Dick’s House of Sport Lubbock plans point to a big entrance for the sporting-goods retailer: a two-story, 120,000-square-foot destination at South Plains Mall, with an outdoor track-and-field area also identified in earlier city-plan reporting.
House of Sport brings shopping and sports experiences together under one roof. At existing locations, a trip for shoes or equipment can include time at a climbing wall, in a golf simulator or inside a batting cage. The format gives customers reasons to stay, practice and return beyond their next purchase.
Lubbock’s exact indoor attraction lineup remains unconfirmed. Still, the building’s scale and the planned outdoor sports component show why this project carries more weight than another familiar sign joining the mall.
What makes House of Sport different?
The House of Sport concept combines extensive merchandise departments with places to use sporting equipment. Footwear, clothing and gear remain central, while hands-on experiences make the store itself part of the outing.
In its descriptions of existing stores, Dick’s highlights climbing walls, golf bays and multipurpose cages. Golf simulators let players practice with digital feedback. Cages accommodate activities such as baseball and softball, giving shoppers a setting to test equipment and track performance.
The services can go beyond a quick demonstration. For example, the company’s Gaithersburg House of Sport booking page lists golf lessons, club fittings, simulator rentals, cage sessions and bat fittings. It also offers climbing sessions and birthday-party bookings.
That illustrates the format’s appeal to different visitors: a golfer comparing clubs, a young player working on a swing or a family looking for an active outing. These are examples from an operating store, not a confirmed list of Lubbock services.
Outdoor plans for Dick’s House of Sport Lubbock
KCBD reported in May that an April development site plan identified House of Sport at South Plains Mall. The report described a two-story building and an outdoor track-and-field area at the former Dillard’s Women’s location.
That outdoor component is a meaningful local detail. Across the House of Sport concept, attached fields can support activities such as clinics, open play and community events. Lubbock’s field dimensions, access rules, prices and programming have not been publicly detailed in the material reviewed.
The indoor and outdoor pieces could make the store a destination for participating in sports as well as shopping for them. Which experiences ultimately appear in Lubbock will determine how residents use it day to day.
Dick’s House of Sport Lubbock could draw across West Texas
South Plains Mall already serves a region much larger than the city around it. Macerich’s current leasing materials describe a trade area covering approximately 40,000 square miles across 35 counties, with about 404,000 residents.
Those are the mall owner’s market figures, not projected attendance for House of Sport. They help explain the setting for a large destination store: shoppers already travel to Lubbock for purchases, dining and other activities.
In a city closely associated with Texas Tech athletics, high school competition and youth sports, the concept has an obvious audience to reach. A place combining equipment selection with practice opportunities could become another stop on a family’s trip into town.
The retailer’s official Texas directory currently lists no Lubbock store. Research did not establish an earlier Dick’s location in the city, making this what appears to be the chain’s first Lubbock store. Its arrival would introduce the brand locally through one of its most ambitious formats.
A new chapter at the former Dillard’s site
House of Sport would follow a significant reshuffling of South Plains Mall’s anchors. Dillard’s previously operated separate Women’s and Men’s & Children’s stores at the property.
The department-store chain consolidated into a new 220,000-square-foot flagship on the former Sears site. That store opened in October 2024, freeing its former spaces for other uses.
The current Dick’s filing describes new construction at the former Women’s site. It calls for a new two-story anchor rather than simply a cosmetic refresh of the previous department store. The records reviewed do not establish that demolition of the old building has already occurred.
From a $300 bait shop to House of Sport
The company’s beginnings were considerably smaller. According to its corporate history, 18-year-old Dick Stack founded the business in Binghamton, New York, in 1948 after his employer dismissed his fishing-tackle ideas.
His grandmother gave him $300 from her cookie jar, and he opened a bait-and-tackle shop. That small investment grew into a national sporting-goods business now developing stores where customers can play as well as browse.
House of Sport is already a substantial part of that business. Dick’s reported 41 House of Sport locations as of August 1, 2026, up from 35 at the beginning of its fiscal year. Lubbock’s proposal joins that wider expansion of the format.
Dick’s House of Sport Lubbock construction plans
The new state registration, TABS2027002972, adds construction specifics to the earlier public plans. It lists 6002 Slide Road, 120,000 square feet and estimated construction costs of $11,236,527.
Macerich South Plains LP appears as owner, with Bergmeyer Associates of Boston listed as the design firm. The filed construction schedule runs from January 1, 2027, through January 31, 2028.
That completion estimate is not an opening date, and the $11.2 million figure is not a confirmed total project investment. A firm opening date remains unconfirmed.
For shoppers watching Dick’s House of Sport Lubbock take shape, the bigger story is the kind of store planned here. A large new anchor with an outdoor sports area could give West Texas another reason to make the trip to South Plains Mall—and more to do once they arrive.