TAKING A HIT

NHL lockout hurting local business.

Kelvin Roemer can only play the cards he’s dealt during the NHL lockout, even if it’s a losing hand.

The owner/operator of Kard Sharks, a sports collectibles shop in Regina, has witnessed a sharp decline in business during the NHL’s hiatus — yet another example of the often-overlooked but far-reaching impact of the lockout.

“I need a miracle in the next week and change,” Roemer said from his store at the Golden Mile Shopping Centre. “In the month of November I was down 35 per cent from last year. This will probably be my worst Christmas in 13 years.”

This isn’t the first time an NHL lockout has impacted Roemer’s business. He has managed to survive to this point, but others haven’t been so lucky.

“I’ve been through the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “Right now we’re getting people buying Christmas presents. That’s a gimme but where it really tightens up is January, February and in the spring. That’s where you’re going to see casualties. I know during the last strike (in 2004-05) there were probably about 15 or 20 sports shops that I know (went belly up). “It hurts the little guys.” Guys like George Yannitsos, owner of the 4Seasons sports bar in Regina.

“It’s absolutely horrible,” he said. “The CFL (season) is over. We still have NFL on Thursdays, Sundays and Monday nights but that’s coming to an end soon. We have the NBA ... but there’s nothing that can duplicate (the NHL).

“A Canadian sports bar without NHL hockey is hard to fill in the wintertime.”

Normally, Yannitsos would have the world junior hockey championship to help fill the void over the holidays. However, that won’t be the case this year because the event is being staged in Russia, meaning live TV broadcasts won’t be aired during business hours.

“It’s a double whammy,” Yannitsos lamented, adding that he has a hard time wrapping his head around the concept of millionaire players squabbling over money with billionaire owners.

“They’re talking about being treated as cattle or ‘we’re not respected.’ They have a warped sense of reality if you’re talking about the fact you’re insulted because you’re going to make 4.5 instead of five million. It blows my mind.

“I stay open every day of the year. When we’re doing renovations, I try not to close. I couldn’t fathom shutting down my business because of a labour disruption. I’d go out of business. I don’t understand how they’ve spent so much money for these franchises yet they’re saying it’s more advantageous (to close the doors). Common sense has been thrown out the window.”

The lack of NHL hockey is also having an adverse impact on retailers like Jersey City in Northgate Mall, which has seen a huge drop in demand for NHL merchandise — the store’s bread and butter outside of Saskatchewan Roughriders apparel.

“Usually we bring in tons of (NHL) stuff,” said manager Dan Riess. “All those orders are on hold because there’s a significant lack of enthusiasm. The people who are wanting stuff, they’re maybe having a little bit harder time finding it. We’re missing some opportunities and some fans might not get what they want for Christmas but arguably every (NHL) fan isn’t getting what they want for Christmas.”

And they’re not shy about expressing it, either.

“It’s common,” Riess said with a laugh. “We’ve been running an NHL buy-one-get-one-half-price sale pretty well all month. We throw it out to every customer. Some show interest. The other half just sort of laugh and they grumble about (the lockout).”

To make matters worse, the players and owners are generally perceived to be unapologetic.

“We certainly haven’t seen anything in the media even once that anybody has mentioned, ‘Hey, sorry for screwing over the Zamboni guy,’ ” noted Riess. “From what I’ve seen I’d say it doesn’t seem like they care too much.”

It remains to be seen to what extend fans come flooding back when the lockout ends or if there will be lingering bitterness. Speaking for himself, Yannitsos admits he can’t afford to hold a grudge.

“I’ve heard a lot of peoples’ frustration and they’ll say they’re going to boycott it,” he added. “We’re not going to be like, ‘We’re not going to show it, we’ll show you guys.’ We’ll welcome it back.

“We just want this resolved.”