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SportChek opens expanded location |
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Written by SCOTT STANFIELD
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
The new SportChek location in Pine Centre is open. (Citizen photo by Brent Braaten)
SportChek has relocated to the corner of Pine Centre Mall formerly occupied by Extra Foods, which gives the sporting goods store more space from which to operate.
The old store, which opened at the mall in 2002, occupied 20,000 square feet, while the new outlet has a total operating space of 30,000 square feet, making it the largest sporting goods store in Prince George.
SportChek kicked off its new life with a "soft opening" this week. The grand opening will be in June, which marks the store's sixth anniversary.
"We've had five consecutive years of incremental sales above the previous year," said general manager Chris Kohli, who notes the extra space is for clothing and foot wear. "The big difference between the old store and the new store is that it's low profile, everything is by brand. Most of it has specialty fixtures. So really, we've taken what we had and we've added 13,000 feet to both clothing and foot wear, and completely spread it out, lowered the profile, and made it easier to shop."
Calgary-based Forzani Group owns the SportChek chain. Kohli said the company owns 25 per cent of the market share of athletic apparel in Canada.
At its former location at Pine Centre, SportChek employed about 55 people during normal times and close to 80 during the Christmas season. Kohli is currently running with a 90-member staff and five managers.
The store is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.
"We're going to be really the only sporting goods place in town that's open that amount of time," said Kohli, who notes the store earned a couple thousand dollars in sales Monday, even though the public, for the most part, was not aware it was open.
"We have an outside exit, so we get to do our own thing, which is completely unique to our old situation," he added.
Pine Centre general manager Rick Nelson is keeping tightlipped about what might occupy SportChek's vacated space at the mall.
"What they have to do is dismantle their old space, and the contractor's not quite finished," Nelson said. "There will be announcements coming forth when we start building."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 May 2008 )
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