Badminton Vancouver

[bad-vancouver]

Nah, in the abscense of any forced air system you simply aren't going to have a big enough temperature gradient to create localised air flow strong enough to influence the shuttle. This is Vancouver we are talking about here. Maybe in Toronto you might have that problem but of course that would mean you're living in Toronto so life already sucks. Adding an aggrevating drift to the shuttle flight is but an insignificantly minor nuisance lost in an existence of unending misery.

..... down periscope.

whoah...you sound like one of my engineers

[thunder.tw]

whoah...you sound like one of my engineers

LOL, well I'm not one of your's but, I never mind an excuse to polish off the old iron ring . Look forward to playing at your club next time I'm in Vancouver.

[bad-vancouver]

LOL, well I'm not one of your's but, I never mind an excuse to polish off the old iron ring . Look forward to playing at your club next time I'm in Vancouver.

looking forward to meeting you

[thunder.tw]

nice location right between Vancouver and Richmond.

looking at the aerial photos. i am surprised to see so much farmland in East and South Richmond. i'd think with the dense population these lands would've been bought by real estate developer and got developed.

maybe build a few more badminton gyms.

Actually, alot of that land is protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve or some such nonsense. Basically, it means that the land can't be developed for non argricultural purposes.

Edit: here's a wikilink if you are so inclined; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Land_Reserve

[bad-vancouver]

Actually, alot of that land is protected by the Agricultural Land Reserve or some such nonsense. Basically, it means that the land can't be developed for non argricultural purposes.

Edit: here's a wikilink if you are so inclined; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Land_Reserve

oh, I wouldn't call it all nonsense. While its true that it may limit the number of badminton facilities, it ensures that we have lots of blueberries to eat every year

[bad-vancouver]

VRC is a private club though... entry is via an electronic key-locked lobby entrance. Even if the restaurant is good, which it isn't, no outside customers will be able to get in to eat there. However Pro shop is a necessary addition though. No respectable baddy facility can be without one. Community centers, however... have none. BV can seek partnership with a business to locate there rather than rent out the space so price would be competitive enough to get customers to buy. And these days not everybody buy their supplies from HK, the demographics has changed somewhat that pro shops could thrive. People still impulsive buy given the right price and presentation.

cappy, what would you do differently at the vrc restaurant? I agree that not everybody is buying their supplies from HK. Over the past decade with the popularity of the internet and the rise of ebay and amazon, local retailers have seen their sales drop. To survive, they needed to innovate and add value to their services. A pro shop isn't any different. While not always able to offer the same or lower price as overseas, they can add value into their service by offering racquet demos, removing the factory string and replacing it with the customer's favourite string, strung at their desired tension. If there's a problem with the racquet afterwards, the pro shop can assist with warranty issues, maybe offer a loaner racquet? I guess what I'm getting at is that a pro shop shouldn't just rely on impulsiveness and price to make the sale, but also on its personal relationships they keep with their clients.

[visor]

Hey bad-vancouver, how many courts are you planning? I swung by the place today (it was closed so I peeked thru the mail slot! ) but for 18000 sq ft at 900 sq ft per court, you're looking at 14 courts or so with the remaining space for amenities, office, passage etc. Is that about right?

[bad-vancouver]

Hey bad-vancouver, how many courts are you planning? I swung by the place today (it was closed so I peeked thru the mail slot! ) but for 18000 sq ft at 900 sq ft per court, you're looking at 14 courts or so with the remaining space for amenities, office, passage etc. Is that about right?

thats a good educated guess visor. Peeking through the mail slot? Evidently quite a few people are doing that. It used to be covered with paper but folks keep poking through it.

[bad-vancouver]

working late tonight, finally got the entire sign powered up. The "vancouver" part didn't photograph well in this light unfortunately. Even had some late night fans drop by at 2 am to see what was going on

[cappy75]

That's a tough one. VRC location was never commercial friendly in the first place. Any restaurant located there would have to open as late as possible to cater to the membership. Offer more variety of drinks than food to quench the members' thirst after their games, improve access by having a separate entrance for outside clientele so that they could come in and eat and perhaps watch badminton being played from the windows. If the food offered there is distinctive and delicious, it might draw more repeat customers. However, Vancouver dining business is extremely competitive so being good alone is not enough. Location is also important, but the VRC restaurant is disadvantaged because of that.

cappy, what would you do differently at the vrc restaurant? I agree that not everybody is buying their supplies from HK. Over the past decade with the popularity of the internet and the rise of ebay and amazon, local retailers have seen their sales drop. To survive, they needed to innovate and add value to their services. A pro shop isn't any different. While not always able to offer the same or lower price as overseas, they can add value into their service by offering racquet demos, removing the factory string and replacing it with the customer's favourite string, strung at their desired tension. If there's a problem with the racquet afterwards, the pro shop can assist with warranty issues, maybe offer a loaner racquet? I guess what I'm getting at is that a pro shop shouldn't just rely on impulsiveness and price to make the sale, but also on its personal relationships they keep with their clients.

