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B C B U S I N E S S . C A
S E P T E M B E R
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THE
NBOX
i
Like just about every
outdoorsy Canadian kid, J.P.
Roy grew up shopping at
Mountain Equipment Co-op,
better known to its millions
of members as
MEC. After
university he left the country
to pursue a career in the action
sports industry. As he moved
from Germany to China to Cali-
fornia, so did a few key pieces
of his
MEC gear.
Every time Roy looked at
the mountain logo on his back-
pack or tent it reminded him
of home. And so, after 16 years
away, one of the first things
he did after moving back to
Vancouver in 2020 was walk
into a
MEC store.
"I remember thinking a lot
had changed," he says. "And
not for the better."
While Roy was out of the
country,
MEC had ditched the
mountain from its logo and
diversified into the urban
jungle, selling everything from
road bikes to yoga mats. It
expanded aggressively and ex-
pensively, often building new
locations from scratch. And
while it focused exclusively on
the Canadian market, global
outdoor retailers—both online
and brick-and-mortar—were
moving into its backyard.
It was an unsustainable
mix, especially during a
global pandemic. Between
2016 and mid-2020,
MEC lost
more than $100 million. Its
board declared bankruptcy in
September 2020 and sold the
company to Kingswood Capital
Management, a private equity
firm based in California, for a
reported $150 million. Kings-
wood renamed it Mountain
Equipment Company, retain-
ing the
MEC acronym.
A few months later, a new
executive group brought Roy
on as the senior director of
MEC Label. He's responsible
for all of the private label pro-
ducts—the gear and clothing
with the
MEC logo on it that
accounts for about a third of
the company's business. Roy's
is a key position in the quest to
rejuvenate the iconic brand.
"We were trying to be
every thing to everyone," he
says. "Four years later we feel
like we're now going in the
right direction."
Not everyone is convinced.
When Roy started work in
early 2021, the primary focus
was on triage.
During the bankruptcy,
key staff quit or were laid off.
Product ordering deadlines
were occasionally missed. At
the same time, booming de-
mand and global supply chain
challenges made it hard for
any outdoor store to keep the
shelves fully stocked.
FROM CO-OP
TO COMPANY
MEC got lost in the woods. Has it found its way
back to the path?
by Ryan Stuart
L I F E S T Y L E
THE COMEBACK KIT
MEC's post-bankruptcy growth
can be traced to changes in its
leadership and product line
"
We were
trying to be
everything
to everyone.
Four years
later we feel
like we're
now going
in the right
direction."
—J.P. Roy, senior director,
Mountain Equipment
Company
Illu s t r a t i o n : J a n ik S ö ll n e r/ N o u n P r oj e c t ; M E C : C o d y C o .
