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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Its about a great badminton experience Not looking to win any Michelin stars at the moment, but I believe it will serve the needs of the badminton players more than adequately. It should complement the experience of playing badminton at Badminton Vancouver. As for those who take transit, you'll be happy to know that shortly, translink will be extending service to the island, currently it stops at the exit on Knight bridge to the island. From a traffic standpoint, those who live in Burnaby, Vancouver, North Vancouver and even Richmond, our location is a ideal. Thankfully, the access point to Mitchell island is almost right at the begining of the Knight bridge on the Vancouver side and the exit lane to the island is generally clear. Those who use the bridge often will know what I'm talking about, but yeah, I'll agree, Knight bridge like all other bridges can get congested.
Traffic congestion would be the same regardless since I go to Richmond to play badminton. The only problem is if there is an accident on the Knight St Bridge. I'm not sure how to get there other than the bridge. At least with Richmond...there are 2 other bridges you can cross.
As I said the congestion isn't that big a deal unless you plan to play in the late afternoon. In terms of business model, I was referring to the badminton aspect of the business rather than the resteraunt. Are you planning on operating it as a private club like VRC or as a pay as you play venue like Richmond Pro et al? The location will be a godsend to residents of Burnanby, New Westminster and Coquitlam. To folks living in Richmond and Vancouver West of Cambie, not so much. For us, it will be a matter of having a superior badminton experience that will be the draw. All that aside, how is the parking situation? The Richmond gyms weren't great for parking. ACE was probably the best and Clear One was ok. Clear two was adequate (barely) but Richmond Pro could be a damn nightmare at times.
Open to the public, hourly court rentals. There will be a slight break from the norm in terms of booking though, something I've always desired. Stay tuned. Location is just part of the equation. I'm hoping that all the attention to detail will draw in badminton enthusiasts from all over the lower mainland. . anybody else want to answer to this question? I know some of you (visor) are coming down to have a peek. Perhaps take some pictures and post them for thunder?
