In this episode, Mountain Equipment Company CEO Eric Claus is back on the podcast, recorded live in person from the MEC Vancouver boardroom. We catch up and talk about the incredible journey of turning the business around during the COVID era, the innovative partnership with Hudson's Bay, and putting the heritage back into this modern retail brand.
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this episode, Mountain Equipment Company CEO Eric Claus is back on the podcast, recorded live in person from the MEC Vancouver boardroom. We catch up and talk about the incredible journey of turning the business around during the COVID era, the innovative partnership with Hudson's Bay, and putting the heritage back into this modern retail brand.
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!
About Eric
Currently CEO and Chairman of MEC Canada, the leading outdoor retailer in Canada, and former CEO of Save-A-Lot stores, a 1,300+ store value food retail chain operating in 37 states and based in St. Louis MO. Former Chairman and CEO of Toronto based retailer, Red Apple Stores Inc. a BlackRock owned company. Former member of the Board of Directors of Rona Inc., a publicly traded Canadian Home Improvement Retailer, until its sales to US based Lowes INC. Former CEO of A&P US and formerly CEO of A&P Canada. Canadian and and Swiss citizen. Fluent in English, French, German and conversant in Spanish. Former Homeland Security and Angel Flight Pilot.
About Michael
Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.
Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with the Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:09
In this episode, Mountain Equipment Company CEO, Eric Claus, is back on the podcast recorded live in person from the MEC Vancouver boardroom. We catch up and talk about the incredible journey of turning the business around during the COVID era, the innovative partnership with Hudson's Bay and putting their heritage back into this modern retail brand.
Eric Claus 00:30
And just look at, you know, what can we do to come out of this stronger and better and focus on those things going forward. And don't sweat the stupid stuff, you know, I think we all spent so much time sweating, really ridiculous things. And COVID just by, by definition, shrunk a lot of businesses for, for, for quite a period of time. And it, it kind of shows you what's important, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 00:54
And how fast you can make decisions, right? (Crossover talk), once you do that, right.
Eric Claus 00:58
You're moving every day.
Michael LeBlanc 01:00
Eric, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing?
Eric Claus 01:02
Hey, I'm good. How are you? Michael? Welcome to rainy Vancouver.
Michael LeBlanc 01:06
Well, I'm thrilled to see you, this the first time we've actually met in person. We are here in person in your boardroom. So, thank you for, for hosting me. It's wonderful to be here.
Eric Claus 01:13
My pleasure. Good to have you here and the whole RCC crew in town.
Michael LeBlanc 01:17
Yeah, the whole crew is in town for the Retail West happening tomorrow by the, by the way, the date falls. So, I'm looking forward to that. Lots of great stuff coming out of there and you’re, you’re going to be joining us for at least some or part of the day?
Eric Claus 01:29
Yeah, I'll join for yeah, a good part of the day.
Michael LeBlanc 01:32
Fantastic. Well, we got a great, a great day planned. It's actually fantastic, you know, Ken Keeler from Calgary Co-op and, and Sarah, Sarah Jordan from Mastermind kicking it off and, and on I go. Christine Day, I'm interviewing Christine Day on the stage at the end. So, that'd be a real just pile of fun, (crossover talk),
Eric Claus 01:49
You got a great roster,
Michael LeBlanc 01:50
We got a great roster. We're very, we're blessed that way. So, listen, this is not your first time on the podcast. I think the first time you and I spoke, at least for the podcast, was shortly after your arrival at, at MEC. But for those who maybe didn't hear the first episode or maybe haven't, haven't been paying attention. Who are you and what do you do? And, and tell us a little bit about your backstory.
