Sporting goods retailers, including the broader hunting and fishing category, have struggled over the past few years. That’s at least partially because the internet has nibbled away at their sales.
As a casual tennis player, for example, I used to have to go to a sporting goods retailer if I needed tennis balls, which created the possibility that I might buy something else. That’s a small sale lost for the retailer, but also a larger opportunity to convert a purchase into something bigger.
“Research estimates a nearly 4% decline in spending at brick-and-mortar stores because of the rise of e-commerce,” according to a Stanford University research report written in 2017.
Online spending has roughly doubled to 15.8% in the third quarter of 2025 since that report study was conducted, according to Census.gov’s quarterly retail online sales report. released in Dec, 2025.
Retail foot traffic also dipped by 1.4% to recreational and sporting goods stores in 2024, according to Placer.ai data, while overall retail foot traffic across all retail climbed by 0.4%.
Lower foot traffic and not having a high-end online presence has meant the end for a number of sporting goods and outdoors brands over the past year and now Big Rock Sports has joined that list by filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
A quick look at Big Rock sports
While it’s not a household name. Big Rock Sports was a major player behind the scenes as a distributor. The company shared some of its business model on its now-defunct website, which was visited through the Internet Archive.
“Big Rock Sports carries over 200,000 product SKUs and services more than 20,000 fishing, shooting, camping, taxidermy and marine retailers across the US, Canada, the Caribbean and eight other countries,” the company shared.
The distributor had a long history.
“The history of Big Rock Sports goes back more than 60 years to the founding of All-Sports Supply in Portland, OR. At that time, sporting goods was a much more personal business, and distributors knew the names of their retailers as well as their families,” it added.
(All Star Sports was founded in 1995, making Big Rock Sports history go back 71 years).
The company specialized in firearms, firearm accessories, and fishing gear.
Shutterstock
Big Rock Sports Chapter 7 at a glance
- Big Rock Sports, LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, according to BKAlerts.com.
- The Chapter 7 filing was voluntary and is being handled by a court‑appointed trustee, according to documents filed on PacerMonitor.
- The case, under case # 5:26-bk-00208 is being overseen by Judge Joseph N. Callaway, added PacerMonitor.
- As of the filing, the case is listed as “no asset,” indicating limited or no estate assets available for distribution, reported BKAlerts.com.
- Big Rock’s operations included numerous trade names and divisions in the sporting goods and outdoor supply space, according to Inforuptcy.
- Prior to the Chapter 7 filing, related Canadian operations were liquidated, all employees were terminated, and inventory was being sold off under a liquidation process, added Isolvency Insider Canada.
- Secured lenders (e.g., bank agents) and unsecured creditors are not expected to be fully repaid given the company’s limited realizable assets, added Isolvency Insider Canada.
Big Rock Canada was liquidated first
Big Rock Sport (BRS) Canada was spun off from the parent brand and incorporated under the laws of British Columbia on April 28, 2011. It operated as a Canadian sporting goods distributor.
“The company was headquartered in Barrie, Ontario and, as of the assignment date, operated three leased distribution centres located in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario. The company functioned as a Canadian subsidiary of Big Rock Sports, LLC, a US-based distributor of sporting and hunting firearms, fishing gear, and camping equipment,” according to Isolvency Insider Canada.
On the date of bankruptcy, the company terminated all 72 employees, with accrued wages and vacation pay paid prior to termination.
While the company had assets worth roughly $65.1 million preliminary estimates indicate materially lower realizable values, with inventory, receivables, and select intangible assets representing the primary sources of recovery.
“Based on the estimated realizations and the secured debt outstanding, the trustee does not expect proceeds, net of administration costs, to be sufficient to repay secured lender Regions Bank, acting as administrative agent for a syndicate of lenders, in full. The company owes approximately $2.57 million in direct borrowings and $17.7 million of guaranteed debt,” added Isolvency Insider Canada
Sporting goods brands have struggled
A number of major-name sporting and outdoor goods chains have been liquidated over the past few years, including Modell’s, Olympia Sports, Moosejaw, and the largest one of them all, Sports Authority. Not mastering online sales contributed to the death of some of these chains.
“Sport’s Authority for much of its tenure ignored the undercurrents of a growing e-Commerce channel. Considering the plethora of industry peers consumers could choose from, having relatively commoditized, un-differentiated items did not bode well for the chain, further exacerbated by a near absence from the “clicks” side of retailing,” Daniel Williams wrote on Retail TouchPoints.
Supply chain issues and consumer sentiment have also impacted retail broadly, according to data from McKinsey.
“For the first time since the global pandemic has started to weaken, we see consumers becoming more pessimistic rather than optimistic. Our consumer surveys in the United States and Europe show that concern over prospects for an economic recovery has increased significantly and is now higher than during the Covid-19 crisis,” the consulting firm shared.
Increased competition has also added to the challenges faced by retailers and distributors.
“The sporting goods market is highly fragmented with a growing number of challenger brands and digitally native companies making inroads,” according to BCG Matrix.
Related: Iconic treasure hunt retailer closing all stores in bankruptcy
