Stephen Bebis, founder, president, and chief executive of Canada’s largest golf retailer, Golf Town, has left the company. His departure, several months after overseeing a $25 million expansion into the U.S. market, came as a surprise to analysts in the golf retail industry, and corporate officials would shed no light on the situation.
“I can confirm that as of this week, Stephen Bebis is no longer with Golf Town,” John Pierce, VP of public affairs with OMERS Private Equity, the pension-fund manager that owns the company, told us in an e-mail on Thursday. “We do not have a statement or further comment at this time.”
Golf Town boasts spacious putting and club-testing areas (Photo: Golf Town)
Ron Hornbaker, current VP of sales and operations will serve as interim CEO, according to a Wednesday announcement from the company. Hornbaker joined Golf Town at the end of last year after leaving Golf Galaxy, where he served as senior VP of sales and operations, according to the statement, in which Paul Renaud, president and CEO of OPE and chair of Golf Town, thanked Bebis for his “contribution.
“We remain enthusiastic about the future growth opportunities for Golf Town, both in Canada and outside of Canada,” Renaud added, “and we will work with the management team to execute this strategy.”
Bebis, with a 40-year career in retail, grew Golf Town from one location in 1999 into a $400 million, 55-location superstore throughout Canada. The big-box store is known for its huge selection of discounted clubs, bags, balls, and everything golf-related from all leading manufacturers. Each location averages 18,000 square feet and offers try-before-you-buy, trade-in/trade-up, and other customer-friendly services, as well as lessons from professional instructors.
Moving aggressively into the Boston metropolitan area last March and opening six stores during a recession was a calculated risk for Bebis, who told us at the time that his stores’ interactive experiences and “the best selection of golf in the world” would bring in the cash.
“Golfers have an insatiable appetite for new stuff and they enjoy spending money on things they love,” Bebis told us in a February phone interview, during which he said he planned to open another six stores in the region. “We’re not dabbling. We want to be the player in the Greater Boston area.”
It’s likely that Bebis was true to his word that he would “spend more money in golf marketing than anybody has ever seen.” A splashy, media-driven grand opening of its 20,000-square-foot flagship shop in Watertown, complete with $75,000 high-tech simulators and 1,200-square-foot putting areas, enticed a host of Boston a-listers to what passed for a gala toward the end of a dreary winter.
It was unclear whether Bebis’ expansion plans had anything to do with his exit from the company, but at least one retail analyst surmised that the former CEO’s grand plans had probably not panned out.
“My speculation would be that they are falling a little short of plan,” Mike Tesler, founding partner of Retail Concepts in Norwell, Mass., said Thursday. “They spent a lot of money entering this market and they’re in fairly medium- to high-rent locations. Given the economy, I’m not sure that it’s growing.”