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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Power sports store Force One closed their doors long weekend Friday afternoon, and opened the Tuesday morning after, at a brand new, much bigger location.

Force One general manager Jason Clarke stands inside the showroom at the power sports store's new location. - Thandie Vela/NNSL photo

Now inside the old Krazy Eddies building, the company has moved to a 13,000 square-foot space, about five units away and double the size of the previous 7,000 square-foot location on Old Airport Road.

"This level of showroom puts us on a national scale in the industry, as a big power sports store, " owner Doug Witty said. "The exciting part about it is the expanded retail space, the ability to shop indoors, and the increase in visibility of our products from the walls."

With inventory including dozens of snowmobiles, upwards of 30 all-terrain vehicles, 30 boats, and

10 to 15 motorcycles, the extra space was especially needed for Force One.

The new parts and accessories department alone is about the same size as the whole showroom at the old space, general manager Jason Clarke said. The company's shipping and receiving area more than doubled and the parts storage aisles are now four feet apart versus two feet apart at the old building. A cold storage building in the back now houses Force One's servicing building, equipped with mechanical and electrical service, and three bay doors, versus just one at the last place. Additional outdoor ground space, fenced by a back gate that leads to the whole trail system, Frame and Long Lake, Clarke said, is now used by technicians to test recreational vehicles for repair.

"We were pretty crammed in our little showroom over there," Witty said, noting while only about a dozen snowmobiles could fit inside the last location, up to 50 snowmobiles will be on display inside the new location this year.

With the ability to fit the inventory that was displayed outside into the new showroom, customers will no longer have to navigate the snow banks while shopping in the winter—a task longtime customer Patrick Charlo remembers all too well.

"We pretty much had to be all bundled up," the mine supervisor said, recalling brushing snow off vehicles while shopping in the dark of winter for snowmobiles, boats, and other products for his many trips camping on the land.

"I like this, this is good," he said of the new location, relieved by the convenience the indoor showroom will provide.

Charlo has been a Force One customer since the company's early days in the first location set up in the Kam Lake Industrial Park area in 1987. Force One was housed in the last building for the past 15 years.

MLA Glen Abernethy heard about Force One's relocation on the radio, and came to check out the new digs last Friday.

"I gotta say it's pretty darn impressive," Abernethy said. "I was surprised when I came inside I didn't know how much bigger it was. It's significantly larger."

Abernethy said he especially appreciates the extra open space for poking and prodding.

The move comes during a transitional time for Force One, as Clarke takes the reigns of the business as general manager.

"It's very opportune timing moving into the new building," Witty said. "He can start fresh with a brand new store, and new building."

The building was gutted and refitted with more than $500,000 in renovations, which included the hiring of a relocation specialist and retail design specialists hired to model the showroom's product layout and matching wood slat walls.

While the inside is complete, the outside, unpainted and unsigned, leaves much to be desired.

"We still have the outside to do," Witty said. "It's not as pretty as we'd like.

"It takes a big effort for a small business to make a big change like this."

The new facade is expected to be up along with the paving of the front parking lot in time for the official new location grand opening on Sept. 17.

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