As word spread today that Fairhaven's Olympia Sports was closing for good, business began to boom at the sporting good store.

We visited at 2 p.m., not usually a peak time for a retail store like Olympia Sports, but today was different. Workers at Olympia told us that the store had been steadily busy today with people taking advantage of the sales that are expected to get even better as closing time draws nearer.

Word of the Fairhaven Olympia's closing came as somewhat of a surprise to the community. For a smaller store, Fairhaven seemed to have a pretty decent customer base. The store always seemed well-staffed by knowledgable workers.

However, the Maine-based athletic footwear and apparel retailer was recently sold to lifestyle brand JackRabbit, and the new company only wanted to buy half of the locations. JackRabbit decided to buy the Dartmouth Mall location, but passed on Fairhaven and Taunton – two of the 76 stores that got left behind in the business transaction.

Walking through the store today, a big majority of the products were deeply discounted.  We saw fleece sweatshirts marked down 70 percent. Most of the other products are marked as buy one, get one 50 percent off. As the holidays approach, any remaining inventory will be shipped to other Olympia locations or sold at even deeper discounts.

The company hasn't offered any specific dates for closing, but employees at the store expected that the Fairhaven location would remain open through the holiday season and close some time in early January.

A total of 22 Massachusetts Olympia Sports stores will close.

The stores will continue to honor valid coupons, rewards, gift certificates, and store credits.

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