Parent Canadian Tire’s sporting goods banners came back strong in the first quarter, with 6% higher revenues of C$412.3 million ($288.3 mm) up from $387.7 million, including a +6.3% comp and one fewer store. The gains were led by growth in skiing/snowboards, hockey, and outerwear categories. CTC’s sports banners—including SportChek, Sports Experts, Atmosphere, Sports Rousseau, Hockey Experts, and L’Entrepôt du Hockey—numbered 368 at period end. SportChek has been optimizing its portfolio and opened its second “Destination Sport” concept stores in Toronto in April after the quarter ended.

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