The Elk Grove and Visalia stores, both more than 42,000 sf,represent some of the latest moves in Sport Chalet's plan to growin other parts of the state besides Southern California as well asother states. In addition to Elk Grove and Visalia, as part of itsfiscal 2005 expansion the company has opened a new store in theSacramento area community of Roseville, plus one in Pleasonton inthe East Bay area near San Francisco, as well as another SouthernCalifornia location at the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia.

The Visalia and Elk Grove openings follow five other expansionsin the past several quarters by the company, which ends its fiscalyear on March 31. "Our growth strategy had historically focused onSouthern California, but now includes opening new stores throughoutCalifornia and Nevada as suitable locations are found," the chainsaid in a recent SEC filing. Sport Chalet already has two stores inLas Vegas and also has said it plans to move into Arizona. TheArizona expansion will kick off with an initial opening of fourlocations in the Phoenix area in fiscal 2005-2006.

With the opening of the five new stores in fiscal 2005, SportChalet will set a company record for new store growth in one year.Along with the expansion, its plans call for retrofitting andremodeling four stores during fiscal 2005 to conform to the SportChalet format that has evolved over the years, which is a locationof 40,000 to 45,000 sf that showcases each product category withthe feel of a specialty shop. The 2005 retrofits will follow whatwere the first two full-scale remodels of older stores, the Marinadel Rey and West Hills locations in Southern California.