Michael McLarney, Hardlines Editor and podcast host, interviews Geneviève Gagnon, President of Groupe Gagnon, and CEO of Évolution Structures and Évolution Distribution. Joining the discussion is Geoffrey McLarney, Quebec Hardlines Assistant Editor and representative of all things francophone.   Key Takeaways: [1:07] Michael welcomes Geneviève to the podcast. [1:25] There was no fence between the house where Geneviève was born and the lumber yard. When she was five, she would climb on the bundles, so her parents put up a fence. Geneviève has always been involved in the family business. [2:47] Geneviève went abroad for her education. She studied international finance in Copenhagen, then worked in South Africa and Tunisia. [4:14] Geneviève found it challenging to work in Tunisia. She came back home and soon told her father she wanted to work for him in the family business. [5:01] Geneviève’s father gave her the mandate to evaluate a store. After a week, she reported that they needed to close that store. They relocated the employees and closed the store. Geneviève went to work at the head office in Chénéville. Groupe Gagnon is somewhat decentralized, with different functions at different offices, based on where the employees live. [7:33] This is Groupe Gagnon’s 49th year in business. Geneviève attributes its longevity to its people. Geneviève’s father started the business by buying his parent’s small general store in Chénéville in May of 1973, turning it into a hardware store and lumber yard. [9:03] Geneviève credits the people of Groupe Gagnon with its growth. The employees treat it as if it were their company. Geneviève also notes the relationships Groupe Gagnon has with its vendors, thanks to her father. The supply chain vendors have stuck with Groupe Gagnon through the COVID-19 pandemic. [10:52] Since January 2020, Groupe Gagnon has been independent of any buying group. [11:20] In May 2012, Michael visited the opening of the Groupe Gagnon store at Saint-André-Avellin. He was struck by how bright and innovative it was, with its interior wood, geothermal heating and cooling, and living plant wall. Groupe Gagnon was ahead of its time in the environmental movement. Geneviève does what she can to make the future brighter. [14:22] Groupe Gagnon has built other stores after the same green model. Ten years ago they adopted all-electronic pricing, saving trees. [16:07] Part of Geneviève’s education was in tax law. She always had an interest in law, relating to selling and buying companies. [17:32] Geneviève has three businesses. She discusses some of her ideas for growth. There are a lot of opportunities. She talks about business succession in retail. It is a challenge to attract young people to work in an industry that is not very technological. [20:51] Michael mentions how much of an industry giant Geneviève’s father is, and how good he was to Hardlines through the years. Michael is glad Geneviève is applying her intellect and intuition to follow in the footsteps of her father. Geneviève talks of her father’s encyclopedic knowledge and experience that she still uses. Her father’s first love, with his wife, is the farm! [22:59] Évolution Distribution started in 2010, manufacturing roof trusses. Geneviève wanted to be in that business to serve her customers more fully. In 2015 she purchased Cott Lumber company and that business has exploded. Besides roof trusses, they manufacture floor trusses and wall panels in three manufacturing sites and distribute lumber and building materials. [25:17] Évolution Distribution started as independents in 2020. All the members in Évolution Distribution have a volume large enough to buy direct. Évolution Distribution is a member of the OCTO hardware purchasing group and serves 17 locations for hardware. [26:59] Geneviève explains the business model of Évolution Distribution as a regional distributor. The 17 locations share buying power and business knowledge and handle all importation for

In this episode of What’s in Store, we talk to pioneering Home Depot executive Jim Inglis, author of Breakthrough Retailing: How a Bleeding Orange Culture Can Change Everything. Inglis looks back on the early years of the company and the skepticism it was met within the industry. He also delves into Home Depot’s entry into Canada through the acquisition of Aikenhead’s.

