Pierre Boivin, President and COO of Canstar Sports is
interviewed in this month's issue of SPORTING GOODS BUSINESS and
addressed Nike Inc.'s buyout of Canstar. Boivin, on possible
changes in the management structure: "We have discussed this in
great length, and the basic attitude is that if 'it ain't broke
don't fix it.' ... I have seldom seen such a perfect marriage
between two companies." On the in-line industry retail sales in
'94: "It's very difficult to predict at this stage, but all the
indications are that the growth in North America will probably be
somewhere between 40 and 50 percent (over 1993's figures). In
Europe, it looks like the market will probably have doubled, and
it may have even tripled from 1993's level." Boivin expected
Canstar to grow from $160M in sales in '93 to "well above" $400M
in sales over the next four to five years. On the success of in-
line category continuing in the next few years: "This year has
been a surprise so far, and we are starting to see a segment very
clearly between in-line skates and in-line hockey. And for us to
attain our goals, they are now two very separate sectors today,
because the fastest growing area of in-line skating is roller
hockey. It's significant because we are to in-line hockey what
Rollerblade was to the sport of in-line skating at its inception"
(Greg Pesky, SPORTING GOODS BUSINESS, 1/19).
