Our Story
It all began in 1966 when Dave Birnstihl, a Kitchener-Waterloo native and born entrepreneur, started peddling uniforms and sporting goods out of the trunk of his car. Each night, after he had finished his day job, he would visit the city’s ball diamonds and rinks, building his customer base and setting the groundwork for what would soon become his dream – opening his own sporting goods store.
By 1967, Dave and his wife Dorothy were ready to open a store front and the very first Sportco store was opened on King Street in Kitchener, in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Together, they worked hard to make their business grow, always followed their important business principle, “Treat your customers well by providing excellent customer service to keep them coming back.”
By the 1980’s, the business had grown to include stores in Guelph, Cambridge and Kincardine, as well as a successful cut-and sew business in Waterloo where they designed and manufactured their own line of uniforms and apparel. Although these ventures were all successful, they decided to scale things back to focus on their main Kitchener location in the early 1990’s.
Today
Today, Sportco Source for Sports stands proudly at 880 King Street East, although the original building has been upgraded over the years to a larger and more modern store front. Sportco Source for Sports offers 16,000 square feet of sporting goods including our newest addition — our Goalie Loft featuring the largest goalie selection in the area. We remain one the areas largest and most professional stores, featuring a complete line of sporting goods including hockey, baseball, golf, soccer and everything in-between.
Our reputation has earned us the invite to share our knowledge at many community outreach programs such as: Hockey Fundamentals session, talks at local fitness clubs, minor sports leagues and teams, 1999 & 2001 – Honourary Coach of the NHL Old-timers Hockey Game, etc.
In addition, we offer many unique services and special events for our customers including: Annual Goalie Show, Customer VIP Day, Ball Show, Lacrosse Show, Soccer Show, and Sidewalk sale…
Sadly, Sportco’s leader and founder Dave Birnstihl passed away in June 2001 but his dream lives on through Sportco. The family tradition continues as his son Kevin manages the business with help from the Sportco team, which includes his mother Dorothy, sister Debbie and wife Jennifer. Kevin is following in his father’s footsteps, sharing his passion for sports and retail excellence. Sportco could not succeed without the support of our excellent staff who are the backbone of our store. We are privileged to have a dedicated team of knowledgeable sporting goods industry specialists.
We are proud to continue Sportco’s traditions of superior customer service, quality product and integrity that were our founding principles all those years ago and continue to be a leader in the community we serve.
Our Reputation – A Tradition of Superior Customer Service
For more than 50 years, Sportco Source for Sports has stood proudly at the corner of King Street East in Kitchener. Today we offer 16,000 square feet of shopping, making us one of the areas largest and most complete selections of sporting goods and services. We share a passion for sports and retail excellence and are privileged of having some of the best staff on our team of sporting goods industry specialists.
Come and visit us and we will show you why we have remained a leading sports authority in our community for over four decades. You can experience first hand Sportco’s proven reputation of offering our customers integrity, superior customer service, quality merchandise and competitive pricing.
Customer service is King
We specialize in superior customer service – unlike our competitors and big box stores – and we back this by having our team of trained experts to serve you. Our knowledgeable staff will help you find exactly what you need, explain the various features and options available and make sure you get the proper fit so you can ‘play safe’.