[thumpsky]

don't open your own restaurant. create a partnership with one.

i took marketing.

[thunder.tw]

oh, I wouldn't call it all nonsense. While its true that it may limit the number of badminton facilities, it ensures that we have lots of blueberries to eat every year

Actually I may be a bigger blueberry fanatic than you are. But, the reason I refer to it as nonsense is more the way it's been administered than anything that has to do with the theory behind it. Also, for the most part the open land that you see isn't all blueberry farms. The berry farms actually account for a very low percentage of the reserve.

[thunder.tw]

cappy, what would you do differently at the vrc restaurant? I agree that not everybody is buying their supplies from HK. Over the past decade with the popularity of the internet and the rise of ebay and amazon, local retailers have seen their sales drop. To survive, they needed to innovate and add value to their services. A pro shop isn't any different. While not always able to offer the same or lower price as overseas, they can add value into their service by offering racquet demos, removing the factory string and replacing it with the customer's favourite string, strung at their desired tension. If there's a problem with the racquet afterwards, the pro shop can assist with warranty issues, maybe offer a loaner racquet? I guess what I'm getting at is that a pro shop shouldn't just rely on impulsiveness and price to make the sale, but also on its personal relationships they keep with their clients.

While the idea of having raquets demos is appealing but, I'm pretty sure that if your prices weren't very competitive you just end up letting someone demo a raquet before they go online and purchase it elsewhere. One thing you could try is introduce an alternative brand to the area. There is a popular brand here in Taiwan that I am now going to butche (mowwa, or something like it). I've seen Yumo carry them but, what you need to have is someone who knows about the brand and can relate the different models to their Yonex or Victor equivalents. It is possible that if someone at Yumo for example had told me 'the model here has the same general characteristics as an Arm 900P but is half the price' I may have been inclined to give it a try. But having it just hanging on display does nothing for me.

In terms of pricing in Vancouver the issue isn't just that overseas is cheaper. It's that overseas is MUCH cheaper. A high end Yonex retails in Vancouver for $250.00 CAD while you can pick up the same raquect in Asia for $140.00 CAD. That's huge. I'm still skeptical about the a pro shop making any money in anything but consumables (shuttles, stringing and drinks) and maybe club T-shirts. As far as a resteraunt goes, I'm not sure that Mitchell Island is a heck of alot better than VRC interms of a location. I hope I'm wrong.

[bad-vancouver]

don't open your own restaurant. create a partnership with one.

i took marketing.

So did I A partnership with an established restaurant is a possibility, it will however still need to be overseen by Badminton Vancouver to ensure high standards.

[bad-vancouver]

Actually I may be a bigger blueberry fanatic than you are. But, the reason I refer to it as nonsense is more the way it's been administered than anything that has to do with the theory behind it. Also, for the most part the open land that you see isn't all blueberry farms. The berry farms actually account for a very low percentage of the reserve.

agreed, I've dealt with more than my fair share of this type of "nonsense" recently trying to get Badminton Vancouver off the ground, but thats another story destined for a private conversation. I don't really know what they grow the most of on Richmond designated agricultural lands, I do know much of the blueberry harvest comes from the fraser valley.

[bad-vancouver]

While the idea of having raquets demos is appealing but, I'm pretty sure that if your prices weren't very competitive you just end up letting someone demo a raquet before they go online and purchase it elsewhere. One thing you could try is introduce an alternative brand to the area. There is a popular brand here in Taiwan that I am now going to butche (mowwa, or something like it). I've seen Yumo carry them but, what you need to have is someone who knows about the brand and can relate the different models to their Yonex or Victor equivalents. It is possible that if someone at Yumo for example had told me 'the model here has the same general characteristics as an Arm 900P but is half the price' I may have been inclined to give it a try. But having it just hanging on display does nothing for me.

In terms of pricing in Vancouver the issue isn't just that overseas is cheaper. It's that overseas is MUCH cheaper. A high end Yonex retails in Vancouver for $250.00 CAD while you can pick up the same raquect in Asia for $140.00 CAD. That's huge. I'm still skeptical about the a pro shop making any money in anything but consumables (shuttles, stringing and drinks) and maybe club T-shirts. As far as a resteraunt goes, I'm not sure that Mitchell Island is a heck of alot better than VRC interms of a location. I hope I'm wrong.

That is a big difference in price! Looks like we really have our work cut out for us. The Mitchell island location was chosen to be as central to as many people possible. Perhaps in the future we can consider some of the other outlying areas.

[thunder.tw]

While I like the location and I agree that it is geographically central my only quibbles with the location are 1. Knight street traffic is horrid in the late afternoons. Basically from a traffic standpoint it's an equal pain in the ass to get to from most locations in the Lower Mainland. 2. It's not very accessable for transit users. Truthfully, these aren't really significant to me so I wouldn't worry at all. As far as a restarunt goes. I have a hard time seeing how it would be attractive to any clientile except people who are already there to play badminton.

Again, I'm totally ignorant of your business model so right now I'm simply looking forward to trying the place out the next time I'm in town as it looks like it's going to be a really nice gym.