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No Comments [ Add Comment ]MacKenzie follows Amer to Ogden
By Jeff DeMossCanadian firm makes trade show exhibits for oudoor companies
OGDEN -- A Canadian company that has designed, built and managed trade show exhibits for dozens of companies in the outdoor sports industry over the past 20 years is getting ready to open its first American office at Business Depot Ogden.
PW MacKenzie Exhibit, based near Vancouver, British Columbia, is renovating 50,000 square feet of space in a building at 113 N. 700 West. The company expects to be in full swing in the new office by Nov. 1.
President and Chief Executive Rick MacKenzie said the decision to establish a branch in the United States, and specifically Ogden, was based on a similar move by one of MacKenzie's top clients, Amer Sports Corp.
Amer Sports is in the process of consolidating its North American operations at the downtown American Can Co. complex. Three of Amer's major brands -- Salomon, Atomic and Suunto -- will be based in Ogden, and all three are clients of MacKenzie.
"That was kind of the catalyst for this new office," MacKenzie said. "We weren't looking at this kind of move before."
The Ogden office will be managed by Jared MacKenzie, Rick's son, and son-in-law Jason Wesley, both of whom will relocate their families to Ogden. It will be hiring between six and eight employees locally to manage projects for individual clients.
"Our business is somewhat seasonal," MacKenzie said. "A lot of it is done on a contract basis."
The company currently has annual sales of about $2.5 million, and that should rise to $3.5 million in the next year, he said.
In addition to supporting clients based in Ogden, the new office will help MacKenzie during the semi-annual Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City, which wrapped up its four-day summer meeting Sunday.
The company has been working at the show for more than 10 years. It handled exhibits for seven of this year's participants, MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie also is a regular at the annual SnowSports Industries America trade show in Las Vegas, which Ogden officials have been using to promote the city as a burgeoning center of the outdoor recreation industry.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said the move by MacKenzie helps further solidify the city's growing reputation as "the hub for the high-adventure recreation business and the organizations that support it."
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