Canadian Retailer - Store 2013 - 82

MYSTORE NEWS

an independent retailer-specific line of products
and services. An advisory board of independent
retailers provides guidance to MySTORE and a
vice-president of the division oversees operations.
MySTORE’s vice-president is Mark Startup, formerly the CEO of Shelfspace.
“MySTORE is the culmination of a community of passionate interests to develop a brand
that truly identifies with and represents the independent retailer,” says Startup. “It is an evolving voice to speak on issues to support and celebrate independents. Innovation and growth are
our goals.”
From a political perspective, MySTORE will
become the main lobby for independent retailing
in Canada. It will lead advocacy efforts for fairer
POS payments and more reasonable cross border
shopping rules. From an association perspective,
MySTORE will educate, inform and network independent retailers to give them the technological,
business and retailing skills, as well as cost-saving
services, necessary to succeed.
Introducing MySTORE’s Leaders

An advisory board of independent retailers provides guidance to MySTORE’s operations. These
veteran retailers work in a variety of categories
across the country.
Eleanor LeFave is owner of Mable’s Fables, a
children’s bookstore in Toronto’s Mount Pleasant
neighbourhood.
What the top issue for independents in your region?
A: Showrooming. Independents are doing all
the work while online sellers are reaping all the
reward. We need to formulate a strategy to protect the bricks-and-mortar retailers under attack from parasitical online stores.
How can independents become more competitive?
A: You need to ﬁnd products and develop services that are hard to discover on the Internet.
You don’t want to have an experience where
people will pull out their smart device and start
checking prices.
Ron Pradinuk is President of Journeys Travel &
Leisure SuperCentre in Winnipeg.
What the top issue for independents in your region?
We’re close to the border and have a lot of
people going to the States. The other problem
is that we have a low unemployment rate in this
area. Staffing is always an issue. We have great
staff, but you have to work hard to ﬁnd them
and do your part to keep them.

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How can independents become more competitive?
You need to invest in marketing. I think in the
end, even though you’re small, you have to get
your name out there, using whatever means
possible. The only way you’re going to attract
people is to create a destination store.
Misti Mussatto is the co-owner of Toy Jungle Enterprises, a toy store chain in B.C.
What the top issue for independents in your region?
Shrinking margins. Take the recent ruling on
credit cards—the media touted this as a “victory
for consumers.” When margins are taken away,
retailers have two choices: either raise prices
or hire fewer experts to serve customers. The
ruling is resulting in a slow erosion of entrepreneurial innovators in the marketplace.
How can independents become more competitive?
It is essential that every independent be involved in their retail association. It is necessary
if you want to stay up-to-date on the issues affecting us all, to connect with other like-minded people, and to ﬁnd answers to the myriad of
complexities facing us today.

“MySTORE is the culmination of a community of
passionate interests to develop a brand that truly
identifies with and represents the independent
retailer. It is an evolving voice to speak on issues to
support and celebrate independents. Innovation and
growth are our goals.”
— MARK STARTUP
MySTORE
Fred Pritchard is owner of Golda’s Kitchen, a
multi-channel retailer based in Mississauga, ON.
What the top issue for independents in your region?
Government inaction and waste is my top problem. At the Federal level, we need cost controls
on merchant discount rates, we need to eliminate import tariffs and we need to stop encouraging cross border shopping. Provincially, we
need to eliminate the 8 per cent non-refundable
tax on employee beneﬁt premiums and we need
to streamline the bloated WSIB. Locally, municipal governments need to get on with building
transit to reduce gridlock.
How can independents become more competitive?
As hard as it sounds, you need to spend some
time on business development/marketing. How
do you get more customers into the store? How
do you get each person who comes to the store
to buy something? At the end of each week ask,
“What major accomplishment did I make to
drive my business forward?”

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Canadian Retailer - Store 2013

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