A Brief History

In the spring of ’82 a young man named Paul Zirk left his job at a large sports retail outlet to eliminate the possibility of moving to – oof – Toronto.

As the summer progressed he concluded that finding another job wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Start a business, make a ton of money, retire early and party like crazy – That was a plan!

The Destination was originally founded as Destination Ski Rentals Ltd. A place where you could go to get ski gear for any mountain so you could cut out the lineups. Fortunately at that time Colleen worked at The Keg for real cash (a waiter named Keith provided us with the first artwork on a napkin), which was a good thing, as Paul went immediately into debt.

The idea of providing services with the rentals – things like custom boot fitting and waxed skis was revolutionary. So was the concept of taking home a set of gear for your kids that you could size exchange whenever you wanted, with no new costs.

No more panic when a kid grew out of something in February and no store had anything or no more garage full of stuff that nobody really wanted to wear anyway. People liked this, so business grew.

We started selling new things in 1985, and true to our revolutionary mindset, we chose to specialize in custom boot fitting, family programs, and services that you just couldn’t get anywhere else. “Big box” was in vogue but we didn’t like it.

As much fun as it was being closed in the summer, it cost a lot to close and still keep all your good staff. Waterskis – Wakeboards – Skim boards and all the shorts, shirts and swimwear that goes with that became our summer work.

Neat how we chose stuff that requires fun to be had as our vocation, isn’t it?

So after 30 years we’re still here and the party’s still on. So give us a call, or better yet, pay us a visit. There’s enough fun to go around for everyone!