Eric Claus 02:12
My name is Eric Claus. And, you know, I've been a retailer my whole career. I spent probably about 15 years in the US, mostly at supermarkets. I ran A&P Canada, which was also, you know, Dominion A&P Food Basics. We sold that to Metro, I ended up in the US running a few chains there. And then in 2017, I pretty well semi-retired and went on a three-year adventure with my wife, you know, the Caribbean, hiking, biking in Alaska. Kiteboarding in Aruba and ended up living for a big part of my you know, big part of the year in a town called Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic. Then, interestingly enough, in 2020, I came back to Nova Scotia where my where my home is, and got a call from, you know, a fellow that I knew that I've known for quite a while who is the founder of Kingswood Capital, who told me that MEC was in trouble which I had trouble believing, you know, everybody loves MEC.
Michael LeBlanc 03:19
Sure.
Eric Claus 03:20
And I'm a big outdoors guy. So, I've been a member since 1984. And it was shocking to me that it could even be in trouble. Fast forward and, you know, I joined them, I invested in the business with them. And we, we bought it and it's been almost two, well it's been, now it's been two years now. And we haven't looked back.
Michael LeBlanc 03:40
Well, and I've got an audience that is both in Canada and around the world. So, spend a bit of time talking about MEC what, what is it? What do you sell? What makes the story original and what makes it remarkable?
Eric Claus 03:52
I think MEC is really special because it started as a co-op. And it had a, you know, a 50-year legacy of, of, of being just the go-to-place for outdoor gear in Canada. Always a, a, a pioneer, a pioneer in ESG, a pioneer in eCommerce. It's known for, you know, the best technical product and absolutely known for the best service in the industry. So, people that really, you know, that live the purpose. So, you have a lot of people that work at MEC that could be doing a lot of other things, but just, you know, for them, it's like working in a candy store because they're passionate outdoors people, they're climbers, they're bikers, they're kayakers, they're, you know, they're, they're the serious outdoor people. And, you know, it's like, you know, when, when I speak to the staff in the stores, I always say we don't need to sell, just impart your knowledge and that's what they do. So, and, and you know, there's also, you know, it's been a buzzword for so many years, but you know, the omni-channel buzzword. It's part of the DNA at MEC. So, you will see, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 05:00
You guys were an OG. We were talking off mic about when I was launching Hudson's Bay in 2000, the people on the stage with me were, there weren't many. But MEC was one of them, (crossover talk),
Eric Claus 05:09
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's, it's been part of, a part of the business for a long time. And it, it, it's very natural, you'll see it in the stores, because there's a lot of things that you want to go on the web, you don't have, you can't carry everything in the store. So, you'll go on the web, and you know, they will be with members and say, Look, if I don't happen to have this kayak, well, this is you know, what's, what's your mission, you're looking for a low profile, fast sea kayak, 16 feet, you know, maybe that's not something that I have in the store, but I can get it for you really quickly. So, and, and you know, the same goes with the online consumer that's completely interfaced with the stores. And we probably have one of the highest percentages of people that shop at MEC that do both online. And, you know, the bricks and mortar.
Michael LeBlanc 05:55
You know, I found I was talking with a good friend of mine. And we were asked why we were successful in eCommerce at The Shopping Channel. And I said, you know, it doesn't happen overnight. We were doing it for 10 years, like culturally in the organization. I think there's time on task. We've been doing this for so long, it becomes part of the DNA. I know, a lot of organizations tried to inject that DNA, but really, it still needs time on task. I mean, it's hard to rush it, would you, would you, would you agree?
Eric Claus 06:20
I think that's true for a lot of things. You know, even our label product, MEC has been doing it for 50 years, we're reinventing things that were done 30 years ago, you know, the, the Apex jacket, or, or the Rad pant, which you'll see, you know, somebody in their 60s wearing the Rad pant, and you'll see a 20-year-old wearing the new Rad pant with the new colors.
Michael LeBlanc 06:41
Right.
Eric Claus 06:42
So, it, you know, I think there's a lot to be said for things that are, that are, ingrained in the business's DNA. And I think, you know, if I look at MEC, you know, just social responsibility, the environment you know, the, the, the good things that MEC stands for. They're not marketing things, they're, they're real. Our, our, our staff are, are completely, completely involved. And, and, you know, give of their time and, and, and our, for our members is extremely important. Sustainability in our product.
