GearDirect acquires GolfBargains.com to expand seasonal merchandise

In a move to expand beyond winter sports equipment, GearDirect.com LLC has acquired GolfBargains.com, says John Siwierski, GearDirect’s manager of e-commerce and catalogs. “This will help us increase year-round sales,” he says.

GearDirect, a unit of Denver-based Specialty Sports Ventures and No. 178 in the Internet Retailer Top 300 Guide to online retailers, will continue to operate as a separate brand and web site with a direct link from the Golf Store section on GearDirect.com. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

GearDirect plans to redesign GolfBargains later this summer. “We’ll relaunch with a new look and feel,” Siwiersky says.

He adds that GearDirect and Specialty Sports Ventures have yet to decide how GolfBargains may support the parent company’s brick-and-mortar golf stores. Specialty Sports owns three Colorado Ski and Golf stores in the Denver area. It also operates more than 100 bicycle and ski shops throughout Colorado, many of which are associated with major ski areas.