Sport Chalet

The company: Sport Chalet Inc. Headquarters: La Cañada Flintridge Ticker: SPCHA and SPCHB Employees: 3,000 Leadership: Craig Levra, chairman and chief executive Fiscal 2013 revenue: $361 million Fiscal 2013 net loss: $3.3 million Stock price: As of Friday, $1.24 for Class A and $1.21 for Class B 52-week range: 68 cents to $2.44 for Class A; $1.06 to $2.24 for Class B Dividend: ...

If you're an outdoors enthusiast or weekend warrior, chances are you're a fan of Sport Chalet Inc. If you're an investor, well, that's another story. Living up to its moniker, "the Experts," Sport Chalet staffs its stores with marathon runners, professional triathletes, experienced divers, snowboarders and skiers. The goal is to present athletes with a top-notch shopping experience they won't get in big-box or discount retailers -- or on Amazon.com, which has been swallowing up business from brick-and-mortar retailers for years.

The gig: Chief executive and chairman of sporting goods chain Sport Chalet Inc. Founded 50 years ago, the La Canada Flintridge company today operates 55 stores in four states, with most locations in California. For fiscal 2009, Sport Chalet posted sales of $372.7 million, a 7.4% drop from a year earlier, and a net loss of $52.2 million. Education: Bachelor's and MBA degrees from the University of Kansas.

The company: Sport Chalet Inc. Headquarters: La Cañada Flintridge Ticker: SPCHA and SPCHB Employees: 3,000 Leadership: Craig Levra, chairman and chief executive Fiscal 2013 revenue: $361 million Fiscal 2013 net loss: $3.3 million Stock price: As of Friday, $1.24 for Class A and $1.21 for Class B 52-week range: 68 cents to $2.44 for Class A; $1.06 to $2.24 for Class B Dividend: ...

With free scuba lessons and celebrity appearances, Sport Chalet Inc. founder Norbert Olberz kicked off the grand opening last August of the chain's flagship store in the new La Canada Flintridge Town Center, the culmination of a decades-long dream for the 83-year-old German immigrant. But even as Olberz cut the ribbon at the $60-million development that houses restaurants, shops and the company's headquarters, the sporting goods chain he created 50 years ago was bracing for tough months ahead.

Sport Chalet Inc. continued its slow turnaround in its fiscal first quarter, posting a narrow loss as sales improved in stores and online. The La Canada Flintridge sporting goods chain has suffered a prolonged period of weakness in large part because its 55 stores are concentrated in economically battered markets. The recession also forced consumers to scale back on expensive discretionary purchases such as sports equipment. But even as its stock price and sales plummeted in recent years, Chief Executive Craig Levra pledged to return the chain to profitability while keeping the company intact.

Sport Chalet Inc., a longtime Southern California sporting goods retailer, has agreed to open a store in downtown Los Angeles. The La Canada Flintridge company will put an outlet in Figat7th, a mall at the intersection of Figueroa and Seventh streets undergoing a $40-million makeover by landlord Brookfield Office Properties. Sports Chalet will join Target as anchors in the mall, which is set to reopen in the fall. Target Inc. announced in 2010 that it would take over space formerly occupied by Macy's and Bullock's department stores.

First there was surfing Santa Claus and hockey-playing Santa. Now St. Nick is strapping on an oxygen tank to take photos underwater with shoppers at Sport Chalet. The sporting goods chain, based in La Canada, is offering customers a free photo op with a scuba diving Santa on Dec. 15. at several stores including locales in Irvine, La Canada and Rancho Cucamonga. "All this is required is a smile, swimsuit, and towel," the company said in a statement. The scuba diving is limited to those 10 years old and over, although younger kids hoping to gurgle a few Christmas wishes can opt to snorkel with the big guy in the red suit.

Bowing to public pressure, the La Canada Flintridge City Council has reversed its March 5 decision to move ahead with public hearings on the proposed Sport Chalet shopping center before the April 10 election. Instead, the council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend the hearings until after new council members are sworn in. The council will meet with developers March 29 to schedule a hearing date, most likely in early May.

Sport Chalet Inc. of La Canada Flintridge reported a first-quarter loss of $4.5 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with a loss of $664,000, or 5 cents, a year earlier. Sales decreased 4.8% to $87.1 million. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail health, fell 11.1%. The company said same-store sales were hurt by the slowing economy and increased competition.

