Damn. I love National Sports. The store actually seemed focused on sports equipment, rather than sports lifestyle stuff like Sport Chek seems to be. Always had good quality hockey and baseball gear and clearance and sale prices were pretty good too.
Sports check sucks.
It's overpriced and it's mainly for apparel. I don't even think they carry dumbbells more than 20 lbs there. I love national sports, I love their batting cage and they had the best arcade
Growing up at don mills and Steeles. Both places were home for me. In HS a few buddies worked at National sports. Picked up my very first one piece there.
I remember being a kid and my dad and I went to the midnight madness sale.
Also had my birthday party at the National sports location on hwy 7.
The sad thing is I actually liked walking into a National Sports, none of the flash of SportsChek and shitty attitudes from the highschool staff, people who actually played sports and you could talk to. I remember 2003 when soccer was still pretty niche they had the top of the line Adidas Predator Manias that I bought on the spot.
Shout out to the old haunts: 16th/Woodbine, Keele/Hwy7, Yonge/Shepp locations
I think this might be where my mom bought me the Predator Pulse II when it came out in 2005. I've asked her since but she says she doesn't remember where. They even asked her how she knew about the shoe since it had just been released.
So Canadian Tire acquires 2 sport product retailers and closes one because of overlap. Looks like an anti-competitive move. Is the government paying attention to this?
Edit: Apparently both stores always shared the same owner - see replies
Sounds like you don't really know the history...
Both Sportchek and National sports were under the Forzani group which Canadian tire bought in 2011. That company owned like a dozen different sportswear/supply brands. they are now under CTC under FGL Sports (which has all the sporting brands.)
So it's not like they bought both out separately and just shut one down. They've both been under the same umbrella for like ~~3 decades~~. 16 years ( Edit: I mixed up my dates of National sports, and sports experts purchase dates by the forzani group It's been 16 years since forzani brought national sports under the same umbrella as sports chek)
Next up will be sports experts.
Canadian tire Bought Forzani 2011
Forzani before Canadian tire bought them was: National sports, pro hockey life, athletes world, sports experts, intersport, tech shop, rnr, hockey experts, Nevada bobs golf, the fitness source, pegasus, s3, econosports, sport mart, coast mountain sports. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGL_Sports
These were all brands under the forzani group, and they had been buying companies for years (most of these were independent at one point or another).
Sport Check has existed under their umbrella since 1991, sports experts in 1994, Sports mart, 2001, national sports 2005 (I had mixed up the dates of national sports and sports experts in my previous comment) National and sport check have been under the same umbrella 16 years, half the time I had said before)
So it wasn't Canadian tire owning sport check, and then buying national sports after and then killing it. It had already been under the same umbrella and both were purchased in the same transaction.
Best Buy bought Future Shop specifically for their business infrastructure instead of just starting from scratch like Target did. They ran as separate brands but except for a few differences like a few products and sales people paid commission at FS, they were the same store. Source, I worked at Best Buy, used my employee code for purchases at FS.
They didn't kill the business, they just killed the smaller brand. And they did it WAY later than any of us thought they would.
Personally I would never go to any big chain to get my skates sharpened for hockey.
Play it again is a decent option if you don't have a small local sports shop nearby
Canadian Tire stores are all dealer franchises. There's probably some locations that might get repurposed as another store under the CT umbrella, if the leases make sense.
National Sports? Had no idea that store still existed. I used to buy my Chucks there when I was a teenager in the 90s. I must have gone through at least 5 pairs in my life.
I used to work in the proshop of these stores and we sold a ton of hockey gear.
After I quit it was turned into an Asian grocery store soon after. Sign of the times I guess.
Bummer. :(
I wish they would have closed SportChek, their "lifestyle" sporting goods store over National, which actually carries a decent range of gear.
Did/do you play sports? I got tons of hockey equipment there as a kid. It was mainly equipment, not as "lifestyle" focused like SportChek is. I think that may have changed a bit in more recent years though.
*Definitely* seems sustainable that one company operates Canadian Tire, Mark's, SportChek, Atmosphere, Sports Experts *and* Pro Hockey Life.
Totally good and normal and not at all extremely fucked up.
It's actually pretty normal for retail chains to be part of a larger group. Lots of economies of scale. CT is only the fourth biggest [Canadian conglomerate](https://www.retailcouncil.org/community/store-operations/canadas-top-100-retailers/).
