VALUE FOR MONEY: Photo shows Gaya Sports’ premises in Tabuan Jaya. The company features a wide range of value for money sports gear, apparel and services, according to Sim.
Ivan Sim
KUCHING: Gaya Sports Sdn Bhd (Gaya Sports) has emerged in the strategic Tabuan Jaya area as a retail sports outlet that offers a comprehensive range of value for money sports gear and apparel at reasonable prices.
The premises located at Tabuan Jaya Commercial Centre was established on November 2012 and is principally involved in retail sales and supply of sports apparel such as jerseys, pants, and tracksuits along with badminton racquets, stringing services, trophies and medals.
The outlet, with a floor space of more than 1,100 square feet, features products for a variety of sports such as football, futsal, volleyball, and badminton while also carrying fashion shoes and court shoes for general wear by various brands including Eutag and Line 7.
Gaya Sports director Ivan Sim elaborated to The Borneo Post, “The products are mostly from West Malaysia and some even directly from China depending on the types and purpose of the products.
“The company strives to provide best services to their customers by selling various products for various sports,” he said.
This was clearly evident as the company enhanced the shopping experience by adding a variety of balls (with basketballs being a hot seller), professional dart sets, versatile three-in-one bags and even volleyball nets, as seen by The Borneo Post at the premises.
With respect to the sheer diversity of products and different uses, the floor space was not enough to carry everything but items could be obtained via special orders upon request, Sim explained.
“For some customers who love team events (such as friendly matches and company sports events) and wish to have team shirt printing, Gaya Sports would be able to assist as we have a full range of attires from different models and sizes to opt for,” the director added.
Sim added that Tabuan Jaya made an ideal location for the business as the company discovered that residents from the neighbourhood faced difficulties in sourcing any sports items nearby and had to travel to town just to buy sports items.
In addition, Tabuan Jaya was an area which featured people from all walks of life, making it truly a ‘1 Malaysia community’ and a ‘market mixture community’, he stated.
He highlighted that the company targetted mostly badminton players as it had stringing services and sold badminton rackets from renowned brands such as Yonex, Li-Ning, Gosen, Victor and Prince.
“We are also targeting football and futsal customers as we have various ranges of futsal and football boots to choose from.
“Jogging shoes are also one of our top selling products and we sell school shoes as well. Some of our regular customers even come back for repeat business with us,” he said.
He added that since opening the shop, customers’ feedback had been relatively good but he was hoping to grow this due to less presence in market and the fact that Gaya Sports was still very new.
He said that public awareness was the biggest challenge so far was as most people still did not know the company’s presence and locality.
As such, the shop’s operated seven days a week and also had a Facebook page which constantly updated its new arrivals and ongoing promotions such as its current ‘Buy 1 Free 1’ promotion for rackets, jerseys, pants, and shoes on selected items.