Bauer Hockey is stepping up its outreach by opening two of its own retail stores—experiences, really, in the vein of outdoor retail behemoth Cabela’s—that will include hockey rinks so customers can try before they buy.
The subsidiary of Exeter-based Performance Sports Group Ltd. will open the 20,000-square-foot premium stores in Burlington, Mass. this summer and Minneapolis in the fall, employing about 50 to 60 between in-store associates and support staff at the Exeter corporate headquarters.
Rich Wuerthele, executive vice president of hockey for Bauer, says while Bauer sells through retail partners, it felt it was the right time to also have its own retail presence.
“We have seen consumer needs change. It seems they have a ferocious appetite to get to know the products and manufacturers better. Getting more closely connected to customers was impetus to go into the retail business,” Wuerthele says. “A lot of our audience are parents and kids, and as they grow and progress in the game, they want to better understand the technicalities behind the product. We want to give them the whole brand experience.”
Marketed as “Own The Moment Consumer Experiences,” the stores will have entire sections dedicated to its different products as well as specific areas to educate new-to-hockey families. They will also have associates trained to guide customers through a “fit, learn and experience” process. Associates, who will be called personal trainers, will learn about a player’s needs and provide a customized fit based on the athlete’s style of play. Customers will then have a chance to take the equipment out for a test run on an indoor skating rink.
“We want to make them extremely inviting and accelerate a pathway for newcomers and their families to enter the sport,” as well as to experienced players, Wuerthele says. The company plans to open an additional six to eight BAUER retail experiences over the next three years in NHL cities across the U.S. and Canada. The company expects its retail operations to be profitable in the next 18 to 24 months.
“We have 54 percent market share in hockey. In three years, we want that to be 70,” Wuerthele says. Bauer plans to test retail strategies at its stores and share its findings with its retail partners.
This is the latest chapter in the history of Bauer Hockey, which was founded in Kitchener, Ontario in 1927 and developed the first skate with a blade attached to a boot. Performance Sports Group Ltd., the parent company of Bauer Hockey, is publicly traded and posted $446 million in revenue in 2014—a significant hike from the $257 million it generated in 2010.
For more information, visit www.bauer.com or www.performancesportsgroup.com.
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