Canadian golf retail giant Golf Town to expand into US

Canadian retail chain Golf Town is the latest retailer north of the 49th parallel to take its chances on opening up stores in the U.S. market.

Two weeks after Loblaw Cos. announced it would open stand-alone Joe Fresh apparel boutiques in New York, and as Lululemon and Tim Hortons enjoy new levels of success in their respective stateside ventures, the Toronto-based specialty golf chain has announced it will open five stores in Massachusetts later this month. "We are entering Boston to own it -we will be the largest retailer of golf equipment in market overnight and that is going to have a major impact for us," said Golf Town chief executive Stephen Bebis, who wants to build a minimum of 12 stores in the Greater Boston area before moving into the southern part of New Hampshire. "We are focused on New England right now and our primary goal is to continue to build that other market out. The recession there was really not as impactful as it was in some other markets in the U.S., such as California. Eventually we will start to look at Asia and Europe, but also we would like to look at acquisitions in the U.S. and we will continue to do that."