A Sporting Life executive has promised the store will be back in Collingwood after a fire destroyed the building and its contents on Monday night.
Jerry Rynda, vice-president of business operations for Sporting Life, said the company has always been interested in Collingwood and wants to be here in “some way, shape, or form.”
A fire destroyed the Collingwood Sporting Life store on Monday night, and local fire crews battled the flames all night from about 6 p.m. on Jan. 27 to about 8 a.m. Jan. 28.
For the next few weeks Sporting Life’s plans are on hold as insurance companies deal with the aftermath of the fire.
Whether the business returns to the same location, opens in another, or operates a pop-up shop in town, it’s too early to tell, said Rynda.
“We’re always interested in Collingwood,” he said. “There’s no reason for us to leave.”
Sporting Life opened in Collingwood's old liquor store building (222 Hurontario St.) 18 years ago, the fourth location for the Canadian company. Rynda said he and some of the current store staff were part of the renovations and work done on the building at that time.
“Originally, we started as a ski shop,” said Rynda, adding the company launched 40 years ago. “We had relationships with customers who skied in the Collingwood area … everybody goes to Collingwood to play in the winter, and we really wanted to be part of that.”
Over the course of almost two decades, Rynda estimates the store has employed around 200 people, and some have remained employees at the store since it opened.
“For us, it’s really one of the most intimate and authentic stores we carry,” said Rynda. “It’s in a ski area, the staff are authentic … we’ve become a community store over all these years … we value the customer base and what Collingwood stands for.”
That fact, according to Rynda, has made the fire even more devastating.
“For us, we’ve become part of the fabric in Collingwood, and it’s difficult for our staff to understand what has happened over the past few days,” he said.
Rynda drove to Collingwood from Toronto on Monday evening as soon as he heard about the fire at the store.
He said staff in the store (there were seven or eight people working) started to smell smoke at about 5:35 p.m. and it was coming from the southwest corner of the building in the warehouse area and in the ceiling.
Bill Ford, the senior service shop manager, tried three times to put it out, but could not. He evacuated the shop, and the few customers who were inside at the time, and was the last to leave the building.
Rynda said once he arrived he joined the group of staff who had gathered on the street.
“We all huddled together watching the building go down,” he said. “It was hard to see the emotion of the staff.”
The fire burned all night. And in the morning, the roof and wall where the fire originated had collapsed. The adjacent building — a retail vape store and apartments — had been evacuated and were damaged by the smoke.
The next day, Rynda said Mad Dog’s Cafe and Vinyl opened early and he and the staff gathered there for a meeting.
“We shared a few stories,” he said. “Building or not we are still Sporting Life and we’re still a family and we’re there to support them.”
The store also takes in customers’ equipment for services like ski tune-ups, so Rynda said the company has been working with customers to restore what was lost.
Rynda has been touched by the generosity of the community. A former employee, Paul Luckett, co-owner of Baked and Pickled brought free lunch to all the staff on Tuesday.
Sporting Life also heard from Mayor Brian Saunderson, offering kind words during their tough time.
Other former employees and customers have sent notes.
“The outreach we got from people was staggering,” he said. “It’s hard to read some of them because they’re so heartfelt. They know the staff by name. We’re sharing those to the employees and management.”
Rynda said it’s the first time in the company’s 40 years in operation they’ve had an experience like the fire that destroyed the store on Monday night.
“It’s so unfortunate and unkind to our staff,” he said, adding the team will – as the Marine Corps say – have to adapt and overcome.
“We’re going to be back. It’s a problem, and it’s tough, but we’re going to get through it,” said Rynda. “When we do come back, I hope (the community) comes back to us.”
The Office of the Fire Marshall was called in to investigate the fire, the cause of which remains unknown.