Specialty sporting goods store Sport Chalet Inc. is now offering same-day delivery service, hopping on a crowded bandwagon that includes Amazon, Wal-Mart, Google and EBay. “Sometimes there just is not enough time for a customer to visit our stores, and this new service solves that problem,” Craig Levra, chief executive of the 53-store chain, said in a statement. The La Cañada Flintridge-based company also does brisk business renting sports equipment to customers. And for those reluctant to haul the goods back to a Sport Chalet store themselves, the company said it will “drive to their home or office and retrieve the gear for them.” The new program is in place in most of California as well as in the Phoenix, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City areas.

To mark its inaugural sponsorship of the Los Angeles Marathon -- and acknowledge the fact that it's taking  place on St. Patrick's Day -- Irvine-based Asics has released a limited-edition running shoe. The commemorative kicks are a version of the brand's  GEL-Lyte33 2  with uppers in a holiday-appropriate shade of green with either purple or orange accent colors on the outsole and lining. In addition, both versions have what from afar looks like a confetti-covered midsole but upon closer examination is actually a colorful map-like graphic (think a smudged page from an old Thomas Guide map book, if you remember those)

First there was surfing Santa Claus and hockey-playing Santa. Now St. Nick is strapping on an oxygen tank to take photos underwater with shoppers at Sport Chalet. The sporting goods chain, based in La Canada, is offering customers a free photo op with a scuba diving Santa on Dec. 15. at several stores including locales in Irvine, La Canada and Rancho Cucamonga. "All this is required is a smile, swimsuit, and towel," the company said in a statement. The scuba diving is limited to those 10 years old and over, although younger kids hoping to gurgle a few Christmas wishes can opt to snorkel with the big guy in the red suit.

Sport Chalet Inc., a longtime Southern California sporting goods retailer, has agreed to open a store in downtown Los Angeles. The La Canada Flintridge company will put an outlet in Figat7th, a mall at the intersection of Figueroa and Seventh streets undergoing a $40-million makeover by landlord Brookfield Office Properties. Sports Chalet will join Target as anchors in the mall, which is set to reopen in the fall. Target Inc. announced in 2010 that it would take over space formerly occupied by Macy's and Bullock's department stores.

Norbert Olberz, founder of the Southern California-based Sport Chalet chain of outdoor recreational equipment stores, died of natural causes Friday at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, the company announced. He was 86. As chief executive for four decades, Olberz transformed Sport Chalet from a small local business into a large public company that operates 55 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Born in the village of Niederhoevels, Germany, in 1925, Olberz arrived in the United States in 1955.

The Olberz family, founders of the beleaguered Sport Chalet sporting goods chain, have sold their La Canada Flintridge mall to a Los Angeles investment firm for more than $40 million -- significantly less than what the project cost to build. La Canada Flintridge Town Center, completed in 2008, was built for about $60 million by the Olberz family's company La Canada Properties Inc. during the peak of the last real estate boom. Sport Chalet will continue to be a tenant in the mall.

The depressed shares of Sport Chalet Inc. shot up 23% on Thursday after the La Cañada Flintridge retailer said it had obtained new financing and would consider closing some of its 55 stores. The sporting-goods chain has been hit hard by the economic downturn, recording losses in each of the last three fiscal years as well as the current year's first quarter, which ended in June. But in an apparent vote of confidence in the company, Bank of America Corp. has agreed to give Sport Chalet a four-year, $65-million line of credit, replacing a $45-million credit line that also was with BofA.

La Canada-based Sport Chalet Inc. said it had acquired a chain of golf shops that operated as separate businesses inside stores owned by the sporting goods retailer. Consumers are expected to see no change at the 14 John Wells Golf Shops that since 1996 had operated leased departments inside more than two-thirds of Sport Chalet's 22 locations. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Sporting-goods chain Sport Chalet Inc. reported a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss Wednesday and said total sales increased slightly, reflecting an improvement in its online and team sales divisions. The La Canada Flintridge retailer posted a $0.9-million loss for the three months ended Dec. 26 compared with a loss of $3.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 0.6% to $95.8 million. At stores open at least a year ? an important measure of a retailer's success because it excludes store openings and closings ?