|
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,009
Campfire Regular
|
OP
Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,009 |
UFA Co-operative closing 12-store Wholesale Sports chain in Western Canada The Canadian Press The Canadian Press
September 14, 2017 5:13 PM EDT
Last Updated September 14, 2017 5:16 PM EDT Filed under
PMN Canada
Facebook Twitter Email More
CALGARY — The Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters chain of a dozen hunting, fishing and camping supply stores in Western Canada is shutting down after 30 years in business.
The operation owned by Calgary-based UFA Co-operative Ltd. closed stores on Thursday afternoon to tell the 545 staff their jobs were ending.
Most will be laid off but some may be hired at UFA’s farm stores.
There were 12 Wholesale Sports stores with 440,000 square feet of retail space across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The chain had revenue of $103 million in 2016, down nine per cent from $113 million in 2015.
The news comes at a time of consolidation for outdoors destination superstores with American giant Bass Pro Shops snapping up rival Cabela’s in a US$4.5-billion deal announced a year ago. Both U.S. companies operate stores in Canada.
UFA, which bought Wholesale Sports in 2008, sold its U.S. stores in 2013.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,325
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,325 |
That news makes me a little sad. it was the best of the Canadian big outdoor stores, and had a much better selection of goods for shooters than any alternative that I had access to.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,534 Likes: 3
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,534 Likes: 3 |
That news makes me a little sad. it was the best of the Canadian big outdoor stores, and had a much better selection of goods for shooters than any alternative that I had access to. Agreed. Sad news indeed.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,497
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,497 |
Not a good thing at all. It was my go to place for a lot of stuff, from fly tying to ammo. The Lethbridge store in particular carried a wide variety of shotshells no one else did. Tungsten Matrix for example at a decent price. Pretty damn hard to order ammo online! Interesting the way Cabelas and BPS are mentioned. No doubt they are a factor but there is a lot of product they don't carry that WSS did, stuff that many US companies won't ship directly to the Canadian consumer. This is going to hurt us significantly. I feel for the employees as well.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,752 Likes: 6
Campfire 'Bwana
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,752 Likes: 6 |
As an American living in Calgary when they opened this is not a surprise, unfortunately. I just never saw the market for such a "grand" store there.
Conduct is the best proof of character.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,534 Likes: 3
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,534 Likes: 3 |
Oh there's a market, but the organization was run horribly. I worked part time there for a year or so, and the management chain was a joke.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,497
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,497 |
There is definitely a market for WSS in Calgary and the other sites. I wish there had been one in the Medicine Hat area. Would have done very well here serving SE Alberta and SW Sask. We are served by a small LGS, has a great selection etc. but we could still have used a WSS to pickup the fishing, camping market plus add to the firearm options.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 11,953
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 11,953 |
Here in the Maritimes, almost all of what we buy gun related is mail order. I hope that Cabelas doesn't drop its free shipping on $99 orders given the drop in competition.
Russell Sports was the best of the bunch for mail order gun related items, esp for selection.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,203
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,203 |
Here in the Maritimes, almost all of what we buy gun related is mail order. I hope that Cabelas doesn't drop its free shipping on $99 orders given the drop in competition.
Russell Sports was the best of the bunch for mail order gun related items, esp for selection. Russell's was bought out by Wholesale. Wholesale could still be a success if it focussed on filling the niche that Basspro and Cabelas can't. Be a very good large hunting/reloading store. Never thought they were well run when the family ran them. Hoped UFA ownership would be better. No such luck. May have been worse!
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 12,142
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 12,142 |
AB2506: Good morning to you and the rest of my Canuck friends on the 'Fire.
As was said by another gentleman on another forum I'm on, I'll be sad to see them go and it's a bit of a negative commentary on the state of firearm sales in Canada.
We lost Grouse River in Kelowna this summer and now with Wholesale closing it'll be interesting to see if the smaller shops can fill the gap. I tried to support the smaller ones as much as possible, but have to admit it was mighty handy to have a place where they stocked reloading odds and ends, etc.
Nothing is constant except change is once again proving to be a truism.
All the best to you all in your hunts this fall.
