SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A cool April that fed rapidly into summer-like May weather has brought outdoor sports enthusiasts out shopping in droves.

Bike mechanic Jed Watson, left, and Old Town Bikeworks founder Matthew Grogono ready their stock for the steady stream of customers coming in since the bike shop season started May 1. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

"People are, I would say, excited about the warm weather and it's reflected in the traffic in the store," said Overlander assistant manager Gary Tait.

"Our bike department has been really busy with people wanting to get existing bikes tuned up and look at getting new bikes."

Generally, Tait said people will start coming into the store in March to look into new bikes and equipment.

"This year more so is a really sort of slow lead up to it happening and then all of a sudden it's just sort of taken right off," he said.

Old Town Bikeworks quietly opened for the season on May 1 but many people have already headed in to check out the bikes, as well as the unique geodesic dome it's housed in, made of interlocking bike wheels.

"It's been non-stop," said owner Matthew Grogono.

"We're working as fast as we could to get our stock up and looking good."

It's normal for May and June to be busy months, said Grogono - counting around 110 hours worked over the past two weeks.

The shop is still taking donations of bicycles and Grogono worked with staff at the Yellowknife Solid Waste Facility last summer to also set aside a spot for bicycle recycling at the dump.

Catching up with sales

At Canadian Tire, a slow period of sales in April was easily made up for in the first few weeks of May, said sports manager John Bray.

"This last week and a half, as soon as it got warm, bikes and barbecues and patio sets really took off," said Bray.

"It was lagging a bit because of April being so cold but we made up for it over the last week or so. We've caught up to where we were last year."

Usually by mid-April, bikes are starting to sell but Bray said shoppers held out until early May this year. And along with bikes he said canoes, kayaks and paddleboards are also selling well now that the temperature is steadily rising.

Over at Walmart, staff have just started putting bikes together for summer sales and duty manager Rav Singh said people were just starting come in to check out the stock.

Though the sudden jump in sales at some stores meant running through stock quickly, Bray said they were ready for it - it just came a bit later than they thought.

"It was slower than normal and then all of a sudden above and beyond what we'd normally do," he said. "It didn't get spread out over the last two weeks of April, it got packed into the first five days of May."

On the water

At both Overlander and Canadian Tire, water sports are also bringing shoppers in as the ice steadily melts away on lakes and rivers around the city.

"People are talking about paddling, their excited about canoes and kayaks, so that's a big part of what we do in the summer," said Tait at Overlander, adding there's been about the same volume of sales as last year at this point but like the bikes it's really just picked up in early May.

It's been the same story at Canadian Tire and Bray said this year they're seeing growing interest in paddleboarding and the popularity of kayaking in the city continuing to grow year after year.

With so many options to get outdoors now that the weather is permitting, Bray said there is a clear difference in traffic in and out of the store right now.

"Our customer count is definitely higher than the same week last year," he said.

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