2008 Young Retailer of the Year Honoree
MAURICE CHEVALIER
Right Time, Right Place
While
many hardware stores celebrate a history of many years in the hardware
business, Morinville Home Hardware is now in its fifth year. But that’s
something to celebrate too, because for owner Maurice Chevalier, it
means there’s no better time than right now to be selling hardware
and he seems to have found the right time and place to start up a brand
new store.
Chevalier’s family has a long history in retail. His father,
Ubald, operated a Bumper to Bumper automobile parts franchise for many
years in Morinville, Alberta Canada. In 2001, Maurice took over that
store from his father, and continues to run it today.
Young and ambitious, Chevalier knew there must be more ways to grow
the business. There was plenty of economic strength in the area. Carefully
considering the demographics of the area, he realized that a hardware
store was missing from the town. He also realized it would be a perfect
combination with the auto store he was already running.
In 2003, Chevalier opened the doors of Morinville Home Hardware and
hit the ground running. He’s managed to do a lot of business in the
limited 5,500-square feet of store he has. In one year the business
hit $1 million in sales, and last year sales were at $2.3 million.
But even with the good economy in Morinville, those kinds of sales
numbers don’t just happen. While he has limited experience in hardware
retailing, Chevalier seems to have a good instinct for what it takes
to run a successful retail operation.
First of all, he’s been able to expand his customer base. He noticed
that having an auto parts store connected to a hardware store was a
dream come true for male shoppers. The women, however, tended to just
wait outside.
So, Chevalier, with the assistance of his wife Elizabeth, created
his Home Expressions area with an assortment of home-related items
targeted at the female customer. And once those female shoppers were
in the store, there was plenty else about Morinville Home Hardware,
like the paint and lawn and garden departments, to attract their attention.
The Garden Centre Chevalier added in 2006 has been a boom to the
business. He also knew that if he was going to have a high-performance
department, he’d better find the right person to run it. “I asked a
local greenhouse operator, Elaine Zinger, if she would like to take
on the challenge of setting up the Garden Centre,” he says. “Now, she
selects the plant stock personally from the growers. The result is
a fantastic quality of plant.”
Chevalier also knows it takes a good staff with a high morale to
maintain high customer service. Levels of experience among his six
full-time and 15 part-time employees vary. To help build confidence
among the younger staff, Chevalier encourages them to use training
programs like the Basic Training Course in Hardware Retailing provided
by the North American Retail Hardware Association. Each time an employee
completes a chapter they get a $25 bonus. Eighteen staff members are
already enrolled.
Knowing that even the smallest gestures go a long way to motivate,
Chevalier looks for other ways to say thank you to his staff, such
as free lunches on Saturdays, prizes at the monthly employee meetings
and a Christmas shopping day where they can buy anything in the store
at cost.
Chevalier has also quickly learned another important part of hardware
retailing. Hardware stores are integral parts of the community. He
supports local charities and sports events, especially hockey. Last
year, he thought outside the box. To help the local volunteer firefighters
sell calendars to raise money, he let them camp out, tents and all,
for two days on the roof of his store. They sold a record number of
calendars and inside the store, special displays promoted fire safety.
This
year, Chevalier introduced the newest piece of his business, a Home
Furniture store in a new building. Next, he’ll likely expand the hardware
store to keep up with the growing departments. After all, it’s a good
time to be in the hardware business.