Change is coming to the western tip of Valleyview, where a longtime commercial tenant is moving out and the city’s first indoor pickleball facility is moving in.
Pickleplex Kamloops owner Sam Beggs told Castanet he hopes to have his doors open by the end of the year at 1689 E. Trans-Canada Hwy., home since the 1990s to The Brick.
“We have 27,000 square feet and there’s going to be 10 courts,” he said. “We’re going to have coaching, leagues, programs — all that jazz.”
There are 17 Pickleplexes operating in Canada, mostly in Ontario. There are plans for locations elsewhere in B.C., but company franchisor Andrew Edwards said Kamloops could be the first to be up and running.
“There’s one in Red Deer, and this will be the first one in B.C.,” Edwards said.
“Then we’ll have some more throughout the Lower Mainland, in Kelowna, Nanaimo, Victoria. Hopefully by 2027 we’ll have 10 locations in British Columbia.”
Pickleplex is a public facility with options to purchase a membership for discounted rates. Players can rent courts by the hour.
Edwards said pricing and rates for the Kamloops location are still being worked out.
Brick moves to Notre Dame
The Brick will vacate its longtime Valleyview home at the end of September to move up the hill, into the former Bed Bath & Beyond location in Columbia Square, 500 Notre Dame Dr., most recently home to a short-lived Toys R Us revival.
“We’d normally like to open in the fall but it’s probably going to be mid-winter,” Edwards said. “We’ll push quick — as fast as we can.”
The building will be divided and Pickleplex will occupy a portion of it, roughly half the size of The Brick.
“There’s going to be a central area with couches and chairs and seating and then 10 courts going around that, so you have the social aspect,” Beggs said. “It’s a social club — our whole basis is a social club.”
Plans also call for a coffee shop and licensed service to enhance the social vibe.
“It’s really about having a fun environment, bringing in the community, bringing in people from different levels and different places in their lives and having a place to drop in,” Edwards said. “The social aspect is a huge part.”
According to Beggs, it took about 18 months to find a suitable location for the venture.
Players need more space
The new courts will be sorely needed by local pickleball players, according to Mark Faubert, who sits on the board of the Kamloops Pickleball Club.
“There is quite a bit of pent up demand, and we’re doing the best with the courts that we have,” he told Castanet.
“We’re happy to see Sam get his facility off the ground, but we still think there’s a big community demand that’s not being catered to.”
The pickleball club has been lobbying for space in a city recreation facility planned for the site of Memorial Arena and the Kamloops Curling Club. Faubert is keeping the details of the plan under wraps, but the club hopes to operate the facility.
Don’t expect those efforts to slow down because of Pickleplex.
“I believe that there’s enough demand that even if Sam was to build his facility and the pickleball club was to build a facility, we still probably wouldn’t have enough courts — but we would be working toward what we need,” he said.
Faubert said the city is redesigning preliminary plans for the Memorial Arena-Kamloops Curling Club site, and he expects to get an update on the process once that is complete.
