The Hockey Company has completed the purchase of 900,000 square feet of land in the Ville St-Laurent borough of Montreal. The site will be home to the Companys 240,000 square foot, $20 million global headquarters and North American distribution center. The new facility will also house the Companys new state of the art Hockey Research and Innovation Center. The distribution center is planned to be in operation by March of 2005 while the headquarters and Innovation Center will be unveiled in May of 2005.
“The significant investment in our new facility and particularly the Hockey Research and Innovation Center is another sign of our ongoing commitment to continued leadership of the industry through product innovation”, said Matt OToole, President and Chief Executive Officer. “The move to a larger and more sophisticated facility was necessitated by The Hockey Companys growth over the past few years and our aggressive plans for the future under Reebok Internationals ownership. We are centralizing most of our functions under one roof to maximize our customer satisfaction levels, operating effectiveness and provide an outstanding work environment for our people.”
The multi-faceted Hockey Design & Innovation Center will develop high performance hockey equipment and apparel for elite hockey athletes across the world. The facility will include a dedicated NHL Research and Design Center, an extensive Player / Product Testing Facility, a Rapid Prototyping Unit, a Graphics Design Center and Pro Custom Fitting Services.