Local mall home to Sport Chek’s first women’s-only store
FGL Sports plans to expand new concept across the country if it proves successful
National sportswear and sporting goods chain Sport Chek is opening a first-of-its kind concept store in Calgary’s Chinook Centre it hopes will boost the brand’s appeal among female fitness enthusiasts.
Sport Chek Women, opening Thursday, is a 16,000-square-foot store designed by an all-female team of Sport Chek staff. It caters specifically to female shoppers, offering a different look and feel from traditional Sport Chek stores as well as a number of unique brands and services.
Currently, 60 per cent of Sport Chek customers are men. The new store is the chain’s attempt to do a better job at speaking to female athletes and fitness enthusiasts, said Kara Anastasiadis, associate vice-president of merchandise strategy for FGL Sports Ltd., the national sporting goods retailer that owns the Sport Chek brand.
“We thought there was a ton of opportunity to do it better,” Anastasiadis said. “We have everything in our stores already, we just haven’t been able to give her a one-stop, comfortable, personalized shopping experience.”
The new store offers a different look and feel from traditional Sport Chek stores, sorting merchandise by activity (running, swimming, yoga, etc.) instead of by brand. It offers special features such as digital sports bra selectors that generate personalized selections for customers, as well as a gait analysis area where customers can have their footbed analyzed for the perfect running shoe. Mannequins in the store reflect a variety of body types, to make women of all shapes and sizes feel comfortable.
The store features a large area dedicated to team sports, where female athletes can buy cleated shoes, jerseys, and essentials such as soccer balls and basketballs.
“We don’t do a great job right now of talking to women in traditional sports, like basketball, soccer and volleyball,” Anastasiadis said. “So we wanted to make sure this was a really great section of our store.”
Sport Chek and FGL Sports have been owned by Canadian Tire since 2011, when the retail giant acquired Calgary-based Forzani Group Ltd. But Anastasiadis said the chain’s Calgary roots are part of the reason the company decided to launch its women’s concept — which may be expanded to other cities if it proves popular — here.
“FGL and Sport Chek were born in Calgary, so when the opportunity came to increase the real estate in the Calgary market, we thought it would be great,” she said. “We know that Chinook has a higher proportion of women shoppers, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to talk to our female consumer a bit more.”