OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon A store closing sign hangs in front of Olympia Sports in Lakewood.

Olympia Sports is shuttering all of its stores, per a message on the company’s website, including its locations in Dunkirk and Lakewood.

The retailer is holding closing sales at all locations. In Chautauqua County, yellow closing banners are displayed. An exact closing date for the two local stores has not been announced but is expected by next month.

According to the company website, Olympia Sports was established in 1975 with the first store at the Maine Mall in South Portland, Maine. They grew to more than 225 locations throughout the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and mid-west but dwindled down to 35 in recent years.

In Chautauqua County, the company has two stores. One is at 279 E. Fairmount Ave., in the Lakewood Village Plaza. It opened around 2011. The Dunkirk store is located at 3959 Vineyard Drive, the same plaza as Tops Friendly Markets.

The company website’s store locator shows that the only other location in Western New York is in Olean.

Olympia Sports is branded as a sports footware and sporting goods store. They’re known for selling sports jerseys, sporting equipment, clothing and more.

According to the Associated Press, the Denver-based running and active lifestyle brand JackRabbit bought Olympia Sports in 2019. JackRabbit, owned by a private equity firm, was sold in December to North Carolina-based Fleet Feet.

The company told the AP that the 35 stores would close by the end of September and that liquidation sales had begun at all locations.