Investment date : March 2007
Canada’s leading hockey retail specialist, operating a chain of 20+ specialty hockey megastores in Québec, Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
Investment rationale
- Competition limited to small specialty retailers with limited selection and inventory and larger general concept retailers with limited expertise and narrow offerings
- Favorable industry dynamic within the hockey market
- Compelling store economics driven by strong relationships with key industry leading suppliers
- Opportunity to capture first mover advantage by penetrating new markets with superstore concept through aggressive roll-out strategy
- Recognized leader in hockey retail in Quebec offering the largest selection of equipment and accessories through a superstore concept
Value creation opportunities
- Recruited President from McKinsey & Company, where he led large cross-functional teams that implemented strategic and operational improvement mandates for several Fortune 500 companies, focusing on the retail sector
- Recruited COO from Canada’s largest sporting goods retailer, where he managed growth from 35 to 100 locations, including
- P&L accountability
- Created a growth plan that involved the opening of 20 new stores across Canada over 5-year period under “superstore” platform
- Increased scale via highly targeted acquisition (“Entrepôt du Hockey”)
Successful exit
Sold to FGL Sports, a subsidiary of Canadian Tire Company, in 2013
Website : http://www.triohockey.ca/en/
