Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2013 - 23

Henry's gives back through its Pixels for Pistols campaign.
Henry's. "Community Involvement"

In February 2008, for the first time in the 100-year
history of the Canadian camera chain, a Henry's store
was held up by an armed robber. This traumatic experience gave birth to a unique community-oriented program, called Pixels for Pistols, intended to make for
safer towns and cities.
"Pixels for Pistols is a gun amnesty program partnering with police and camera vendors," explains Carainn
Buchalter. "A lot of people have guns they don't want, and
35 per cent of all crimes are committed with stolen guns.
This program is designed to encourage people to turn in
those unwanted guns in exchange for a digital camera."
It's been remarkably successful. The first amnesty,
in Toronto in November 2008, yielded 2,000 guns and
60,000 rounds of ammunition. Most recently, in October 2013, more than 1,000 guns were turned in over a
three week period.
"Pixels for Pistols is an exciting program," says
Buchalter. "There's nothing in it for us except for safer
communities. But that's important because we're not a
big box store, we want to be a part of the communities
we serve," explains Buchalter.
Henry's footprint in their communities goes beyond
this single program. Every one of the chain's 33 stores
sponsors a local kids sports teams, organizes photo
walks, donates photo booths for events in the community, and holds 'lunch and lessons' events in stores.

office are under the age of 30," said Sam Pisani, vicepresident of human resources at Sears Canada. "We
offer paid internships, and have launched the Sears
Future Leaders Program (FLP) and Analyst-In-Training program (AIT)."
AIT begins with a six-month immersion in a role to
accelerate a young employee's understanding of business and skills development, including both formal
training and work experience, followed by moving into
a new role at Sears. The Sears FLP is a management
training program that combines in-class instruction
and on-the-job experience spread over several months
of intense individual learning and group study.
The end result: integrated employee training and development systems that improve revenue, enhance the
customer experience, and engage future retail leaders
in service excellence.
Innovation and focus
These are but a handful of examples that illustrate the
innovation happening within the Canadian retail environment and the focus that is being paid to the needs
and wants of today's customer. If you have an interesting story to tell about brand-building innovation, send
it to us at cdnretailer@retailcouncil.org.

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Sears Canada. "Investing in Young Employees"

The iconic Canadian retailer has always been appreciated for its unrivaled catalogue selection and customer service. But now Sears is making a name for itself as
one of the best retail employers in the country. Indicative of that, Sears Canada has recently been named to
the list of 'Canada's Top Employers for Young People"
by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers project.
"We are investing in programs that develop the
careers of young Canadians and, consequently, a
growing percentage of Sears associates in our head

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Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2013

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