Dick's CEO Ed Stack on gun control, industry trends, and leadership - Business Insider

Last year, Ed Stack made a decision that instantly made him both a hero and villain across America.

During that time, we had spent about two years developing a concept called Field and Stream, which was an outdoor retail concept around hunt, fish, and camp. We had a pretty vigorous debate as to whether we would put those guns in those stores. We ultimately decided to put those in those stores. After Parkland, we came out and said we're taking them out everywhere.

But the the boycotts, it's been pretty well chronicled that we expected that we would take about a quarter of a billion dollar hit in sales by doing this, not just from the hunt business, but from people who would say, "You know what? I'm just not shopping with you anymore because I am so angry with you." By the time we got done, it was about a quarter of a billion dollars.

And we went and we lobbied and we spent a lot of time in Washington talking to them. It was split right across party lines. I was just disappointed, surprised, and fill-in-the-blank about how people in Washington can't argue this in a rational way and come together with the intent to solve a problem. I just don't understand. It's not a political hot button any longer. Ninety-plus percent of the people feel we should have universal background checks.

The Calia brand in five years has become the number two women's athletic brand in the store. So that's been really big. I always knew that we needed to have smart people around us. The first thing I did when we bought the business from my father was put together a board of directors. My uncle, the guy from E.J. Korvette shoes, and another guy in the media business; we put together this group of people, advisers that really helped us a lot.

Go, Ed Stack, the very best to you for speaking out for gun control. Hats off to you!

Thank you for taking a stand. You offer hope of sanity in this profit over principles country we inhabit.

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