Overland Canada ( The Beginning )

It’s always important to understand where your journey starts in order to appreciate where it’s going . When it comes to Overland Canada , our journey started in the spring of 2021 . I had been off of work since the pandemic hit and like a lot of people I was waiting for things to go back to normal or some version of normal . I was spending a lot of time looking for opportunities where I could do my own thing . I wanted to start something new that I could build and mold into a career that reflected me . 

It was mid February when I was chatting with my uncle who works for a trailer retailer in BC . He was telling me they had brought on a guy who was bringing in Rooftoo Tents . Like maybe a few of you I had no idea what I rooftop tent was . He told me they were a fun product and there was a serious market for them . After I did some research I noticed that these tents were apart of a culture called overlanding . Since I’d been looking for something new I decided this could be a fun new venture and I decided to test the waters . 
I ordered a few tents , I think it was 7 or 8 of the top performing tents they had . I rented a storage locker not far from where I was living and that’s where I was gonna store the tents and where I would meet people to show them the products . After one week all the tents I had purchased were sold out , that’s when I realized the market for these tents was hotter then I realized . I made another order and that one went similar to the first and same with the third order . 

After the season was over I had decided that the next year I wanted to open a retail location and start doing this full time . One of my goals along with selling tents was always to sell trailers . I used to sell trailers for a company in BC called Kitt Equipment . It was one of the last jobs that I remember truly enjoying for a number of reasons . I really enjoyed the people that I worked for at that company , salt of the earth people with a great sense of humour who didn’t take themselves to serious . 

So I planned a trip out to Chilliwack BC to go and talk to my old friends and see what they thought of my idea and pick their brains for advice on how best to execute my strategy . We had a number of chats and they mentioned to me an interest in doing a partnership . I hadn’t really considered it before I loved the idea because there’s no one I would rather be in business with then them . 

Finding a place was slightly more challenging then I had assumed it would be at first.  I needed a yard with ample amounts of space to offload shipments or trailers and tents and I need a warehouse style space to store the tents and have some on display . I also need space in order to assemble trailers or work on them if need be . After a few weeks of making calls and talking to real estate agents it became apparent that finding something inside of Calgary was gonna be challenging financially and so i started looking to outlying areas . Honestly I was on Facebook one day going to update my adds and I saw a picture of a Quonset hut . I called the number in the ad and discovered it was in Crossfield , roughly 30 minutes north of Calgary . I checked it out and it checked all the boxes I needed to get started and affordable to get started . 

I opened up officially in April and I’ve been here almost every day since . I am truly appreciative to my partners for trusting me enough to take on this venture with me , and thankful for all the customers who have trusted me and the products that I stand behind . 

So if you’ve got some time come on by and check out Overland Canada for all your trailer and Overland needs and we wont steer you wrong .