Quebec’s largest sports store opens in Kirkland
$13-million Sportium outlet creates 100 jobs at 53,000-square-foot facility
We need to cover north, south, east and west, and the West Island was a natural marketplace for us.
Sportium opened its first store in Montreal last Wednesday, determined to make a big splash in the local sports retail market. Billed as Quebec’s largest sports store, the 53,000-square-foot building is located along Highway 40 in Kirkland, next to the Provigo grocery store just east of St. Charles Blvd. It is the fourth Sportium store, owned by SAIL Outdoors Inc., to open in Quebec in less than three years. The others are located in Laval, Quebec City and South Shore St-Hubert. Norman Décarie, SAIL’s president and chief executive officer, said there are plans to build more Sportium stores in the future. “The Kirkland store is part of an ambitious business plan that includes the opening of five to six new stores in Quebec and Ontario over the next three years,” Décarie said. The new Kirkland store, which is bigger than a football field, required an investment of $13 million and created more than a 100 jobs. The store has been busy since it opened and customers seem to like the big new sports store. “It’s got everything here,” said one customer. Why did Sportium decide to launch its Montreal beachhead in the West Island? “In a nutshell, we opened our first store in Quebec City and the South Shore (in St. Hubert) and then a third one opened in Laval. But we need to cover north, south, east and west, and the West Island was a natural marketplace for us,” Décarie said. “There is a high-density population and the disposable income is higher than anywhere else in Montreal. Therefore it was a natural market. And we felt there was a hole with the English community. So we figured opening in the West Island would be a good place for us and the market study was favourable.” He said Sportium is not so much a general sports store as one that aims to win over consumers by targeting specific categories. “When it comes to hockey, we’re definitely face to face (with competitors). Helmets, skates, sticks, protection equipment is the same. But when it comes to sports clothing and footwear, we’re one notch above. “There are categories we don’t sell,” he added. “For example, we don’t sell skis, snow boards or golf equipment. We made the decision not to go in all directions,” said Décarie. “But when we sell a category, we’re dominant and we’re almost a category killer. “We have 700 different pair of shoes on the wall.” Although the two-storey store caters to traditional sports like hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer and football equipment, it also carries racquet and fitness equipment. Décarie said performance apparel and footwear have become a big part of today’s sport retail business. “People dress up in Arc’teryx jacket to walk the dog these days. It’s a technical product but it became a kind of fashion statement.” Décarie said Sportium is aware of the changing retail landscape in terms of online sales and service. “We believe in brick and mortar, but we also believe in the web business.” SAIL Outdoors Inc. also operates 12 SAIL stores, including six in Quebec and six in Ontario.