For Noah Wang, badminton is life.
The 34-year-old, who owns Noah’s Badminton House at 7634 Sixth St., “lives and breathes” the sport.
Wang first picked up a badminton racket at Burnaby Central when he was in Grade 10. He was hooked on day one and just kept playing. After graduating, he joined the Douglas College badminton team, a national championship squad at the time.
“I was a small potato. I was the weakest player,” said Wang, adding he’s never won a provincial or national title. “I started late. Many players start at the age of eight, 10 or 12. I started when I was 16.”
But that hasn’t deterred Wang from continuing his passion.
The Burnaby resident has played badminton for the last 20 years. He’s on the court three times a week hitting the birdie with friends or coaching high school students. Sometimes he volunteers as a provincial referee or as a national umpire for Badminton Canada.
The rest of his time is spent at Noah’s Badminton House, a store he opened two-and-a-half years ago.
The little shop – most recognizable from the outside by its black windows and white panda-face stencil – sells top-of-the-line rackets and a host of badminton gear. There’s everything from neon orange badminton bags to shoes, socks and accessories.
Part of Wang’s business model also includes offering clients Olympic-grade stringing via two heavy duty stringing machines in his office.
It’s all about quality, Wang told the NOW. It takes him one hour to string one racket, unlike some of his competitors.
“A lot of other stores survive because they work for volume. I don’t do that. I do quality work here,” he said, noting some retailers charge between $40 and $70, and string three to four rackets per hour.
“I’m very cheap,” Wang laughed.
By offering quality over quantity, profit margins are low, admitted the Taiwanese native.
“It’s very tough,” said Wang.
To make ends meet, the badminton enthusiast works six days a week and can sometimes be at the store past midnight.
“I have to because people are waiting,” he chuckled, adding there’s a five-week wait for his stringing service. “People love badminton. It’s growing. It grew so much in the last 20 years, by 300 per cent.”
Asked why he opened Noah’s Badminton House in the Edmonds neighbourhood, Wang said it was because of the location. Most badminton shops are either in Vancouver or Richmond, so Burnaby was very central.
“I’ve got customers coming from Surrey, White Rock, the Tri-Cities area, from Abbotsford and Chilliwack; (I) even serve Campbell River.”
Noah’s Badminton House has around 600 customers, noted Wang, with a 65 per cent retention rate. Most are his friends.
It’s no surprise then that he’s not planning to pack up and leave any time soon.
“If I open a store, I plan to keep the store for life,” he said.