Michael LeBlanc 07:18
Right.
Eric Claus 07:19
Sustainable sourcing, you know, Bluesign certified, Fair Trade. So, all of these things, they're, they're, they're not, you know, uh, you know, things come and go. And, and for a lot of people, they'll look at these, these things and, and kind of use them as a marketing advantage. It's not a marketing advantage at MEC, it's really just, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 07:35
It's just what you do. It's just what you do.
Eric Claus 07:37
It is, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 07:39
It's just what you do. I've lost track a little bit at the number of stores, I know when, when the business got into trouble, and then was now private equity owned, part of the reason the selection was made was we're going to keep a lot of the stores open as opposed to slash-and-burn now where what what's your store count?
Eric Claus 07:55
21.
Michael LeBlanc 07:56
21 stores.
Eric Claus 07:58
Yeah, and there was only one store that was shut. And that was really because it was kind of a cannibalization of sales. And then we've opened three since shop-in-shops with The Bay.
Michael LeBlanc 08:06
Yeah, I want to get to that a little bit later about how that came about. You know, it's interesting, I think you've done something that very few people have done. And that's changed your business from being a co-op Mountain Equipment Co-op to being a company. Talk about that experience. I mean, of course, you know, you were in trouble financially. So that was, of course, an impetus. But it seems to me from the outside looking in, you know, that could have been a very rocky thing with the members. And you know that it's a heritage brand, right, change is not always welcome. Talk about how you manage that with them, making members continue to be diehard customers. How did you, how did you manage that transition and during COVID?
Eric Claus 08:45
Yes, so, (crossover talk) yeah, we, we, we had everything going for us. So, the, I would say that in buying the business, that was the number one risk. I had a bit of an advantage over anybody else looking at, at MEC, the Co-op at the time, in that my very first job as a CEO was actually CEO of Co-op Atlantic, which is a co-op in the East Coast, I, I, I think it doesn't exist anymore. But so, I kind of knew the, you know, the, the, the ethos that goes with a co-op and, you know, the when, when, when we looked at this, I knew that we would get a lot of bad publicity. And usually, it's, you know, not many people that, that, you know, are, are very, you know, very opinionated in a, in a very loud way.
Eric Claus 9:09
What I, you know, what I said to our investors, and what I said to our teams also is, look, let's forget about the noise. Let's forget about media, and let's just do what's right. That's the most important thing with, with everybody. So, if you take 97 peop-, 97% of people that are members at the end of the day, what's really important? It's what you, it's not what you say it's how you conduct yourself. And you know, when we bought it, first of all, you know, I could say to the media, as I could say to our staff that, you know, we weren't part of the problem. We're part of the solution, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 10:08
Yeah, right we're here to save the business.
Eric Claus 10:10
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 10:11
Yeah, yeah.
Eric Claus 10:12
And we were the only ones that really stood up and said, We'll take the risk and will keep pretty well all the stores except for one open and keep people employed.
Michael LeBlanc 10:23
How did you, how did you know to make that commitment? Was that a commitment that you thought would be helpful in managing the transition? Or was it legitimately these are great stores, and we, we, need them as part of the business?
Eric Claus 10:34
Legitimately these were great stores. And the problem with MEC was never the actual store performance. The actual store performance financially was good, it was excellent right up to their bankruptcy. The issue was, you know, excessive capital spend, in, you know, store infrastructures that were you know, more than what was needed in an office that, you know, that house 600 and, I don't know, 630 or 680 people for, you know, for a business this size? That, that's a lot, you know, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 10:52
It's a lot.
