Inside Sport Chek's High-Tech
Burnaby Flagship
It's pure paradise for jocks and geeks alike. Sport Chek's revamped 48k SF location at Metropolis at Metrotown brings digital tech to the fore via 190 screens, 60 tablets and 100 computers. Eric Watt tells us how the retailer is reinventing the in-store shopping experience for the online era.
Digital features at the Metrotown store—which debuted earlier this month— include a two-storey, 23-foot LED monolith made up of 660 individual panels; a custom-built Vancouver Canucks broadcast studio for team interviews and in-store appearances (seen above); eight digital showcase boxes with dual screens to promote products; and gesture-enabled video walls. Store staff—Sport Chek hires only athletes, Eric notes—use digital technology to provide personalized service to shoppers. ”We want to have a more interactive relationship with our customers,” he says, “and move away from having a transactional relationship.”
 The Metrotown store design is based on Sport Chek's Toronto Yonge Street "flagship lab”—where Eric says they experimented with the new format and “ironed out kinks”—as well as the flagship location it opened at West Edmonton Mall in February, one of the most digitally enhanced retail environments in North America, the retailer says. Sport Chek plans to open three new locations in Toronto in 2015, and Eric says "we think we can open three more in the Greater Vancouver Area over the next five years.”  The enhanced in-store digital experience is meant to complement what Sport Chek is doing online. “To win online, you have to win in-store,” explains Eric. If the store experience is a good one, he reasons, then when customers are sitting at home thinking about buying specialized performance equipment, "they'll probably think about Sport Chek." These new digitally decked-out locations cost more to operate and require extra power, Eric acknowledges, but the ROI makes up for it. The redesigned West Edmonton Mall flagship is exceeding targets, he points out, with sales up 50% year over year. |
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US Doggie Daycare Chain Comes to Coquitlam
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Well woof-ty do. Doggie daycare Dogtopia has opened its inaugural Canadian franchise in Coquitlam, the first of what Western Canada manager Chris Aconley tells us will ultimately be 40 locations nationwide for the Maryland-based operation. “We are developing the west and east at the same time,” says Chris, a dog lover snapped at the grand opening with wife Renae and daughters Cloey and Jorgia. Dogtopia's plans are to start with the major centres where the zoning works, then move into the harder areas, he says. |
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A happy customer and its owner on opening day, which included pet massages. Why the expansion north? Because the pet industry is huge in Canada and growing every year, Chris explains, plus there's a need to bring higher standards to the dog daycare biz. Why Coquitlam, of all possible locations? Chris, an area local, says Dogtopia's building enjoys great exposure in the centre of the Lower Mainland. “It gives us the ability to be part of a community in the Tri Cities but also be on route for commuters.” |
Eastward Ho for Hungerford
Vancouver's Hungerford Properties' continues its Calgary expansion campaign, with the firm last week launching Fairmore, its third commercial condo project in Cowtown in two years. The 165k SF development—a commercial business park with warehouse and office space located off Macleod Trail in Calgary's Fairview neigbourhood—will include four buildings on a seven-acre site, with 24-foot clear warehouse ceiling heights. Hungerford partner Michael Hungerford notes commercial-condo ownership enables companies to invest in their own spaces, build equity and have more control over expansion.
 In addition to Fairmore, Hungerford is developing the Nexus and Northwing business parks, two of Calgary's top-selling commercial condo projects in recent years, the company says. The area where Fairmore is being built has among the lowest vacancy in the city, according to a Colliers analysis. So Hungerford's introduction of new product—the only new office and warehouse space in south central Calgary—is a “smart investment," Colliers says. The development includes two office buildings with 24 units, a 12-unit warehouse and mixed-use building with retail space. Construction is slated for next summer.
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