Hibbett Sports coming to Manning

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The city of Manning's new retail development initiative got its first big win Monday as a Birmingham, Alabama-based national sports retailer announced intentions to open a store on Capital Way. Hibbett Sports has more than 1,000 stores in 34 states, and will open its newest location in Manning in early 2017. "As one of the top retailers in premium footwear, Hibbett Sports' weekly shoe launches offer an edge up on the competition when it comes to style," reads a release from the company. "Hibbett sports also offers a large selection of quality branded athletic apparel, with a focus on knowledgeable, friendly customer service." The store will fill the space formerly occupied by SMS Sportsworld. "This is a great find for the city of Manning," said Mayor Julia Nelson. "We are proud that our retail development initiative has started to provide results." The city started the initiative earlier this year with the hiring of Retail Strategies, also based in Birmingham. A $25,000 Hometown Economic Development Grant from the Municipal Association of South Carolina in October is being used to pay for the initiative. “Most of it we will apply to our fees for this partnership, and travel to conferences and recruiting shows for our Retail Development Initiative,” said Manning City Administrator Scott Tanner. City Council approved the initiative in May, and Mayor Julia Nelson and Councilman Clayton Pack traveled to Alabama to train with the company to interact with small retail chains, Tanner said. Nelson said in May that the training shows the steps to take at nationwide conferences where such chains gather in order to get small towns noticed. She and Pack also traveled to Nevada in May for a larger conference. “We found out about this international association of small shopping centers from a developer who worked on the Tractor Supply store,” Tanner said. “Councilman Pack went to Charlotte earlier this year and attended a smaller event like the one they attended in Nevada where anything from restaurants to stores to boutiques attend.”