By Anthony Harubin

October 1, 1998

The six-year-old snowboard shop Boarders Anonymous in Winnipeg, Manitoba treats its employees well. All full-timers get an all-expense- paid trip to Banff, which makes the starting salary of $5.50 to $6.50 [Canadian[ per hour seem sufficient. There are no commissions, but staff can purchase products at cost. "Commissions are more for the strip malls, not a hardcore shop like ours," says Manager Dustin Shore.

Dave Buchanan, one of the managers at Faktory in Toronto, Ontario says when you walk into this shop, "you feel like you've walked into a big group hug." The atmosphere is cool and laid back-meaning there's no hustling for commission. "Working to make the commission would cause stress and the salespeople would lose the team feeling," Buchanan says.

Minimum wage in Ontario is seven Canadian dollars an hour, but the starting rate at Faktory is nine to ten dollars an hour. All goods in the store can be purchased at cost, and until recently, the workers could charge those purchases to their accounts-that became too confusing for some employees, so the policy was changed. Aside from the decent wages, employees are frequently kicked down lift tickets, demo boards, and a great staff party at one of the hills in neighboring Quebec.

Wind Addiction in Kingston, Ontario, is one store that believes in commissions. "We're developing a system based on margins and sales," says Owner Mike McGinnis. The starting salary is eight to ten Canadian dollars an hour. Employees receive a staff discount on all products in the store and occasionally earn a little extra, like a snowboard or a ticket to the Caribbean to windsurf.

At La Vie Sportive in Quebec City, Danilo Percich, manager of the snowboard division, says, "Commissions are not needed to provide incentives to sell because all of the employees are stoked just to be working in a snowboard environment with a bunch of cool people." The starting salary is seven Canadian dollars an hour and Percich offers an incentive contest during the year with a prize of a season pass to nearby Stoneham resort.

Being a supervisor at Mission Snow & Skate in Calgary makes Corey Meyer a happy man. Employees can shop in the store and purchase goods at cost, which Meyer believes, "Saves you plenty of money throughout the year."

The average starting salary is six Canadian dollars an hour, with no commission. Meyer explains: "Kids come into the shop a few times to scope out the products before bringing back the Treasury Department [mom and dad]. Who gets the sale is anybody's guess after the kid has spoken to three or four salespeople throughout the course of his or her shopping experience."