Fresh Air Experience

Fresh Air (known before 2014 as Fresh Air Experience) is a sporting goods store founded in March 1969 [other sources say 1972] by Dennis Thomasson. [6]

Dennis sold the store to Gord Ryan in 2010. On 31 Jan 2014 Gord Ryan sold the store to Jeff Pylypchuk and Peter Tofinetti, who merged it with their properties Cyclepath (founded 1997) and Static (founded 2001). [5]

Peter's wife is dancer Maeghan Tofinetti. [1]

One employee has been with the company since the beginning: Alan Cranston [4], who started working there in Grade 10 (so at age 15 approximately). He has been the longtime manager of the store.

Location

For many years it operated in the Caledonia Building, 319 Victoria Ave East, in Fort William. [2]

After the 2014 acquisition by the owners of Cyclepath, the store moved from its old historic location into the Cyclepath location, a building on May Street North, across from SilverCity Thunder Bay. [5] It was renamed "Fresh Air".

In 2015 a fire destroyed this location. [3]

It is as of 2019 on 710 Balmoral Street. [1]

Sources

[1] Website [1]

[2] Former building site [2]

[3] CBC Article, 2015 [3]

[4] Alan Cranston LinkedIn [4]

[5] Walleye March 2014 [5]

[6] Denis Thomasson LinkedIn [6]