One of the places I originally left off the Businesses We Support list was Sporting Intentions on North River Road in Charlottetown (it’s on the list now).
We’ve purchased a canoe from them, and life jackets, camping gear, and today a back pack for our upcoming trip overseas. Their staff have been universally helpful: they know their products and are good at communicating about them. There’s a lot of product that you can only buy at their shop if you want to get it on the Island too, and they’ve a good selection of most items.
They do tend towards the “outdoorsy” rather than “sporty” part of their name: canoeing, kayaking, cycling, skiing, camping, hiking rather than hockey, softball or soccer. If you want to buy a tent or a kayak, though, and don’t mind paying for quality, they’re the best.
I also left off Smooth Cycle, the cycle shop just up the street that I wrote about earlier here. If you need a bike, they’re good. I’ve added them to the list too.
Comments
I have to disagree with Sporting Intentions not for anything really to do with them at all. I have been a member of Mountain Equipment Co-op for ten years and have never been able to get over the drastic price savings you get through them as a true co-op as compared to a private business. They have great mail order, a new website — www.mec.ca — and a new store in Halifax and a serious committment to buying ethically produced products and supporting local conservation innitiatives across Canada with real dollars.
I usually agree with buying local where it makes sense. For example, I buy plain dry malt at Water and Wine in Charlottetown but get my intermediate brewing supplies at Brewing Centres in Dartmouth and the hard to find stuff like special hops and non-chlonine sterilizer (for the septic system) through Paddock Woods in Saskatchewan as locally these just are not stocked. But with camping supplies, it is the price difference moving away from a co-op system that makes buying from a local shop just too much. An undergrad pal is a buyer for them and, with the co-op’s ethics, one job he has when he is on the road say in rural China is ensuring that the products they buy are not made in sweat shops. I like that.