Eric Claus 10:53
It's really a lot, you know, so I think, and again, you know, I don't want to criticize anybody. And I think that, you know, the, they had a Board of Directors that are very well-intentioned people. So, I don't think anybody intentionally did something wrong, but you know, they fell upon hard times, and then couple that with the pandemic,
Michael LeBlanc 11:00
Yeah,
Eric Claus 11:01
It was not recoverable.
Michael LeBlanc 11:03
Yeah.
Eric Claus 11:04
And that's where we came in. And, you know, for, for, for us, and I, you know, I told the people in the media, when we bought the business, I said, you know, come and talk to me in a year and then judge me. And, you know, a year later, we actually, you know, went and did a bit of a media tour and spoke to the media and said, here's our report card. You know, we've invested after the first year, we've invested a million dollars in communities and sustainability projects.
Eric Claus 11:17
We've, we've kept through the pandemic, most of our senior staff employed. We actually went from shipping most of our eComm purchase orders from distribution centers to stores so that we could keep people are busy, while the stores were shut. So, we did you know, we, we completely reinvested in teams to, to go to the outdoors and, and we pay for it. Use our gear and go train, we put a lot of energy into the E&I, we, we, we did, you know, the things that, that Co-op was known for. And, you know, what was really personally rewarding for me is, is visiting the stores and I'm very close to the teams in the stores, I, you know, I, I walk around, I'm in the, I'm in the stockrooms if they're stuck with a shipment, I'll help out and you know, in the, in the backroom (inaudible). Look, I started working in store, so, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 11:30
Yeah, yeah.
Eric Claus 11:31
So, it's, it's something that just comes naturally,
Michael LeBlanc 11:33
Speaking of DNA. Yeah, yeah.
Eric Claus 11;35
But people, you know, they would say, we really liked working for the Co-op, and we love working for you guys. And that's very, and they're our best spokespeople, you know, so, you know, our, our membership today, because we still have members. Although, you know, we have a lot of work to do to get a real good loyalty program going and we're not there yet. But, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's bigger than what it was when, when we got the business. Well, and it's interesting, because you had at the one hand, you had a tailwind for demand coming with and around COVID for certain commodities, but you still have to have the inventory to sell. So, the supply chain challenges I'm sure we're, we're fairly significant. So, it wasn't like a cakewalk, (crossover talk), turning that business around, right? It's worse than that Michael when we bought the business remember was in CCAA, which is the, the Canadian version of Chapter 11. So, all purchase orders have been canceled.
Michael LeBlanc 13:37
Right.
Eric Claus 13:38
So, there were no POs, there was less than half the inventory that was required.
Michael LeBlanc 13:47
Lots of other retailers clamoring for that inventory, right?
Eric Claus 13:49
Right, and the supply chain was completely broken. So, we really started off as much as the pandemic was a tailwind for the outdoors. It wasn't a tailwind for MEC, because there was no product.
Michael LeBlanc 14:01
Right. There was nothing to push.
Eric Claus 14:04
No.
Michael LeBlanc 14:05
Let's talk, you mentioned that let's talk about that you recently announced and have executed partnership with Hudson's Bay. How did that come about? And talk about your objectives and strategies there.
Eric Claus 14:14
Well, as someone I'm sitting across that actually,
Michael LeBlanc 14:16
That was a bit of a self-serving question, wasn't it?
Eric Claus 14:18
That was actually yeah, it was pretty interesting because you, I think you were on vacation skiing in Banff.
Michael LeBlanc 14:21
Yeah.
Eric Claus 14:22
And you pinged me and said, Eric, why don't you talk to Ian, who's the CEO of The Bay, I'll put you guys, two guys together. It would be, I’m sure he has excess space and it'd be great to have a MEC as part of the shop. It would just make sense two iconic Canadian retailers. And it was interesting because we said, well, I was talking with Ian. And you know, we talked about baths and said well, that's probably not the most ideal of stores but Ian said look, we, we, we've got spaces in stores and, and you guys are completely complementary to The Bay and, you know, the, you know, The Bay has such a, has such a long history and then you think of MEC and you think about outdoors and canoes, and
Michael LeBlanc 14:45
Yeah.
