About Us
New Balance Vancouver is a group of full-line New Balance stores located in the Greater Vancouver, with stores in downtown Vancouver, Delta, and Langley. As a licensee of New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. (NBAS), we are the first of a select few stores that NBAS has authorized to New Balance shoes online in Canada.
With experienced staff trained in gait analysis, our employees emphasize finding you the correct shoe for your foot – rather than just leaving you in a row of shoes to look for your size. A visit to any of our three stores includes, at no extra charge, a gait analysis, in which one of our experts will examine your walking stride to check your arch movement and your degree of pronation to help you find the right pair of shoes.
We back up your specialized shoe fitting with a guarantee unparalleled in athletic shoes: if your shoes don’t fit you right, bring them back within a month, and we’ll replace them with the right pair for you.
History
New Balance Vancouver started with Lex Hoos, a Team Canada field hockey athlete, and Jordan Cluff, a runner with a strong interest in athletic shoes. Although running shoes had progressed in leaps and bounds since the 50s, Lex (and other athletes) had a hard time finding cleats, as well as court shoes, that were truly supportive and built to fit the foot.
Lex started his own athletic store in 1979, and on the advice of sports physicians like Jack Tauton and Doug Clement, began carrying a little-known brand called New Balance – formerly only known for their orthotics. In the time of the rise of the sneaker – the Nike Waffle and the Adidas TRX – most shoe stores were selling 65% Adidas or 65% Nike. Lex’s store was the opposite – visited by elite athletes and referrals from podiatrists and sports doctors, it sold 65% New Balance.
In 1996, Jim Davis, president of New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc., visited Vancouver to meet with Lex. After hearing about Lex’s success with the athletic and medical community, Jim asked Lex if he’d be interested in opening a New Balance exclusive store – the first New Balance store outside of the US, and only the third worldwide, after Chicago and New York. Lex agreed, sold off his other stores, and opened New Balance Vancouver – and the rest is history.
