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In this edition of local business news, Dick's Sporting Goods expands its role in film-making. Also, local construction supplier Silvi Materials is growing its market with an acquisition. New Balance will open a Pottstown store. And Pep Boys earns a Forbes magazine honor.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches Film Studio
PITTSBURGH PA - Dick’s Sporting Goods, with subsidiaries that sell a wide variety of sports equipment, apparel, and experiences, is growing its business again. This month it launched an in-house filmed content and production company named “Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios.”
Locally, Dick’s operates retail stores in Pottstown, Collegeville, King of Prussia, and Reading. It also owns and operates Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, and Going Going Gone! stores in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Dick’s has been a sports story film-maker for more than a decade. Its foundation created its first production, a feature documentary titled “We Could Be King,” in 2014. The film won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Documentary. The company says the studio's work “will spotlight the grit, triumphs, and heartbreak behind every athlete's journey.”
The studio name references the company’s origins. Founder Dick Stack, at age 18 during 1948, borrowed $300 that his grandmother kept in a cookie jar to open a small bait-and-tackle shop in Binghamton NY.
Top photo from Getty Images on Unsplash+, used by Travels With The Post under license
Local Materials Supplier Silvi Expanding
FAIRLESS HILLS PA - Silvi Materials, which sells construction materials from local operations in Pennsylvania - as well as in New Jersey and Ohio - has expanded its market with an acquisition.
It announced it bought the assets and operations of a ready-mix concrete producer based in North Carolina.
Silvia is a third-generation, family-owned business founded in 1947. It now employs more than 700 people, including those at Silvi Stone of New Hanover, in Perkiomenville PA; and Silvi Concrete of Limerick, in Pottstown.
New Balance Store Opening at Outlets
POTTSTOWN PA - New Balance, a footwear and apparel retailer, will soon open at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets in Pottstown, according to the outlets’ Wednesday (Aug. 27, 2025) newsletter.
The New Balance website reports it currently operates at more than 70 factory store locations. It offers "a comprehensive selection” of sport-related items, accompanied by “one-on-one service,” the company adds.
Its store, the outlets’ say, will be located across from Polo Ralph Lauren, and between the existing Columbia and Skechers stores. Its entrance will be closest to Columbia and Rally House, on the west side of the complex, the newsletter states.
Pep Boys on Forbes Best-In-State Employer List
PHILADELPHIA PA - Pep Boys, an automotive service provider with locations locally and across the U.S., reports it has been named to the Forbes magazine list of America's Best-In-State Employers 2025.
The company operates in Pottstown, Phoenixville, Collegeville, Trooper, King of Prussia, Exton and Reading. In Pennsylvania it ranked No. 83 of 100 on the Forbes list. The annual list is intended to recognize companies of at least 500 employees for their employee satisfaction and workplace culture.
Pep Boys was founded in Philadelphia in 1921.