Hardlines Assistant Editor and podcast host Geoff McLarney, interviews Zaida Fazlic, Vice President of People, Culture, & Change Management at Taiga Building Products. Zaida shares her expertise in the areas of passing knowledge and skills to the next generation of employees, keeping the company successful as generations retire, learning to delegate, how to keep employees engaged, and happy to stay in your company, how to share positive energy in the workplace, and the importance of an offline vacation to take a break, rest, and recharge.   Key Takeaways:   [:28] Geoff introduces Zaida Fazlic. Zaida is Vice President of People, Culture, & Change Management at Taiga Building Products. The topic is the challenges facing HR professionals in increasingly chaotic employment environments.   [1:02] Zaida mentions what keeps her up at night. One thing is succession planning. Most of the Baby Boomer generation will be entering retirement age in the next five to 10 years. We need to invest in upskilling, mentoring, and coaching the next generation who will step in to make sure that the business remains an ongoing concern and is successful beyond any one generation.   [2:07] Zaida sees new managers struggling with being able to delegate. It may seem faster to do it yourself but it’s not sustainable. You’ve got to figure out a way to scale yourself. It’s not sustainable to have one person run a business. Leadership has a responsibility to invest in employees; to mentor, coach, and teach them their hard-earned knowledge and wisdom.   [3:40] Zaida speaks of the trepidation around AI, automation, and the technology that’s coming. It’s an opportunity. If there’s a productivity gain from AI, then some of the time that is freed up can be used for mentoring, coaching, and training.   [4:42] Overcome the mentality of doing it yourself. The book Clone Yourself speaks of downloading your skills and knowledge to younger employees. This knowledge cannot be found anywhere else than in your head.   [5:35] There has been a lot of turnover since the outset of the pandemic. There was an impression in some quarters that people were not wanting to work. Zaida has heard anecdotally from HR professionals and managers that there is some return to normality concerning attrition and the ability to recruit talent. It will always be an issue, to some extent.[6:52] There are also myths, misunderstandings, and resentment between the generations and we need to work toward dispelling those myths and opening lines of communication and understanding each other better.   [7:22] Zaida has a life philosophy never to fall into a state of being a victim if you can be a creator for yourself and create solutions for whatever challenges you may be facing. There are ways to do that.   [7:49] It is the responsibility of the mature leadership to pass down those skills and teach the new generation.   [8:02] There are many things an organization can do to make itself attractive to the workforce for recruitment and retention. Fair pay is a starting point. It’s also important, leaders, to make sure that you’re spending time and energy, one on one, with everyone who reports directly to you, to get to know your employees and what motivates them.   [8:52] Outward behaviors are not always a good indication of what motivates somebody. We’re unique as individuals. We all have different motivations. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that people need the basics of food, clothing, and shelter first. Beyond that, there are other underlying motivations like job security, autonomy of time, or enhanced titles.[11:20] Today’s workforce requires a company to invest in them. One way you do that is to spend time with them, one-on-one, getting to know them and what drives them so you can tailor the work in such a way that keeps them engaged.   [11:54] When people are so engaged in something that they lose track of time and their basic needs such as hunger, they are in the flow state

Hardlines Editor and podcast host Steve Payne interviews Romain Mercier, a customer engagement and communications expert and a partner at PS&Co, an agency that provides consulting services and harnesses data to build measurable customer experiences. Romain describes his extensive background in banking, data analytics, and finally, digital marketing. He shares considerations for SMBs and mid-markets on catching up with Canadian Tire and the big box stores in customer engagement. Romain speaks of the importance of digital channels for SMBs and why it is important for your brand to digitize your business. He explains the Federal Canadian Digital Adoption Program, available to all businesses that have had over $3 million in revenue over the last three years. Listen in for tips on digitizing your Candian SMB.   Key Takeaways:   [:17] Steve introduces Romain Mercier. Romain is a partner at PS&Co, an agency that provides consulting services and harnesses data to build measurable customer experiences. It’s clear that Romain knows what he’s doing with tech and customer engagement. He’s worked for some of the biggest names in tech after beginning his career in banking.   [:56] Romain has worked in senior capacities for Oracle, Adobe, Playtech, SAP, and Resulticks. He’s based in Vancouver and hails originally from France. Steve welcomes Romain to What’s In Store.   [1:33] Romain speaks of his financial background, working for a Big Five bank. He got the crash course on how to run a business, look at it from a P&L point of view, and look at the strategies that can drive revenue and drive efficiencies.   [1:56] More than a decade ago, Romain made the move to a tech vertical, leveraging data to find ways to generate more revenue and find efficiencies. He developed reports for finance departments, operations departments, sales departments, HR departments, and rarely for marketing departments. Marketing was getting roughly the same budget, year after year.   [2:42] Romain joined Oracle Eloqua, where he started nurturing by email. Romain started working more with technology that enabled him to build engagement with customers and better communication, leveraging data to find out more about the interests and intents of the customers, and leveraging technology to automate communication to reduce the cost of sales.   [3:22] Romain has been doing this for 15 years. As the market matured, servicing very large North American companies, Romain realized the value he provided was more to the service of guiding his clients than the technology itself.   [3:51] Romain brings a spectrum of large tech vendors, small tech vendors, and digital engagement, taking the strategy that big corporations use and simplifying it for the benefit of SMB and mid-market organizations in Canada.   [4:37] Steve and Romain contrast Canadian Tire’s omnichannel strategy with the online sales of independent hardware and building supply dealers. How can independent retailers compete in technology not only with Canadian Tire but with Amazon? The digital technology industry has been maturing over the last 15 to 20 years to be faster, cheaper, and more convenient.   [6:38] Independent retailers now have access, at a tenth of the price, to the same technology Canadian Tire has invested in for years, using the same strategy on social media and digital advertisement, much more cost-effectively.[6:50] The challenge that SMB and mid-market retailers have is they don’t have the talent in-house that a Candian Tire team or other large retailer’s digital marketing team might have. They don’t have the same budget to pay the top marketing agencies to help them. But the cost of the technology is now affordable to the SMB market. Hire outside talent to help you.   [8:27] When did advertising and marketing turn into customer engagement? It started before COVID-19, when the social media started happening. The big accelerator was COVID-19 when every store except essential ser

Hardlines Associate Editor and podcast host Geoff McLarney interviews Michael McLarney, Founder and President of Hardlines.   About Us: What’s in Store is a podcast series of the Hardlines Information Network, brought to you by Jeld-Wen.    For information on our annual Retail Report and where to download it, click here.  Resources: Hardlines.ca Geoff McLarney Michael McLarney Sponsor: Jeld-Wen

Hardlines Associate Editor and podcast host Geoff McLarney and Senior Editor Steve Payne interview Russ Permann, President and CEO of Taiga Building Products on how Taiga weathered the pandemic, how the supply chain looks today, and his expectations for technology improvements for the business and the industry.   Key Takeaways:   [:41] Michael introduces Russ Permann, President and CEO of Taiga Building Products. The correct way to pronounce Taiga is both tay-ga and tie-ga! Calgary, Alberta is Russ’s office, but the corporate office of Taiga Building Products is in Vancouver.   [2:15] During the pandemic, Taiga Building Products focused mainly on the basics. It was a difficult period. They acted with integrity and honesty with vendors and customers.   [3:38] Taiga Building Products uses a hybrid system of the right technology in the right setting for the right event. They had started online meetings before the pandemic. They hold in-person meetings as well.   [4:47] Materials are readily available. Interest rates are up and housing starts are down, so demand is down. Ocean freight is running and lead times are more predictable. In certain categories, supply restraints will come again.   [7:02] Mills are closing for economic reasons. Particularly in British Columbia. The log supply to the mills has been reduced by the old-growth restrictions in BC.   [8:59] Prices on almost all commodities have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. That may not be a permanent condition. Supply limitations in BC and longer trucking routes to mills have caused a permanent price increase in wood products. Russ expects more mill closures.   [10:43] Taiga has invested heavily in technology. As an industry, there is a transparency gap in the supply chain that Russ wants to address before others come in to disrupt the industry.   [11:53] Outsiders are willing to take a risk to disrupt the industry because of its sheer size and because it’s an industry that hasn’t spent a lot of time focusing on productivity improvements.[12:25] Taiga Building Products is focusing on two areas of technology, first, making Taiga Building Products more efficient and frictionless to do business with, and second, improving transparency between Taiga Building Products, their vendors, and customers.   [13:12] Russ describes the warehouse management systems technology adopted already by Taiga Building Products starting in 2015. That has made them more internally transparent, accurate, and reliable. They know what they have, where it is, and how long it takes to ship it.   [14:55] There is potential for disruption of the building industry, based on what has happened already, such as with large-scale modular buildings. Markets are driven by a desire for cost efficiency. Technology is one of the best facilitators of cost efficiency.   [16:54] It’s incumbent on Russ and others who have benefited a lot from this industry to think about how to leverage technology to gain cost efficiency, get better, and be more predictable.   [18:05] Every time fuel rises, it never scales back to the previous cost. The most expensive mile is an empty mile so they concentrate on load fulfillment. Russ explains how to optimize a route to ensure a full truck.   [20:12] Russ’s last thoughts: “We’re still a business that gets things done through our people. It’s an industry made up of people and it’s one thing I really enjoy about the world we live in today is that there’s still a lot of stuff done in our business that’s done eye-to-eye with people you can trust. It’s really fulfilling. … Here at Taiga we really value our people.”   [21:34] Geoff and Steve thank Russ Permann for joining What’s In Store and giving listeners a better understanding of Taiga Building Products.   About Us: What’s in Store is a podcast series of the Hardlines Information Network, brought to you by Jeld-Wen Resources: Hardlines.ca Geoff McLarney Steve Payne Sponsor: Jeld-Wen Russ Permann Taiga Building Products   Quotes

Michael McLarney, Hardlines President and podcast host, interviews Joel Siebert, the Owner of Mountain View Building Materials on building team members individually.   Key Takeaways:   [:31] Michael introduces Joel Siebert and the topic of the episode.   [:47] Mountain View Building Materials has been in business for 17 years, headquartered in Calgary with a second store in Kelowna. The Calgary store sells everything to do with the outside of the home, The Kelowna store is smaller and sells outdoor living products.   [1:48] Kelowna is around seven hours from Calgary and a lot of people from Calgary have summer homes on the lakes there. For a few years, Calgary customers were having Mountain View ship items from Calgary that they couldn’t find in Kelowna. So Mountain View opened a store in Kelowna.   [3:03] At the Western Retail Lumber Association show in Winnipeg early this year, Joel hosted a seminar on motivating your sales force to be passionate about selling. Joel praises his brother Brad and Sheia Carr for their expertise. Joel hires salespeople with a solid history of customer service. Joel relates why food service workers make such good sales candidates.   [6:41] A salesperson doesn’t need to know everything about building materials to do the job effectively. You’re not selling building materials, you’re selling a project. When you’re meeting with a customer, you know what a deck is. You’re selling a deck. The 2ʺx4ʺs, the framing, and the composite decking are the by-products of your selling this project to the customer.   [7:22] Once the salespeople focused on selling projects, and the emotional connection to the projects they were selling, the training on the sales team ramped up because they were able to talk about something they were familiar with quickly, rather than focusing on the details of the materials that go into the project.   [7:59] Every team member has different priorities. If you give a blanket reward to the team, you don’t get to show that you care about their priorities and that you’re listening to them and understanding what their concerns are. Managers have regular meetings with the sales team and weekly one-on-ones. Joel does not have an office and interacts with the salespeople often.   [9:21] Joel quotes a ski coach he used to work for, “Your kids are never going to care what you know until they know how much you care.” Joel is always going to listen to what everybody has to say and will do his best to help them as much as humanly possible. He doesn’t expect them to put their work ahead of their home life.   [11:42] Joel observes that the younger generations heavily value lifestyle over work. When they value lifestyle over work, their progression at work doesn’t happen as fast as their lifestyle expectations. Sometimes Joel will reward them with extra holidays or personal time off. If you have the right people, they are willing to push while they are at work.   [14:02] Joel sees that with the older generations, time off is what they like as they ease into retirement. Joel has had success with pairing up the older and younger generations. The older generation has industry knowledge and life experience. The managers put the senior employees in a sales leadership role. It builds morale and validates their careers.   [16:05] Joel tells how he helps team members make a career in building materials. The industry was built on family businesses but families are getting smaller. When Joel sees someone is committed to a career path with Mountain View, he wants to build rungs for them so they know they’re progressing. And as they progress, others need to take their places on the rungs below.   [16:55] Joel has attended Hardlines conferences and WRLA, where succession planning has been discussed. Most of the conversation has been about what happens when the owners want to leave the business. Mountain View’s succession planning is about maintaining the business and filling spots when team members

Michael McLarney, Hardlines President and podcast host, interviews Eri Mathy, the Head of Business Development for IKEA Canada.   Key Takeaways:   [:31] Michael shares Eri Mathy’s bio and the topic of the episode.   [1:21] Michael welcomes Eri Mathy to the podcast.   [1:34] Eri is the Head of Business Development, at IKEA Canada. Her role includes expansion, penetrating more households, and getting more people in this lovely country to love IKEA. She also looks over sustainability, transformation, and innovation. IKEA has been on a journey to transform its business to become an omnichannel retailer.   [2:33] IKEA started its omnichannel transformation journey a couple of years ago but it was disrupted by the pandemic. How people furnished their homes changed. IKEA asked how to make a better home for people who spend so much time in it. This helped IKEA to accelerate its transformation journey to become a better omnichannel company with more online sales.   [4:12] Since the pandemic, IKEA grew 171% in online sales. So they learned that customers still want to make their homes better, and come to IKEA, but IKEA needed to get much better at making it easier. IKEA focused on making online shopping and browsing easy and fun, and developing services to fulfill these online orders.   [4:42] IKEA spent hours and energy developing its service offer during COVID-19. One service was Click & Collect, where customers can order from their cell phones and pick a time slot for where and when they would like to pick it up from an IKEA store. Click & Collect became very popular during the pandemic. The pick-up lockers are open 24 hours at the stores.   [6:13] IKEA is still just beginning its transformation. This is a very diverse market and the needs are different in Canada. IKEA seeks to be most relevant to every demographic.   [7:12] IKEA has focused on small living spaces. Urbanization is happening in Canada and around the world. Around the world, IKEA does home visits every year to see how people are using the products in different demographics. Canada has many shared homes. IKEA opened a smaller-format store in downtown Toronto in May to reflect how people live in Canada.   [9:24] IKEA makes the new stores accessible and affordable to visit. They chose city centers for the sites. The first small-format store is in the heart of downtown Toronto. The next small store to open is in the Scarborough town center. Customers want to come to physical stores, interact with staff, touch and feel the range of furniture and get planning for complex furnishings.   [11:28] Building up a kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom is a big investment and it’s quite technical to piece that together. IKEA specialists support the customer in that journey with expertise and efficiency. IKEA's small stores and large stores have planning, installation, and delivery services. To prolong the furniture, IKEA offers free spare parts.   [12:26] In 2019, IKEA offered a sell-back program where customers can sell back their pre-loved furniture and get store credit to renew their home furnishings.   [13:20] The spare parts and the sell-back programs help IKEA to become even more affordable for many customers. By prolonging your furniture for a longer time you get the value out of the purchase you have made. IKEA is working to make its products even more durable and recyclable, using renewable materials in the furniture it produces.   [15:08] Smaller products can be delivered by parcel starting at $7.99. Larger items can be delivered by truck starting at $39.00. Click & Collect is available at the store for $5.00. IKEA also works with the 15 Penguin Pickup points across the Toronto downtown area as well as a collection point on the basement floor of the store downtown.   [17:06] Eri says the key to going the last mile is to work with partners outside of IKEA to find the best affordable and sustainable option for the customers to get beautiful furniture inside their homes.

