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Sports fans bored by major league labor strife and saturation coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder trial will soon have a new competition to follow.
The Sports Authority Inc., the country's largest full-line sporting goods chain, opens its first New York City store this week. The chain will provide formidable competition to the city's existing retailers, including Herman's World of Sporting Goods, Modell's and the Paragon Sporting Goods Co.
"It's going to be a real rock 'em, sock 'em time," says John Horan, editor and publisher of Sporting Goods Intelligence, a trade newsletter. "There's not a pussycat in there. They're all fierce competitors and it will be lots of fun."
The Sports Authority, which is known for its huge suburban superstores, is putting its flagship New York store opposite Madison Square Garden in the former second-floor ballroom of the Hotel Pennsylvania. It is also negotiating leases for several other Manhattan locations.
Invading New York
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