Golf Galaxy Inc. in 2007 for about $225 million.
The company began investing in the subsidiary by unveiling the “performance” concept about five years ago at a new store near Boston. The goal was to create an “elevated experience for golfers,” Dick’s said at the time.
Of its total 110 locations, Golf Galaxy has set up about 30 as experiential performance centers rather than conventional walk-in retail stores as of Nov. 1.
The newly opened Mount Pleasant location is less than three miles from a full-service Dick’s store near Highway 17 and Bowman Road that also sells golf gear.
Golf Galaxy is one of three tenants that are backfilling the 60,000-square-foot former Bi-Lo store in Sweetgrass Corner that went dark seven years ago.
Trader Joe’s took a third of the space in 2024. HomeSense, a home-decor chain affiliated with TJ Maxx and Marshalls, is leasing the rest and plans to open Feb. 26.