Academy Sports + Outdoors (Academy) announced the opening of its first Lexington, Ky. store. Located at 3220 Nicholasville Rd.

#185, in South Park Shopping Center, the approximately 80,000 square-foot store brings a great assortment of sports and outdoors merchandise to Lexington. Academy will host grand opening festivities from Sept. 30, 2022 through Oct.

2, 2022. Throughout the weekend, customers can look forward to exclusive deals, giveaways, activations by brands sold at Academy, food truck samples, and appearances by University of Kentucky basketball alumnus Kyle Macy, men's basketball player Casson Wallace and more. The Lexington location marks the sixth Academy store in Kentucky and the opening of the fifth of nine new stores Academy expects to open this year.

Academy looks forward to continuing its expansion efforts beyond 2022, with the goal of opening 80 to 100 new stores over the next five years. Customers can expect to find the best assortment and prices of athletic and casual shoes, sports and outdoors equipment and clothing from top national brands such as Nike, adidas, The North Face, Under Armour, Columbia, YETI, Traeger, Carhartt, Drake Waterfowl, Timberland, Coleman and more. Academy also offers tremendous everyday value and quality through its exclusive, private label brands such as Magellan Outdoors, Freely, R.O.W., BCG, H2O Xpress, Mosaic and O'Rageous which cover outdoor apparel and equipment, women's and men's apparel, workout attire, fishing equipment, outdoor furniture and water sports gear, respectively.

By partnering with University of Kentucky Athletics, Academy provides a fun destination where Wildcat fans can get licensed apparel, novelty items, and tailgating essentials. Additionally, customers can find a Nike top for an upcoming workout class, Under Armour gloves to catch the game winning touchdown, or a sleeve of Titleist Pro V1 balls for a round of 18 at their favorite golf course. The store also has everything need to create a backyard oasis with a wide selection of patio sets, barbecue grills, and outdoor games.

Academy also offers free services such as grill and bike assembly, scope mounting, bore sighting, line winding/spooling, and propane exchange. Customers can also purchase hunting and fishing licenses in the store.