Eric Claus 14:46
And, and, and it, it's, it's, it’s kind of like a, you know, it's a nice marriage. And in terms of product, there's no overlap. So, The Bay doesn't sell anything that we sell and, and, and vice-versa, you know, so, so, you know, Ian and I started, you know, the discussions, we got our teams on it, and we looked at some potential locations, and we really moved heaven and earth to get this done quickly. And on top of that, we're also in The Bay Marketplace,
Michael LeBlanc 15:04
Right.
Eric Claus 15:05
So, you know, their, their, their eComm business, which has really grown over the last year tremendously. So, we opened the first shop, which is about a little less than 7000 square feet in the Queen Street location, we opened one in Square One, that's probably north of 10,000 square feet, and then one in Yorkdale, which I think is about, you know, close to 9000 square feet. So far, so good. I mean, the execution I stopped by the Square One and it was fabulous. So, Yeah, so, so the arrangement that we have with the folks at The Bay was, you know, it's so important that the MEC experience really is the MEC experience. So, it can't be just a product, that's sitting somewhere, because our experience, first of all, our product is quite technical. People need to be, you know, they, they need to be walked through their purchases, because many of them, you know, they're looking at what are the, what are the attributes of, you know, technical products for the outdoors.
Michael LeBlanc 16:27
Yeah.
Eric Claus 16:28
So, we agreed that they would really be MEC stores. So, it’s the MEC POS System, it's our staff trained, it's really a MEC store within The Bay, which makes it legitimate. It's good, it's about where we expected it to be. And obviously, you know, any new store that you open, takes time to, (crossover talk) to mature, it's got to grow. So, we're good and look, we really pushed to get it open, in conjunction with Bad Days, which we did,
Michael LeBlanc 16:44
Yeah.
Eric Claus 16:45
And, you know, just ahead of the holiday season, where we know we will benefit from, you know, just a ton of traffic, which is the best advertising that we,
Michael LeBlanc 16:51
Yeah.
Eric Claus 16:52
Are marketing that we could have to let people know that we're there.
Michael LeBlanc 17:15
Right on. That's a good segue into talking about people. And you know, when I talked to retailers, across North America, people now have their number one issue: finding, keeping, growing talent, it's supplemented supply chain and kind of around the boardroom table. You do an amazing job, you referred to it about finding these passionate people, but talk a little bit more about how you maintain and grow that culture and find? I mean, you don't seem to have a challenge finding people to work in your stores. Is it, Is it that kind of integration of passion and purpose, in what you sell?
Eric Claus 17:50
Yes, now we did have we had our issues, like everybody just coming out of the pandemic, because we managed to keep, you know, our, or more senior staff, but obviously, a lot of the more junior part time, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 17:59
(Inaudible), furloughed or whatever.
Eric Claus 18:03
And they, they, they end up just going places. So, we are,
Michael LeBlanc 18:08
It's actually, I talked to a lot of retailers who had the opposite, they lost their managers, their key holders, because you know, the store, so you held on to the senior people,
Eric Claus 18:12
We did, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 18:14
And you had, had them fill in orders or doing whatever, right?
Eric Claus 18:19
Right and we kept everybody really engaged. You know, we still had our weekly management meetings with the stores, and we put a lot of energy into it. So, we put on our list of, kind of key pillars for the business, we always put people first. And we, first of all, we're fully staffed, we're ready for the holidays. We have, there's not a store that we have issues, we are completely, (crossover talk), staffed across the board.
Michael LeBlanc 18:29
Amazing.