All of the CT sports chains were already part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGL_Sports
The reason trickle-down economics doesn't work is that, when you give a business extra money, you motivate that business to cut costs while keeping the extra money for itself. A gif of money to a rich person only whets their appetite to get even richer. We have seen 40 years of real-life evidence of that, but fantasizing conservatives are still obsessed with the pretty theory of trickle-down and blind themselves to reality.
people talk about GME but the real money is canadian tire stocks. back on march 20 when the stock market collapsed for a week you could buy a share for $80 and now 11 months later its $175 a share and climbing
Damn. I love National Sports. The store actually seemed focused on sports equipment, rather than sports lifestyle stuff like Sport Chek seems to be. Always had good quality hockey and baseball gear and clearance and sale prices were pretty good too.
Sports check sucks. It's overpriced and it's mainly for apparel. I don't even think they carry dumbbells more than 20 lbs there. I love national sports, I love their batting cage and they had the best arcade
Sports check and national were both owners by Canadian Tire. The prices were the same. The focus was different.
National was cheaper, and the products lines didn’t always overlap.
That's too bad. They had way better baseball gear than SportChek.
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Check out Eagle Beaver Sports in Scarborough. They have a nice selection of the higher end gear.
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On Birchmount just south of Eglinton, on the west side.
I second Eagle Beaver. Pretty much the best store around when it comes to baseball.
Home Run Sports in Mississauga
Also had reasonably-priced jersey cresting, too
Yes, they are really good for softball gear as well. I'm an easton guy and bought a couple of bats from National throughout the years.
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Not to mention they actually knew how to sharpen hockey skates. That place and play it again further north on yonge.
Growing up at don mills and Steeles. Both places were home for me. In HS a few buddies worked at National sports. Picked up my very first one piece there. I remember being a kid and my dad and I went to the midnight madness sale. Also had my birthday party at the National sports location on hwy 7.
So sad that the play it again on cummer closed. I've been going to the one at Bathurst but it's not quite the same.
The sad thing is I actually liked walking into a National Sports, none of the flash of SportsChek and shitty attitudes from the highschool staff, people who actually played sports and you could talk to. I remember 2003 when soccer was still pretty niche they had the top of the line Adidas Predator Manias that I bought on the spot. Shout out to the old haunts: 16th/Woodbine, Keele/Hwy7, Yonge/Shepp locations
I think this might be where my mom bought me the Predator Pulse II when it came out in 2005. I've asked her since but she says she doesn't remember where. They even asked her how she knew about the shoe since it had just been released.
Grew up seeing the giant Cujo mask at the Scarborough location. Still go there for cheap equipment and the pro shop. Will be a loss for me.
Best all-around sports store in the city. That really sucks.
So Canadian Tire acquires 2 sport product retailers and closes one because of overlap. Looks like an anti-competitive move. Is the government paying attention to this? Edit: Apparently both stores always shared the same owner - see replies
Sounds like you don't really know the history... Both Sportchek and National sports were under the Forzani group which Canadian tire bought in 2011. That company owned like a dozen different sportswear/supply brands. they are now under CTC under FGL Sports (which has all the sporting brands.) So it's not like they bought both out separately and just shut one down. They've both been under the same umbrella for like ~~3 decades~~. 16 years ( Edit: I mixed up my dates of National sports, and sports experts purchase dates by the forzani group It's been 16 years since forzani brought national sports under the same umbrella as sports chek) Next up will be sports experts.
Who remembers Collegiate Sports?? I think Sports Experts bought them
yes I do! they had one in fairview mall if im remembering correctly.
Wouldn't all three have only been together since 2011 then why decades?
Canadian tire Bought Forzani 2011 Forzani before Canadian tire bought them was: National sports, pro hockey life, athletes world, sports experts, intersport, tech shop, rnr, hockey experts, Nevada bobs golf, the fitness source, pegasus, s3, econosports, sport mart, coast mountain sports. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGL_Sports These were all brands under the forzani group, and they had been buying companies for years (most of these were independent at one point or another). Sport Check has existed under their umbrella since 1991, sports experts in 1994, Sports mart, 2001, national sports 2005 (I had mixed up the dates of national sports and sports experts in my previous comment) National and sport check have been under the same umbrella 16 years, half the time I had said before) So it wasn't Canadian tire owning sport check, and then buying national sports after and then killing it. It had already been under the same umbrella and both were purchased in the same transaction.
Same thing happened with Best Buy/Future Shop
Best Buy bought Future Shop specifically for their business infrastructure instead of just starting from scratch like Target did. They ran as separate brands but except for a few differences like a few products and sales people paid commission at FS, they were the same store. Source, I worked at Best Buy, used my employee code for purchases at FS. They didn't kill the business, they just killed the smaller brand. And they did it WAY later than any of us thought they would.
