SAN JOSE — A top-notch sporting goods retailer has leased a San Jose space now occupied by a high-profile bookstore, a deal that represents a fresh round of real estate success for a South Bay shopping center.
Sports Basement has leased 86,000 square feet at Almaden Plaza, located at 5353 Almaden Expressway in San Jose, according to commercial real estate broker Jim Fletcher and the sporting goods merchant.
The sporting goods retailer is taking over multiple spaces at Almaden Plaza, notably the existing Barnes & Noble site and an adjacent shuttered location of a former Buy Buy Baby store.
Barnes & Noble is expected to seek a new San Jose store location in the vicinity, according to real estate experts.
Sports Basement sees San Jose as a great opportunity and potentially fertile territory, in the view of Dave Rumberg, a partner at Sports Basement whose duties include guiding the retailer’s efforts to find new locations and develop the sites.
“San Jose has always been a target for Sports Basement,” Rumberg said. “We believe San Jose, the community and the surrounding area need to have access to Sports Basement.”
The upcoming store in San Jose represents an expansion for Sports Basement. The sporting goods retailer operates a store in Campbell at The Pruneyard complex. The Campbell store will remain open.
Sports Basement will occupy a prominent spot within Almaden Plaza, which is a large retail and restaurant hub located near the interchange of State Route 85 and Almaden Expressway.
“This center with its visibility and its location near the freeway is going to be a screaming home run for Sports Basement,” said Fletcher, a Bay Area broker who arranged the lease.
The Sports Basement deal represents the third major lease landed by Almaden Plaza in recent months.
Among the recent high-profile rental transactions at Almaden Plaza:
— Hobby Lobby has leased 62,000 square feet of retail space and is busy preparing an upstairs store in a site that once was occupied by failed retailer Bed Bath & Beyond. This will be an expansion for Hobby Lobby.
— Benihana restaurant will take over a 9,500-square-foot dining site that Red Lobster once occupied. Benihana will exit Vallco Mall. Vallco is a mostly demolished ghost mall in Cupertino.
The new sporting goods store should open sometime during the July-through-September third quarter of 2025, according to Sports Basement officials.
The retailer offers a unique approach to sporting goods in that its stores are essentially multiple retail units in one big location.
“Sports Basement is a bunch of small retailers under one big roof,” Rumberg said. “Running, triathlon, hiking, skiing, biking.”
The retailer’s goods and services also overlap with team sports such as football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse.
“Any day you walk into one of our stores, you’re going to find staff that is quite accomplished in those areas,” Rumberg said.
The retailer seeks to be involved with the community both in terms of serving customers as well as through hiring workers from the local area, Rumberg said.
“Sports Basement really has sought to create a positive presence around the Bay Area,” Rumberg said.
The retailer will likely hire 55 to 75 full-time employees for the new San Jose store, he estimated.
Sports Basement hopes to be cost-competitive with its offerings in the ongoing retail battle with Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI.
“Prices go up everywhere, but overall we hope that a basket of goods will cost you less at Sports Basement than other places,” Rumberg said.
Founded in 1998 with a store in San Francisco, Sports Basement at present operates in 11 Bay Area locations. The San Jose store will be the retailer’s 12th.
Sports Basement recently expanded to Southern California for the first time, with a store in Orange County and a store planned for Long Beach.
“We are a community-focused retailer that measures success not only by sales but by how well we serve those communities that we have joined,” Rumberg said.