Eric Claus 18:30
I think it's a combination of a lot of things. So, we also do regular engagement surveys. We have one of the highest engagement rates in retail in the country, we actually, well actually there's certain things I can't talk about. But there's some good news, good news, things I can talk about a couple of which is one of Canada's favorite employers, we, you know, we ranked as Canada's number eight most Trusted Brand in the country. So, all of those things, it's kind of reputational that really help and then we spend a lot of time on, first of all, we spend a lot of time selecting. So, we have, you know, people in the field. We're very, very picky about people that we choose and then we invest in everybody. We invest heavily in training, more training than I've ever seen in retail. And, you know, by attracting people that love the outdoors, the, our, our staff discount is very good. We, we, we pay for our staff to go out and do excursions so their, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 19:48
Experience the product,
Eric Claus 19:50
Absolutely, (crossover talk).
Michael LeBlanc 19:51
Because it makes it better, a better associate, a better sale,
Eric Claus 19:53
Yeah,
Michael LeBlanc 19:54
Person and more knowledgeable that kind of thing. The hands-on thing.
Eric Claus 19:59
It's really investing in people. So, you have I mean, you have to invest in people and you know, like, if, if you’re, if you're an outdoor store, you've got to hire people that like the outdoors you know.
Michael LeBlanc 20:06
Right, right. We're sitting now in some kind of quasi-post-COVID retail era. Reflecting back on the COVID era, the past couple of years, and not necessarily just running this business, but in general. Does anything strike you as something that's going to continue a permanent shift versus a kind of a response, more of a structural change, either the way customers shop, or the way you run businesses? Have, you know, have you changed the way you think about supply chain? Are you less, I've talked to retailers and say listen, I, we have to be more agile, we, we, we will make different decisions, sometimes sourcing decisions. Anything that sticks with you just as a veteran business operator that you think is different and could stick around and continue to be different in the years to come. Did anything happen during COVID that just didn't go back to the way it was pre-COVID?
Eric Claus 20:56
It actually surprisingly went back more than we ever thought it would to retail, you know, so many people were, were discounting the bricks and mortar and, post-pandemic, people just wanted to get out. And they, they're, they're back at shopping. So, I think that really being able to tie in that, that online and bricks and mortar shopping with your customers that they're not separate, that they're really one business, that I think is here to stay. And I, and I, I, I, I believe that, you know, retailers that can marry those two together in a really effective way and be able to very quickly move, you know, there are going to be things that happen in the future that will make that people may be afraid to shop, you know, for a period of time. It's just the ability to pivot, I think to, to move.
Michael LeBlanc 21:54
Do you think organizations on the whole, retailers are, are a strange thing to say but better off from the experience? I've talked to some retailers and say listen, we went through, what we, what we went through the past two years makes us more resilient, more agile and better able to handle the day-to-day stuff than before COVID.
Eric Claus 22:13
Oh, definitely, 100% I mean, if it's like any individual in life, if you haven't gone through some tough times. You can't be 100% as effective as, as somebody who's really been through some tough times, because it teaches you some good lessons. It teaches you that, you know you have to be disciplined, you know, you have to be ready for you know, I mean, if you went into the pandemic and, and had a lot of inventory with no cash, you're probably not here today.
Michael LeBlanc 22:37
Right, (crossover talk).
Eric Claus 22:40
You know, so I think a lot of financial disciplines, but I think also a lot of just, just human nature, kind of things that we've learned about each other about, you know, almost about teamwork, about everybody working from home, but you're still have this trust that people are doing their things. It was,
Michael LeBlanc 23:00
Was that different for you? Would you have run this business with so many people working at home pre-COVID? I mean, it was not a tech thing it was a cultural thing, right?
Eric Claus 23:08
Yeah, no, we, we totally everybody was working in the office before and with COVID everyone went,
Michael LeBlanc 23:10
Right.
Eric Claus 23:11
A 100% remote. There was nobody in the office.
Michael LeBlanc 23:16
So, you would, so you wouldn't have hired someone remote to be a director of marketing?
Eric Claus 23:19
No.
Michael LeBlanc 23:20
Would you today?
Eric Claus 23:22
Yes.
