The interesting thing about MEC is that they have had pretty good growth in the past 25 years. I started going to the one in Ottawa in the 90s. It was the fou

The interesting thing about MEC is that they have had pretty good growth in the past 25 years. I started going to the one in Ottawa in the 90s. It was the fourth store. MEC started in 1971 and Ottawa's store open in 1992. There are now 22 locations. The buildings they built aren't cheap either. Looking at their most recent financial statement, it looks like they have $284 million in assets ($164 million being property). They did $365 million in sales with ~$110 million in gross margin. They made $3 million in earnings. So pretty darn healthy, especially with their current aggressive growth. ~3% profit from gross margin is quite reasonable. The company owes ~$190 million to its share holders, but they have no way to redeem it... I wonder what the executives pull in. "Selling and administrative expenses" are $110 million (which I guess includes all the salaries and executive compensation). So not too shabby. If you want to live in that world... it might be worth giving it a try.