Michael McLarney, Hardlines President and podcast host, interviews Frances Sologuk, owner of Osoyoos Home Hardware, in Southern British Columbia.   Key Takeaways: [:56] Michael welcomes Frances to the podcast and introduces the topic, Osoyoos Home Hardware.   [1:20] Frances thanks Michael and Hardlines for giving Osoyoos Home Hardware a voice.   [1:57] Frances was born in Northern Ontario into a retail family. She first became a schoolteacher. In 1973 her family moved to British Columbia to the Okanagan Valley, discovered the small town of Osoyoos, and fell in love. She loves the weather. Osoyoos has a population of 5,000. Osoyoos Home Hardware serves a rural area of around 7,000 people.   [3:50] Frances refers to her hardware store as part store and part museum. When her family bought Osoyoos Home Hardware in 1985, they knew they wanted to keep the tradition. The store has been on the same corner since 1942 and has been owned by only two families.   [4:19] The Sologuk family wanted to honor the Fairweather family who started the store. They started “un-renovating” and discovering the history and connection that the store had to the community.   [6:07] When the Sologuk family tore down the “modern” suspended ceiling and siding, they discovered beautiful lumber and doors added in from a former ski shop on a ski hill at Camp McKinney. The Fairweathers originally had a store on a 30 ft. by 100 ft. lot. The store now is 90 ft. by 100 ft. with a big warehouse in the back.   [8:08] The Sologuks started doing some homework. Mrs. Fairweather was still living and shared with them pictures and the history of how they hauled everything down from the gold mine at Camp McKinney on Mount Baldy. There is a photograph of some of the timbers in the gold mine that are now seen in the store. The mining camp is about 45 minutes away from Osoyoos.   [9:18] The Fairweathers were instrumental in starting the ski hill. A ski shop was part of the original store, although when the Sologuks bought it, it was covered with suspended ceilings. When the ceiling was taken down, they discovered a beautiful peaked roof with a tree trunk through it. They wanted to keep that on display.   [10:58] The Fairweathers trucked up to the mountain and hauled back everything they found, including a holding cell door made of tin and a beautiful thick wood door with a wrought iron handle. They built rooms around these doors.   [12:31] The store has five sets of stairs. Merchandising teaches that customers avoid stairs, but the Sologuks felt that if they made it intriguing enough, people would be afraid of missing something if they go downstairs. The stairs work well for the store.   [13:55] Osoyoos Home Hardware has become a destination store and the local community members play a part in its success. Anybody who visits Osoyoos comes to Osoyoos Home Hardware.   [14:53] The original hardware store is still the hardware section of the store. Two joining lots were purchased in 1955 and the division between the old and the new is clear. The Sologuks put a train around inside the store on a suspended track. The track goes from the checkout through windows made in the dividing wall. In December, it’s a Santa train, playing carols.   [16:36] Joining the two sides of the basement took some engineering. The cement wall was about 16 inches thick. The cement piece they cut out for the door was too heavy to lift out of the store. So they pushed it over and built a display case on it, exposing the workmanship of the cut wall with its petrified wood and square rebar.   [20:16] Osoyoos Home Hardware caters to the needs of its community. Those needs change with the seasons. Osoyoos Lake is the warmest freshwater lake in Canada. In the summer, they sell a lot of inflatables. The inflatables with the best-looking girl on the package sell out first!   [22:10] Osoyoos Home Hardware is a good hardware store with amazing people working for them. They couldn’t do it without the moder