Michael LeBlanc 23:23
Yeah.
Eric Claus 23:24
So, yeah, I mean, there's certain jobs that you, (crossover talk),
Michael LeBlanc 23:26
Sure, sure.
Eric Claus 23:27
And there's a benefit to being in the office. There's, there's camara-, camaraderie, and I see it from you know, we have a very young team in this office. And, you know, they enjoy being together. But they also, the other thing that happened, this is interesting, also being in Vancouver. And being an outdoor business, we have a lot of very active people, we have over 50% of our people that like to work 52 weeks a year. But we had a lot of people during the pandemic move away from Vancouver. So, they moved to Squamish, for the most part, which is you know,
Michael LeBlanc 23:56
Not like, not a bike ride here, (crossover talk),
Eric Claus 23:58
45 minutes by car,
Michael LeBlanc 24:00
Yeah.
Eric Claus 24:01
But they're clo-, they're in the mountains, they can hike, they can bike, they can kayak, they can, they've got the ocean, you got the mountains, you've got your living in, you know, the Nirvana of the outdoor world. So, for them, it makes a lot of sense. Driving in for three days is not such a big deal. Driving it for five days a week is a big deal. The other thing that's happened just from a traffic point of view, is that since, not just us, but most businesses are now some kind of a hybrid work from home environment, the actual traffic levels have gone down. So, you have people that you know, so the traffic levels go down, it makes it easier, and you're only doing it three days a week as opposed to five days a week.
Michael LeBlanc 24:39
Do you envision a point where you get people together outside the office environment? Are you conceiving of more team building outside of the office environment? Do you think what you do within the environment works, (crossover talk)?
Eric Claus 24:50
I think about what we do, but we always do things.
Michael LeBlanc 24:54
Right.
Eric Claus 24:55
We continually, there's always something happening at MEC. There's, you know, there there's a climb up, you know it'll be merchandising taking their team up and doing or operations taking the team up and doing The Grouse Grind or,
Michael LeBlanc 24:51
The grouse grind, (crossover talk), yeah, yeah.
Eric Claus 25:07
So, here it's just part of the nature of this business too.
Michael LeBlanc 25:10
Your business is built for, built for the situation. What, what does innovation look like here? You have your own product, an amazing product, which in and of itself is technolo-, and innovative. But as you step back and think about innovation in the retail business, at your level, what does innovation look like, less about telling tales out of inside baseball, but more about how do you approach it? You know, whiteboard, you say, Okay, where are we going to be in three years? And what are we going to be doing that's different or the same? How do you, how do you think about innovation?
Eric Claus 25:39
Yeah, so I mean, innovation in our business, for the most part is product innovation. You know, are there things that we can do from a technology point of view in the stores, for sure, there are. But we're such a hands-on kind of product that it, it, it needs nurturing. So, and I can tell you that whenever we have meet-, we bring in the store managers to Vancouver and we bring people together. The one thing that turns everybody on here is product. That's our business. So, that's where we really put, you know, where we put our energies to innovation are really in product and, and our teams are doing very cool stuff. Like, the other day I was looking, they're building a tent that weighs for, for backcountry backpacking, that weighs like 11 ounces,
Michael LeBlanc 26:03
What, 11 ounces,
Eric Claus 26:04
11 ounces, you know, so use your trekking poles, those are the posts for the tent.
MIchael LeBlanc 26:07
Oh, so interesting.
Eric Claus 26:08
And we do a lot of work in fabric, you know, finding innovative fabrics, you know, working on new zipper types and waterproofing and there's just, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun. And as you walk through our office here, you can see we're in a bit of a renovation in that we are actually moving our label team from an outside office back into the office. Because that's, you know, and they were kind of afraid that they're like, Eric, we're really loud, we, we, we make a lot of noise, where there's stuff all over the place. And I'm like, well, that's our life, that's what we want, we want to see you, we want to hear you , we want to touch and feel that product, we want to see the new webbing on a backpack, and we want to,
Michael LeBlanc 27:09
The rest, the rest of everybody here isn't benefiting from that excitement or interests,
Eric Claus 27:13
Yeah, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc 27:14
Interests spoken differently, right.
