It was during a cross-Canada trip that off-road lover Fabian Kosari found himself taking an unscheduled yet permanent stop on Vancouver’s North Shore.
Kosari had departed Toronto and made it to the West Coast and was scheduled to move on up to the Yukon, but he just couldn’t get out of the Lower Mainland. It wasn’t, however, any mechanical failure, unclimbable mountain or impassable river that was keeping the life-long adventurer from leaving town. It was simply the beauty of the place.
“We had no plan whatsoever to stay here,” Kosari says with a laugh. “We drove all the way here and then we were supposed to go to Yellowknife, Dawson City and then go back. But as soon as I saw this place I fell in love, I was like ‘I’m not going back.’ We ended up staying here.”
That was about a year and a half ago, and since settling on the North Shore Kosari has gone on to do what he knows best – open up an off-roading store. West Coast Off-Roaders opened its doors last month and has been doing brisk business ever since in its shop on North Vancouver’s Garden Avenue, helping local off-road enthusiasts get geared up for trips into the wilds of British Columbia.
It’s an area that Kosari is keen to explore himself after growing up off-roading in locations around the world. Half Cypriot and half Persian, Kosari says his love affair with off-road vehicles started early.
“I grew up camping with my parents, with my dad especially,” he says. “He was one of those old-school hippies who went to uni in Berkeley and lived there for like 10 years. He introduced me to the whole culture. Since I was a little kid I was always fascinated by 4x4s, like Land Rovers and Jeeps. Exotic cars and sports cars never appealed to me, to be honest with you. … A Ferrari and a Toyota Camry, they’re like the same to me. But if I see an old Jeep or old Land Rover I keep going around it to check out the suspension – it’s just in me. It’s always been my passion.”
Kosari started in the manufacturing and fabrication side of the business in Iran before branching out to parts and sales, forging an association with the ARB brand produced in Australia where he lived for a spell. He’s owned, and sold, shops in Iran, Dubai, and Toronto, but says he has no intention of leaving the North Shore anytime soon.
“I’m not thinking of selling the business here anymore,” he says, adding that the off-roading he’s already encountered in the Squamish area is some of the best he’s ever tackled anywhere in the world. The shop’s business model includes getting out for trips with their customers, growing alongside the local off-roading community.
“We base our business on friendship,” says Kosari, adding that they’ll even let customers come in and use their hoist and tools if they need to work on their own ride. “We try to maintain our relationship with customers and it’s just basically like a family to us. We keep in touch with our customers, we go on trips with them. They can come and go as they please.”
Part of that plan also involves keeping the environment clean for future generations, says West Coast Off-Roaders communications and marketing manager Kevin Stroesser, adding that the crew from the shop has joined other members of the Four-Wheel Drive Association of B.C. on monthly cleanup trips to local beaches and wildlife areas. They’ll be out at Triangle Beach in Richmond for a cleanup this Sunday.
“Our business survives because of our community and because of where we are. We’re part of that community,” says Stroesser. “People think about off-roading but they may not realize that although we are using a vehicle, they are very respectful of the lands that they go to. They do off-road because they want to go camping … they are outdoors people that are doing this, and those people care about the environment that they are going to.”
West Coast Off-Roaders is located at 104 Garden Ave. in North Vancouver. westcoastoffroaders.com
