According to Mayor Mark McKee, Revelstoke’s young entrepreneurs have given the city a new face.
The days of the mega-projects are long gone, and the railway and resource-based industries that drove Revelstoke’s economy are still vital to the community but have, in part, been eclipsed by a new breed of business persons in the community.
A lot of the change started ten years ago with the opening of the Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
“People like me came to Revelstoke to ski and, after we saw the community, we just never left,” said Andrew Danyluk of Tantrum Ride Co., one of three shops in Revelstoke specializing in equipment and repair aimed at the burgeoning mountain biking community.
“I lived in Kamloops, but after I came here there was no leaving. As much as the skiing was great, it was really the summer that sold me on the community. You might say I came for the winter, but stayed because of the summer,” laughed Danyluk.
He maintained that it’s a similar story for a lot of the young business people who have opened shops in the city. Whether they cater to skiers or mountain bike enthusiasts, operate restaurants, or have opened any of a number of other businesses in the city there are some similarities between the new, young business people in town.
“There are a lot of younger people coming here who love the lifestyle and want to stay but maybe they don’t want to work at the mill or at the resort. If they want to stay, they have to make their own opportunities, and they tend to be pretty well educated and capable, so it’s completely possible to do exactly that.”
That’s how it happened that Danyluk and his partner Selim Bedoya opened Tantrum. When they first came to Revelstoke they worked at one of the city’s other bike shops, but seeing the high volume of business being done there, felt it was an opportunity to branch out on their own.
They opened Tantrum and joined with the significant number of other young entrepreneurs in Revelstoke to enliven the business sector and put a new face on the city’s business community.
Asked about how the new entrepreneurs fit in with the established business people in town, Danyluk paused before answering.
“Most of us (young business people) are working our tails off…putting in 60 hours a week or more so we really don’t have a lot of time to have meetings to discuss our businesses,” said Danyluk.
“So we don’t ever formally get together, but we have a different kind of networking that happens during after-work bike rides or having a pint in the evening. It’s not formal, but it’s effective and we do discuss what’s happening with our businesses and what’s happening in town. It’s not like the Chamber of Commerce, which we belong to, by the way; it’s a lot less formal and it works because we all have similar lifestyles and concerns.”
As far as Danyluk’s business goes, he’s confident that they will continue to do well.
“Mountain biking has exploded in Revelstoke and it’s far more than just an activity. People who ride do it three or four times a week and it gives them a lens that they view the world through. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”