Retail Sector - Sports Equipment & Accessories
	Environmental Solutions ; Call Centre ; Retail Sector

Kirkland Lake is an active community. It doesn’t matter what the season or what the age, local people take their sports seriously. In the winter, skiing skating, curling, hockey snow-mobiling and ice fishing predominate. Summer finds people enjoying a quiet paddle on an isolated lake, camping and ATV’ing, at the local ball diamond cheering on their kids, or at the Complex sweating through a round of ball hockey.

What KL’ers lack is a local place to buy the equipment, clothing and accessories to support their sporting lives. Currently enthusiasts rely on the local department stores to satisfy their needs, or they travel an hour and half to major shopping centres and try their luck there. When you consider the number of people actively engaged in organized sports in KL, the number of facilities per capita, and the number of sports related events (tournaments etc.) that take place here regularly, it’s clear that there is a real market opportunity being missed.

How real is the opportunity? Consider some quick facts:

• There are four fitness facilities serving a local population of over 8,000 people. The private facilities offer weights, aerobic conditioning, etc. The public facility has a full size pool, fitness and weight rooms, and arena. It offers free and organized classes relating to fitness, weight training, squash, martial arts, skating, hockey, ringette, etc. Outside facilities include tennis courts, soccer fields and ball diamonds.

• Organized leagues exist for every variety and age level for baseball, ice hockey, ball hockey, soccer, etc. These include peewee, midget, adult, seniors, men’s and women’s teams.

• Weekend challenges and tournaments involving local and out of town clubs are a regular event in every team sport and at every age level. During these events, which usually run two days, the local hotels are sold out, giving you an idea of the number of visitors attracted and potential out of town buyers.

• KL is a "growing" market. People aged 20 and under constitute 25% of the population. The largest segment of the youth market is aged 5-14, accounting for 13% of the total population. This segment is bound to grow as the town’s economic future continues to improve. For example, the town’s largest private sector employer (Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.) is seeking two hundred new employees. According to Statistics Canada, the miners they are likely to attract are most likely in their early middle ages, married and with children aged 5–12 years old.

• The adult market is booming. People between the ages of 25 and 54 constitute 40% of the population. They are motivated by a desire to share in activities with their kids. They are well educated (the majority have a college or university education) and so understand the health benefits of staying fit and active.

• People are willing and able to spend on sports accessories. Average earnings for individuals working full year, full time are over $40,000, while the median household income is over $46,000.

• The local market is bigger than it seems. Over 15,000 people live with 45 minutes drive of the downtown, and consider KL to be their primary shopping centre. And you can bet that they are every bit as active as the people in KL!

If you’re interested in learning more about this retail opportunity, contact the Economic Development Division at 1 800 249 8933 or Wilfred Hass