Force One to shut its doors
Snowmobile and boat shop closes for good next month
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 23, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After nearly 30 years in the business, Force One is closing its doors.
Force One will close for good on May 31. - Jessica Davey-Quantick/ NNSL photo
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"The time has come for me to wind things down," said owner Jason Clarke.
He started working with the business in 1999, and bought it in 2008, moving to a bigger location on Old Airport Road in 2011.
Clarke says the business's last day will be May 31.
"It's a little bit of economy and a little bit of personal," he said of why he's closing shop. "There's probably 30 different factors that all just piled up, and the time has come."
Specializing in boats, ATVs and snowmobiles, Force One was the authorized Hewescraft, Bayline, Lund, Stihl, Polaris, Yamaha, Mercury, Mercruiser, EZ Loader and Zodiac dealer.
"He will be missed," said Bruce Hewlko, president of the Great Slave Snowmobile Association.
Owners of some of these lines will no longer have a place in town for service, as the nearest dealerships will be Hay River or Edmonton after the closure.
"I know in town here there's lots of people that work out of their garages and stuff," said Clarke.
Force One's competitors Yellowknife Chrysler - which sells Arctic Cat - and Polar Tech Recreation - which carries Ski-Doo - aren't intending to pick up those lines.
"Our market share will definitely grow because of the fact we don't have somebody else putting product into the market, but we won't be taking his lines," said Gord Olson, owner of Polar Tech, which has four full-time mechanics.
"We don't have the expertise required, or the tools, the parts, anything," said Olson.
Polar Tech's management said they may start carrying Mercy, but that's still undecided.
Jayson Weber, general manager at Yellowknife Chrysler, also isn't necessarily looking to expand into the void left by Force One.
"I don't want to look at this as, 'Oh goody,' licking my chops, that's not it at all. I wish they'd stay in business to tell you the truth," he said.
He said YK Chrysler is ready to take on the sales and service market from Force One, but he stressed he's not happy about it. Neither is Olson - both were quick to point out that Clarke and Force One will be missed within the snowmobiling community.
"It's very sad for me to hear that Force One has closed his door. He's been a great competition and I wish Jason all the best in his next venture, and we'll try to do our best to pick up what we can and carry on I guess," said Olson.
Clarke estimates that there are still around 35 machines on offer at his store. He said tight margins in the industry were a factor in his decision to close.
That's something Olson is also well aware of.
"In our industry? It's very tight margins. On units themselves, boats and quads and snowmobiles, it's a very low margin industry, compared to like the automotive," said Olson.
He estimates his store turns over around 100 vehicles in an average year but every day they sit on the shop floor instead of hitting the trails costs him money.
"When you start paying $4,000 a month on interest on stock sitting in your yard, yeah your margins dwindle away very quickly," he said, adding that Yellowknife itself is not the easiest market to break into. "It's a very tough market actually."
Both Olson and Weber said diversification - focusing not just on machine sales but on accessories, clothing, and servicing - were key. But even then it's no guarantee; when the economy takes a downturn and wallets tighten, recreational products like boats and snowmobiles fall by the wayside.
"I am expendable income, ain't I?" said Olson.
Clarke isn't sure what he'll do next.
"I'm not making any decisions yet. And probably on June 1 I'll start thinking about what I'm going to do," he said. "It's time to re evaluate life, and it's time to go back to family."
