April 7, 2006 (Toronto, ON) - Canada's first Trek concept store opens today in Toronto with special guest Greg LeMond on hand to meet with fans and sign autographs.
The new 4,800 square foot shop is located at 2063 Yonge Street and was previously known as Sports Swap, a sporting goods store that catered primarily to skiing and cycling enthusiasts, and was a favourite for local cyclists.
To mark the occasion, the Trek Bicycle Store held a reception last night in Toronto for cycling industry guests and media. LeMond attended the event and the three-time Tour de France winner took time to answer questions and sign posters, books, magazines and even a few LeMond bikes.
Store owner Barry Near and Canadian Sales Manager for Trek, Mike Hietpas hosted roughly 100 people at the new store where guests were entertained with video footage of LeMond’s eight-second Tour de France win in 1989, and munched on healthy canapés of carrots, asparagus, green beans and broccoli while enjoying a selection of Canadian beer and wine.
Owner of the new store, Near, who was also the owner of the previous Sports Swap, is excited about the new venture, “My partner Ralph and I both have a huge passion for cycling so this new venture with Trek was a great fit for us. We’ve been up and running for about 10 days now and, while we still have a few kinks to work out, customers so far have been really impressed.”
In addition to the Trek brand of cycling products, customers can also purchase Giro, LeMond, Bontrager, Gary Fisher and Nike brand products and the store also boasts five full-time mechanics, with combined experience of more than 80 years in the business, ready to service all brands of bikes.
LeMond started the LeMond Bicycle company in 1986 as a way to apply his wealth of cycling knowledge and his passion for innovation and new technology and Trek brought LeMond Bicycles into it’s family of brands in 1995.
“Our partnership with Trek has just been a great relationship. I still own my brand but Trek helps design and distribute LeMond bikes around the world,” said LeMond.
LeMond is involved in the early design phase of the bikes and the prototype testing. “For example, I’ve had a lot of involvement in the design of my new carbon fibre bike but it’s really a team project. We have industrial engineers and designers and bike riders combined putting together a wish list of what you’d want out of a bike. You need to think outside of the box sometimes and that’s how we do it.”
The new concept store features Trek road and mountain bike brands including LeMond and Gary Fisher. The Trek Madone SSL 6.9 which Ivan Basso of the Discovery Channel cycling team is currently riding was on display for guests to see.
Trek has been opening concept stores around the world for the last five years. So far, Trek stores have opened in Japan, China, the US and parts of Europe. Hietpas said that the thing that makes a concept store successful is finding the right retailer. “It’s a lot like a marriage. You have to make sure that you’re getting married to the right person. When Barry came to us it was perfect for us because he’s the right person. He brings a wealth of experience and passion to the table and that’s just what we’re looking for.”
Hietpas thinks the concept store model is the beginning of a big trend and that more may be coming to Canada. “I think a lot of people will be looking to this store to see how it works. I think Barry will be getting a lot of calls from other store owners across Canada asking questions about the experience.”
Concept stores are growing in popularity within the bike industry. In the last few years, Trek, Specialized and Giant have all opened concept stores across the United States and Europe. Last month, Louis Garneau opened their very first concept store in Montreal. Concept stores often provide bicycle manufacturers with an exclusive retail presence in a store, and can take some of the pressures of marketing off retailers who can then focus on selling products and servicing their customers.
Even though Trek’s concept store model does allow retailers to have a small percentage of their stock made up of bikes and products from other brands, Near has made the decision to sell exclusively bikes from the Trek family. “In terms of the bicycles, we felt that the Trek family of bicycles were more than enough to offer our customers.”
LeMond will be at today’s opening from 11:00am to 4:00pm.
For more information visit www.trektoronto.ca
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Photo: Jack Cracker
Greg LeMond holds court with a room full of fans.
Photo: Jack Cracker
Photo: Mark Lazarski
Greg LeMond signing posters for avid fans.
Photo: Mark Lazarski
Photo: pedalmag.com
Partygoers enjoy the evening festivities.
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
(l-r) Mike Hietpas (Trek's Canadian Sales Manager), John Hinnen (Mark's dad), Mark Hinnen (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 2006 Canadian Jr. and Abitibi Champion
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
Olivia Wallman (l) and Taylor Near enjoy the festivities...
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: Jack Cracker
Trek Bicycle Store owner Barry Near (l) and Greg LeMond at the opening welcome presentation.
Photo: Jack Cracker
Photo: pedalmag.com
(l) Mike Wahlroth and Adam Ruppel
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
Trek Bicycle Store staffers (l-r) Nick Puissant, Bryan Bellamy (Leaf fan), Andrew Perejmybida, Mikey Perejmybida
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
LeMond signing a fan's bike...
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: Jack Cracker
Husband and wife team: Joanne Taylor and Barry Near
Photo: Jack Cracker
Photo: Jack Cracker
(l-r) Drew Robertson, Eden Smith, Sean Ruppel, Erica Sprules...
Photo: Jack Cracker
Photo: pedalmag.com
Trek Store staffer Andy Willison and wife Sheryl.
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
(l-r) The goils (l-r): Dana Turnbull, Joanne Taylor, Julie Schwellenbach, Anne MacDonald
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: Jack Cracker
Claire Cook, daughter of Trek Australia's distributor, here as an exchange student.
Photo: Jack Cracker
Photo: pedalmag.com
(l) Mark Hinnen (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) and Greg LeMond
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: pedalmag.com
Trek Bicycle Store partner Ralph and Peggy Armstrong.
Photo: pedalmag.com
Photo: Jack Cracker
Greg LeMond with Pedal's video-interview team: (l) videographer Lucinda Wallace and Sara Best (interviewer).
Photo: Jack Cracker
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