Dwayne
The most important stuff in life isn't "stuff"
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,630
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,630 |
I found wholesale in the small towns were better than the Calgary store. Not surprised but disappointed to see them go. Experiences with Wholesale over the last 7 or so years had me shopping online / out of town over the phone more and more.
Poor service was the main reason they saw very little of my business,for example being told product was not in stock pointing out to the counter staff that there website had X number of the item available by mail order and Calgary is the mail order centre, 10 minutes later "oh here they are". Calling to find out if a .17hmr CZ was in stock being on hold for over 45 minutes, talked to the front desk 3 or 4 times and never spoke with gun counter or anyone who could tell me if the gun was in stock. Five minutes on the phone with Prophet River and the same rifle with scope are ordered and on the way.
Sad to hear about Grouse River though.
A real gap is left in the firearms marketplace it will be interesting to see who fills it. Customer service is key in this market.
All the best.
GRF
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 204
Campfire Member
|
Campfire Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 204 |
Winnipeg store is/was a complete waste of time. Empty shelves, never any new stock, extremely poor staff (firearms dept), pricing not great, etc. Always used to ask myself "why do I keep coming here?" after a visit. Then about 2 years ago I just didn't even bother anymore.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 7,186 Likes: 4
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 7,186 Likes: 4 |
The sporting goods infrastructure in Canada began falling apart in the early 1980's and this is kind of the culmination of the demise of old line western Canadian hunting stores. Things have changed drastically in the last 40 years and this is just another phase. I find it interesting how Bass Pro and Cabellas try to give their stores some of the flavour of a 1960's sporting goods store but it's just make believe. Kind of like the Cracker Barrel franchise which is an ersatz country store and restaurant. The demise of WS is a bit sad but not that surprising. GD
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,612
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 3,612 |
I used to order a lot from them but over time I shopped elsewhere. These days if I mail order it is usually form X-Reload, Tradeex or Prophet River. When I'm in Calgary we will check out Bass Pro, in Winnipeg we will shop at Cabelas. Losing Russell's as mentioned earlier was bad, it seemed to be a great place to mail order from.
Gerry.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,752 Likes: 6
Campfire 'Bwana
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,752 Likes: 6 |
Oh there's a market, but the organization was run horribly. I worked part time there for a year or so, and the management chain was a joke. I just never saw many folks shopping there whenever I dropped by.
Conduct is the best proof of character.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 6,796
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 6,796 |
Wholesale sports is the one who bought a bunch of sportsman warehouse stores....they were run horribly an the buesness dropped off after the take over....when sportsmanship took them back the customers came back....
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 152
Campfire Member
|
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 152 |
Too bad - I found WSS had a much better selection of handloading and shooting supplies than either Cabela's or Bass Pro, although the latter two seem to offer more for clothing, albeit much of it of low quality. I found that the worst thing about WSS was the customer service, but then I already knew exactly what I was looking for before I even set foot in the store.
I took advantage of the sale yesterday and completely outfitted the kid, as well as a few things for myself - saved approx. $300 in the process, but feel bad about those that will be loosing their jobs.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 320
Campfire Member
|
Campfire Member
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 320 |
not surprised this is happening, blame it on the marketers whole lack the know how to get people in there and see what its all about.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8,264 Likes: 3
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 8,264 Likes: 3 |
I found them to be more expensive than some smaller guys, not very well run from a customer standpoint. It wont bother me at all them closing their big box stores, good for the little guys and Canadian tire will fill any gaps.
Last edited by 673; 09/19/17.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,284 Likes: 27
Campfire Oracle
|
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,284 Likes: 27 |
Oh there's a market, but the organization was run horribly. I worked part time there for a year or so, and the management chain was a joke. I just never saw many folks shopping there whenever I dropped by. Cabela's in Anchorage has been a ghost town when I've been there. Don't know how a box store can keep doors open sometimes.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
|
|
|
|
137 members (300_savage, 10gaugemag, 257_X_50, 29aholic, 1beaver_shooter, 1minute, 17 invisible),
1,576
guests, and
884
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,192,863
Posts18,497,203
Members73,979
|
Most Online11,491 Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|