Merchant of Tennis, a professional tennis retailer in Oakville, Ontario has been named Canada’s Favourite Small Business. As part of a national contest held by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and Interac last month, Canadians were asked to vote for their favourite small business using the #MyFavSmallBiz hashtag.
The contest received more than 1,600 entries between October 6th and 18th and over 700 businesses were nominated. In business for over 20 years, Merchant of Tennis has 20 employees and lots of happy customers.
CFIB president Dan Kelly presented the award to The Merchant of Tennis business owners Pamela and Rob Horwood last week. The title of Canada’s Favourite Small Business comes along with a professionally produced ad campaign sponsored by Interac and developed by Toronto-based advertising agency Zulu Alpha Kilo.
“There are thousands of unique small businesses across Canada, like Merchant of Tennis, that are woven into the fabric of their communities, and into the hearts and minds of their customers,” said Kelly.
Loyal customers have only great things to say about Merchant of Tennis: “They’ve got stuff the big stores don’t,” said one customer. “(That’s why) I only trust smallbiz to understand customers.” Others say it’s not only the equipment and prices that make Merchant of Tennis great, it’s the “friendly and knowledgeable staff who have been there at every step and shoe size through (their) son’s tennis growth.”
“We are thrilled to be named Canada’s Favourite Small Business,” said Pam Horwood, CEO of Merchant of Tennis."The #MyFavSmallBiz contest was an outstanding opportunity to engage with our existing clients, reach new audiences and showcase what we do. It gave small companies like ours a bigger voice in a highly competitive national market. Thank you to all of our wonderful customers who voted for us. We're honoured to have your continued support."
For over 22 years Merchant of Tennis has proudly supported grass roots tennis events & local charities. They've grown with the Oakville tennis community and supports various tennis clubs such as The Oakville Club, Wallace Park, Bronte Tennis Club (TC), Joshua Creek TC and White Oaks Park TC. They also support the Doug Philpott Inner City Children Tennis program where they run a racquet exchange program, the Canadian Cancer Society, Movember, Belinda Cooper's Tournament and the Canadian Gay Open.
At the store they offering a professional stringing for a large selection of tennis, squash and badminton equipment, footwear and apparel. As a strong supporter of Canadian tennis, Merchant of Tennis acts as the Official Retailer and Official Stringer of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, the Official Retailer of the Ontario Tennis Association and the Official Retailer of Kids Tennis Equipment for Tennis Canada.