West Kootenay Roller Derby has plans to put the vacant Extra Foods building to use.
The five-team league, which include the Nelson Killjoys, is in the process of fixing the place up to use as a roller derby venue for practices and inter-league scrimmages.
Currently the Killjoys practice in the Trafalgar middle school gym, but league member Teressa Hodsall says a bigger space will open up new opportunities to develop the teams outside of the regular season.
"It's great news for the league, we've never had a space big enough for multiple teams to practice together," said Hodsall, who skates under the name Malice Cooper. "We'll be able to hold inter-city bouts, host training camps and referee clinics, and even just have a regular place hold our board meetings."
Extra Foods closed last May and the Kootenay Co-op now owns the property and plans to eventually tare down the former grocery store to make way for a new mixed use development.
But that won't happen before the end of the 2013 roller derby season, which will get underway with practices starting in early February and regular-season bouts starting in the spring.
The derby girls are eager to get their new space up to snuff. There are 600 floor tiles needed to fill in holes where there used to be freezers and cold cases in the store.
"We're hoping to have the tiles donated from local businesses or anyone who has mis-match tiles in their basement. They don't have to be pretty, as long as they're the right size," Hodsall said, noting the tiles should be 12"x 12" and 1/8" thick.
The league is also looking for donated couches, chairs, tables, rugs — anything to make the space a little more hospitable. They also need water jugs because there's no running water in the building.
Anyone with something to donate can email Hodsall at teressa.hodsall@gmail.com to arrange a time to drop-off the items, or have them picked up from your home.
The girls will start skating in the building on February 1, even if it means skating around the holes in the tiles.
For updates from the roller derby league, check out its Facebook page, facebook.com/wkrollerderby.