(left to right) Paul Robillard, Heath Marson and Brent Bywater show off some of their inventory that will be part of their new second hand sporting good store in Callander. Photo by Chris Dawson.
(left to right) Paul Robillard, Heath Marson and Brent Bywater show off some of their inventory that will be part of their new second hand sporting good store in Callander. Photo by Chris Dawson.Three entrepreneurs are teaming up in hopes of making sports more affordable for kids in the Blue Sky Region.
On September 1st, “Second Down Sporting Goods Company” will open its doors on Main Street in Callander next to the Rug-A-Roo building. The store will take in used sports equipment by donation or even through consignment.
The North Bay area has been without a used sporting goods store for more than a year after “Play it Again Sports” closed its doors.
“A lot of people have sporting stuff sitting in their basements collecting dust so we came up with an idea that there was a store that did very well, there’s a market for it so that’s when we decided to open out in Callander where the overhead is fairly reasonable at this time and maybe we’ll expand down the road,” said Heath Marson, one of the partners who has been coaching minor hockey for 18 years, as well as being part of the Hockeyville and the Canadian Pond Hockey Face-Off committees.
Aside from bringing affordable used sports gear back to the region, the trio of Marson, Paul Robillard and Brent Bywater has also teamed up with Kids Sports as portions of the proceeds will be going to the local charity.
“So not only are people going to come in and get a decent used piece of sporting equipment, but we are also going to support kids sport to help other people that need that opportunity to get into sports, because everybody deserves to play,” said Marson.
Marson says they already are gathering inventory that is sitting in their own basements, but hockey equipment will be a priority.
“We really, really need kids hockey equipment especially skates and pants,” he said.
“A lot of used composite sticks they grow out of and they are sitting in a corner collecting dust, we’d like to have those too so we’d really like to see young kids get a chance to use a composite stick,” he said.
Donations can be dropped off at the Rug-A-Roo location (1407 Main St. N) in Callander, or at Benson Auto Parts at 483 McGaughey Avenue in North Bay.
Anyone interested in consigning items can email Paul Robillard at
[email protected]
