and athletic equipment fate bankruptcy founded boston massachusetts united states 1983 headquarters boston massachusetts 1 united states products clothing shoes and equipment owner highland capital partners website city sports city sports is an american sporting goods retailer that is currently under liquidation . the chain operates mostly on the east coast of the united states . its chief products include athletic apparel footwear and equipment . founded in 1983 by mike kennedy and eric martin two boston locals 2 the company has grown across state borders and operated 27 stores in eight states . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 products 1.2 acquisition by highland consumer fund 1.3 bankruptcy and liquidation 2 references history edit in november 1983 high school friends and tennis partners mike kennedy and eric martin were living and working in boston 2 and were frequently unable to find quality branded sporting goods merchandise in a single downtown location to satisfy their year round athletic interests . frustrated with their lack of success in finding the appropriate gear they opened the first city sports location on massachusetts avenue and began selling quality sporting goods merchandise with an emphasis on running and racquet sports . over the next thirty years city sports grew into an award winning specialty sports retailer in metropolitan locations along the east coast . at its peak the company operated 27 stores across seven states massachusetts new york rhode island pennsylvania maryland and vermont and washington d.c. . 3 products edit city sports blended premium brands with authentic niche products that have limited distribution . in addition to the core city sports running yoga swimming and racquet sport products city sports also offered an appropriate presentation of traditional team sports sports style and market specific licensed goods . acquisition by highland consumer fund edit on march 11 2008 the company announced that it had been acquired by the highland consumer fund a subsidiary of highland capital partners an investment firm . 4 highland purchased an 80 % stake in the company and planned to nearly triple the number of stores within the next five years . ultimately highland estimated that the business had the potential to grow to around 300 stores across the united states . 5 both parties declined to release financial details of the deal . bankruptcy and liquidation edit city sports inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on october 5 2015 6 with assets and liabilities of between 10 million and 50 million . the filing made in the united states bankruptcy court in the district of delaware listed the sporting retailer s biggest creditors as nike which is owed 1.27 million under armour 1.03 million asics 1.03 million and patagonia 1.01 million . on november 5 it was announced that all 27 city sports stores would close ; liquidation sales at all of the stores began the following day . the remaining assets of the company will be divided between two companies in illinois and boston . references edit city sports corporate directory . citysports.com . retrieved 2006 07 31 . a b city sports about us . citysports.com . retrieved 2006 07 31 . a b city sports store locator . citysports.com . retrieved 2006 07 31 . city sports announces acquisition and strategic investment from the highland consumer fund . hcp.com . retrieved 2008 04 14 . abelson jenn 2008 03 11 . taking city sports to a lot more places . boston.com . retrieved 2008 04 14 . city sports chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . pacermonitor . retrieved 15 june 2016 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title city sports & oldid 743301292 categories companies based in bostoneconomy of the northeastern united statesonline retailers of the united statessporting goods retailers of the united statesretail companies established in 1983 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 01 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view