ProHockeyLife: Profile
Country: Canada
Website:
www.prohockeylife.com
More info:
A Quebec entrepreneurial success story having pioneered the hockey megastore concept, Pro Hockey Life’s roots date back 35 years and it currently operates twenty locations in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Having experienced phenomenal growth, the Company focuses on providing products and services to hockey players of all abilities, from novice to the elite player.
Pro Hockey Life’s strategy is to offer Canada’s greatest selection of hockey equipment, apparel and accessories at competitive prices. Pro Hockey Life specialists are passionate about hockey and their knowledge is deep, assuring unparalleled service to their customers. Pro Hockey Life is the ultimate hockey destination for players and fans to find what they need in an entertaining and exciting shopping experience.
Founded in 1973 under the banner Sports Gilbert Rousseau, the first sporting goods store opened in Montreal. In 1998, Sports Gilbert Rousseau decided to focus on one sport: hockey. From 1975 to 1998 Sports Gilbert Rousseau’s progressive expansion led to 5 store openings including the first hockey centric megastore in Laval, Québec.
With ice hockey, roller hockey and street hockey products, the Laval megastore became the largest hockey centric retail outlet in the world at a staggering 25,000 square feet. The concept was extremely innovative at the time: a hockey megastore with specialised departments. One section for goalies, one for sticks, one for skates, licensed products and fan paraphernalia of all kinds, and one section devoted to the Pro Shop.
In 2001, Sports Gilbert Rousseau opened a second megastore in St-Hubert, on the south shore of Montreal. This megastore broke yet again new ground with the installation of giant TV screens throughout the megastore. In 2005 Sports Gilbert Rousseau went even further by developing its own TV channel – Rousseau TV – completely dedicated to hockey.
In 2007, Sports Gilbert Rousseau teamed up with a group of private equity investors led by Champlain Financial Corporation, setting the stage for the creation of a nationwide hockey specialty retail chain to operate under the banners of "Pro Hockey Life" across Canada and "Sports Gilbert Rousseau" within Quebec. Building on Sports Gilbert Rousseau's success in Montreal, the company, now called Pro Hockey Life Sporting Goods Inc., launched its Canadian expansion with its Vaughan Mills megastore in 2007.
In May 2008, Pro Hockey Life Inc. acquired Sports L.G.L. Inc., with its network of specialized hockey stores located in the Quebec City and Chicoutimi markets operating under the Entrepôt Du Hockey banner, a true Quebec institution which further solidified the leadership position of Pro Hockey Life Sporting Goods Inc.
Pro Hockey Life Sporting Goods Inc. operates 20 locations and is the world's largest hockey specialty retailer.