Eric Claus 27:16
And then from a technology point of view, you know, I don't think we would be considered the most innovative, but we've completely, we completely blew up the technology platform, it was, you know, just a mixture of a lot of things and we've really streamlined it. So, from a technology point of view, it's about better forecasting, better buying,
Michael LeBlanc 27:38
More visibility and supply chain, I guess, (crossover talk), 100% and stuff like that, right.
Eric Claus 27:42
Yeah. So, we, you know, have new eComm platforms, a new ERP system, I wouldn't say that we're, you know, we're Amazon leading edge. But we're, we're very forward thinking, you know, even our office, everything's in the cloud. We don't, there's almost no paper in this office.
Michael LeBlanc 28:08
Yeah,
Eric Claus 28:09
And,
Michael LeBlanc 28:10
I didn't see anyone when I was walking through.
Eric Claus 28:12
No, and everybody has got standup desks, and they're all you know, they're booked in advance. And it's,
Michael LeBlanc 28:16
Yeah.
Eric Claus 28:17
It's interesting, it's kind of a hip place to work.
Michael LeBlanc 28:20
Last question for you. Give advice to your fellow retailers that are listening, and what do you think they should leave behind after the COVID experience as they look forward? Is there anything that, you know, you said, Listen, this was kind of something that most retailers did that they should just, you know, leave behind and move on and do something else? What's your piece of advice?
Eric Claus 28:30
I don't know, I, you know, I don't like to give other people advice, because I think there's a lot of people that are far more talented than me. But um, you know, I think you kind of got to, you sort of have to look at the COVID era as somebody who had a, you know, a, a, a near death experience, and you came out of it, and then you look back, and I think every retailer is going to be different, and you're going to go, wow, I got through that. So, what was really important, my people. Like, people are the number one thing. So, understand your people, take care of your people, figure out what's important to them, and just look at, you know, what made you come out of this stronger and better, and focus on those things going forward, and don't sweat the stupid stuff. You know, I think we all spent so much time sweating, really ridiculous things. And COVID just by, by definition, shrunk a lot of businesses for, for, for quite a period of time. And it kind of shows you what's important,
Michael LeBlanc 29:31
Yeah, (crossover talk), and how fast you can make decisions too, right? Once (crossover talk), you do that, right.
Eric Claus 29:35
You're moving every day,
Michael LeBlanc 28:37
Right.
Eric Claus 28:38
Every single day, you know, the stores open, the stores closed, you can't get product. There’s like there's a million things going on. So, be nimble, be quick, take care of your people, you know, because they're the ones that carry you through,
Michael LeBlanc 28:47
Yeah.
Eric Claus 28:48
At the end of the day, it's, it's you know, everything else is, is, is bricks and mortar really, it's, it's, it's, it's interchangeable and people aren't
Michael LeBlanc 29:57
Wise advice. Thanks so much for spending time with me on the podcast. So, great to me-, great again to meet you in person. I'm going to go take a look at the store and do a store check because I love doing, checking out a remarkable retail store. So, Eric, thanks for joining me on The Voice of Retail podcast. It's a real pleasure.
Eric Claus 30:11
My pleasure. Thanks.
Michael LeBlanc 30:13
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, be sure and click subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. So, new episodes will land automatically twice a week.
And check out my other retail industry media properties, the Remarkable Retail podcast, Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and The Food Professor podcast with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Last but not least, if you're into barbecue, check out my all-new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbecue with new episodes each and every week.
I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company and Maven Media. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Have a safe week everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
MEC, people, stores, business, retail, retailers, talk, product, pandemic, outdoors, bay, podcast, years, Vancouver, op, Canada, staff, part, office