Sports and adventure stores seeing pandemic boost as restrictions loosen
It has been a unusual year for businesses in parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, with both Snowmageddon and the COVID-19 pandemic causing extended closures. But for stores selling sports and outdoor equipment, the season is turning into a big success.
"People [have] had time on their hands and they turned to the outdoors once again," Jonathan Earle, co-owner of The Outfitters Adventure Gear and Apparel, told CBC Radio's On The Go last week.
Through the pandemic, Earle said demand for hiking equipment has increased, along with things like cycling gear and kayaks. He said the store saw similar boosts in February after the record snow from January stayed on the ground.
"[Snowmageddon] laid a great base of snow for us to balance our winter snow sports activity," he said. "The ski trails, the snowshoe trails, winter activity jumped into high gear, so we quickly started selling."
Earle said the store has seen a big increase in the number of new customers during the pandemic as more people try to find ways of getting outdoors.
"There's a lot of new names, a lot of new phone numbers, new faces to the business," he said.
"It was good to see. And certainly our regular customers, they continued to oblige."
Golf, tennis on the upswing
Bob O'Neill, owner of Play It Again Sports in St. John's, said the store has been steady since reopening in June. The store closed their doors temporarily in March, moving to curbside pickup.
"There's certainly the local traffic, people who have been dealing with us and supporting us in our business for the 28 years we've been open," he said.
"There's some new traffic, but there's also a lot of very familiar faces who once they come in the door, if you were allowed to, some of them you'd give them a hug."
O'Neill said equipment for softball, baseball and soccer has stayed in demand, as respective associations work toward returning to play this summer. However, sports like golf and tennis have seen a spike in interest as they were the first sports able to reopen during the pandemic.
"A lot of the customers, there's the interest in golf," O'Neill said.
"We do a lot of golf, both new [clubs] and used … There's been a lot of activity in what we call junior golf, plus right through to players who have been playing for 30 or 40 years. Golf and tennis, those which are more friendly to the present health situation. They were out of the gates early."
O'Neill said the interest for home gym and fitness equipment has stayed high during the pandemic, due to uncertainty around people wanting to return to public gyms.
"We put in a double order just before the pandemic, before we shut down. And everything was sold out," he said.
"From everything I'm reading, about 50 per cent of people are not going back to the gym. Those are the things we're hearing in the store as well.… A lot of what they're doing now is adding pieces to what they've purchased. They were working with a certain weight of a dumbbell, and now are actually moving up and looking for the next size."
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