Jim Lampassi: 45 Years, 50 States, and a Career Built by Networking

Welcome to this episode of The Tori Nook Talk Show! In this episode, Tori sits down with Jim Lampassi, Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Construction at Academy Sports and Outdoors. Jim has spent over four decades in retail real estate, site selection, construction, and development, holding senior leadership roles at Ross Stores, Barnes & Noble, and Petco before joining Academy, where he oversees strategy behind real estate, construction, store design, and growth for one of the country's leading sporting goods and outdoor retailers.

Jim grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts and studied geography with a concentration in urban planning at Salem State University. After graduating in 1981 into a job market with no urban planning openings, he stayed on at the grocery store he'd worked through college. His break came when he met a stranger, an usher at a friend's wedding, who connected him to the market research department at Grossman's Lumber Company. That conversation launched a 45-year career, starting with mapping out entire markets by hand using census books before the internet existed.

They discuss climbing from analyst to head of location research at Marshall's, growing the chain from 150 to 550 stores over 11 years, bringing Marshalls to Puerto Rico, meeting his wife Lucy at a store managers' conference, jumping to Petco and then Barnes & Noble as its real estate department head, landing an unadvertised SVP role at Ross, and choosing Academy Sports for its growth runway, its refusal to hire based on age, and its all-American, always-game family mission. They also cover navigating tariffs and steel costs, and why networking has been the throughline of his career.

🎯 Topics covered:

• Growing up in Somerville and studying urban planning
• Landing his first real estate job through a wedding usher connection
• Mapping markets by hand with census books at Grossman's
• Rising from analyst to deal maker at Marshall's
• Growing Marshall's from 150 to 550 stores over 11 years
• Bringing Marshalls to Puerto Rico
• Meeting his wife Lucy at a Marshall's conference
• Leading real estate at Petco and then Barnes & Noble
• Landing an SVP role at Ross through networking
• Why he chose Academy Sports over staying at Ross
• Academy's growth runway and refusal to hire based on age
• Final advice: talk to as many people as possible