Sask. sports stores hit with double-whammy as COVID-19 closes doors and forces leagues to cancel

Brian Michasiw has made a living for almost three decades by being hands-on with feet. 

"You wake up one day and what you based your life on, you can't do, so we're just trying to find ways to try to still help people as best we can," he said.

Michasiw, who runs Saskatoon running store Brainsport, said the first issue is keeping people safe, so the off-Broadway shop is is closed to retail customers.

He said he's fast-tracking an e-commerce project to give the company an online presence, but it's frustrating because it takes him away from what he does best.

There is no single template for what sports stores are doing.

Olympia Sports has shut down completely. Western Fitness will allow single customers into the store, but they can't touch product.

Al Anderson's Source For Sports will take orders online and then have customers pick them up outside the store.

"The changes were pretty immediate, and drastic," said John Linklater with Al Anderson's.

"We laid off 31 of 35 employees. The four of us are here trying to maintain some semblance of business."

While leagues are either cancelling games or postponing entire seasons, Linklater said people are still involved in sports. He's seeing a shift to the practice side, more than games and competition.

"Whether it's strength training or skill training, we're selling those types of components," he said.

"Parents are being driven crazy by their kids, who are active and sports-minded individuals."