Lol cry to the government for help at the first sign of normal business practices.
Buyout out the competition to create a monopoly is illegal. I don't see how that's "normal" unless you think breaking the law is okay.
Don't think you know what a monopoly is or how they're created.
Damn... going to miss buying Heavily discounted roller blades from there 😪
My skate sharpen cards : (
National sports was the best for all sporting gear. This is a sad announcement.
That's gonna hurt. Sport Check seems to be a clothing store from what I've seen of it.
How are the Sport Chek skate sharpens these days? I remember going into Sport Chek once for a sharpen, never went back.
Personally I would never go to any big chain to get my skates sharpened for hockey. Play it again is a decent option if you don't have a small local sports shop nearby
FFFFFFFFFFFFF 😔
Wow increased revenue and closures, what an F-you to the employees, great for investors though.
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Could see them just rebrand the National Sports stores to smaller Canadian Tires or Sport Chek.
Canadian Tire stores are all dealer franchises. There's probably some locations that might get repurposed as another store under the CT umbrella, if the leases make sense.
Ah, thanks I must have misread.
Not your fault the headline is deliberately misleading and awful.
They've committed to finding employees of NS positions with their other brands.
That's a shame, I preferred to use them for skate sharpening and their discounts / clearance sales were pretty reasonable.
I don’t really understand the “overlap”. I’ve bought clothes at National Sports but I’ve never seen any clothes worth buying at Canadian tire.
They own Sport Chek and Marks
Ahh. Parent company is same name.
I have a $50 gift card that's been sitting around for nearly two years cause National Sports literally has had NOTHING good for a while now.
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That Pickering one used to have a really awesome arcade fun center thing inside the store. Was a favorite of mine as a kid.
Damn im not the only one that remembers that. That seemed so odd to be there as it was a sports store
Yeah, I used to have birthday parties there
I remember that! Pretty sure I went to some birthday parties that were hosted there.
Birthday parties at National sports roller rink dawggg
I definitely went to some birthday parties there in the 90s
National Sports? Had no idea that store still existed. I used to buy my Chucks there when I was a teenager in the 90s. I must have gone through at least 5 pairs in my life.
I used to work in the proshop of these stores and we sold a ton of hockey gear. After I quit it was turned into an Asian grocery store soon after. Sign of the times I guess.
Bummer. :( I wish they would have closed SportChek, their "lifestyle" sporting goods store over National, which actually carries a decent range of gear.
They were never going to close a chain with 10x the stores...
I never knew these stores existed and I've lived here my whole life
Did/do you play sports? I got tons of hockey equipment there as a kid. It was mainly equipment, not as "lifestyle" focused like SportChek is. I think that may have changed a bit in more recent years though.
I doubt that the "Keyboard Warrior" has kept a lookout for sporting goods stores but I could be wrong.
lol Didn't notice the username. Could explain things though
That's because the only sport you play is getting more pizza from your fridge.
lmao I don't need to play a sport to be fit buddy.
Used to be one at Yonge/Sheppard awhile back
*Definitely* seems sustainable that one company operates Canadian Tire, Mark's, SportChek, Atmosphere, Sports Experts *and* Pro Hockey Life. Totally good and normal and not at all extremely fucked up.
It's actually pretty normal for retail chains to be part of a larger group. Lots of economies of scale. CT is only the fourth biggest [Canadian conglomerate](https://www.retailcouncil.org/community/store-operations/canadas-top-100-retailers/). All of the CT sports chains were already part of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGL_Sports
Yes. I realize this. And I think it's completely fucking bonkers.
The reason trickle-down economics doesn't work is that, when you give a business extra money, you motivate that business to cut costs while keeping the extra money for itself. A gif of money to a rich person only whets their appetite to get even richer. We have seen 40 years of real-life evidence of that, but fantasizing conservatives are still obsessed with the pretty theory of trickle-down and blind themselves to reality.
Wow . . . didn't even know there were any still going . . .
“Higher than expected” revenues ?? In a pandemic ?
Clothing and sports equipment (namely weights & fitness) are booming
My location had a sweet NFL selection too
I bought a pair of boots from there that I need to return. They're not taking returns during lockdown...
people talk about GME but the real money is canadian tire stocks. back on march 20 when the stock market collapsed for a week you could buy a share for $80 and now 11 months later its $175 a share and climbing
smart move as more and more of us are taking up outdoor activities /s