Fargo Weight Equipment Maker Muscles their Way into Canada

PRx Performance, based in Fargo, ND, manufactures patented space-saving squat racks and gym equipment, available via their website at www.prxperformance.com. The founders, Brian Brasch (CEO) and Erik Hopperstad (President), came up with the concept of space-saving gym equipment over a couple of beers, a campfire, and a conversation about the latest marketing campaign by the biggest equipment manufacturer in the functional fitness niche, whose slogan was ‘Park in the Street’ (thereby turning your garage into a gym). Sacrificing an entire garage stall didn’t appeal to these upper Midwesterners, so the concept of the wall-mounted folding squat rack was born.

After founding the company in 2013, the two entrepreneurs appeared on an episode of Shark Tank in February 2016 and got a deal with Mr. Wonderful himself, Kevin O’Leary. Then the company experienced significant growth, so they purchased and moved into their own warehouse/office space in North Fargo. Since its inception, the company has fielded numerous inquiries per week from potential customers worldwide. The problem? The company’s products are beefy. As in 11-gauge, American-made steel beefy. Which, up until now, made the cost of shipping insurmountable for most end consumers. 

Looking to solve their international shipping barrier, they decided to rent a booth to showcase the company’s products at FIBO, the biggest fitness expo in the world, held in Cologne, Germany every spring. The intent was to see if international distribution would be feasible. The PRx team made contacts and gathered leads. The team was doing the usual booth thing - hanging out, answering questions from customers, distributors, gym owners, etc. Then two gentlemen from Canada came up and started a conversation. It sounded promising, they exchanged contact info, and thought little more about it. Once the team returned home and had a chance to siphon through all their new leads, Corey Eidem, PRx’s Sales Manager, sent out vendor applications to the most promising. The gentlemen from Canada responded almost immediately. They were the owners of Flaman Fitness, a chain of fitness equipment stores stretching from Vancouver to Toronto (with 40 locations). A couple of phone calls later, they placed their first order in early May 2019. They will have displays of the PRx Racks in 10 physical locations across Canada as well as their online retail. PRx’s sale to Canada coincided with an export documentation course being offered by the U.S. Commercial Service / North Dakota and Mike Allocca. The knowledge gained in the seminar helped with completion of shipping and documentation for the Canada order. PRx is also consulting with CS North Dakota on other potential export opportunities. Their exciting sale to Canada is hopefully the first of many relationships they build as they expand internationally.