Business Supporting Company Profiles

							FP12                                                                S P E C I A L F E AT U R E T O T H E N AT I O N A L P O S T                                                   NATIONAL POST, MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008




                     ENTREPRENEUR                                         N O M I N AT E D BY R OY N AT C A P I TA L

       At an age when many young men are considering their career options, Brent
       Trepel was taking the reins of the company business. More than two decades
       later, Ben Moss Jewellers now has retail stores across Canada and growing
       each year.




        W
                          hen Brent Trepel was
                          23, a family tragedy pro-
                          pelled him into what for
                          most young men would
                          be the challenge of a life-
        time. His father, who headed the family-
        owned, Winnipeg-based Ben Moss Jewel-
        lers since taking over from Brent’s mater-
        nal grandfather in the late 1950s, suffered
        a series of heart-related illnesses.
           To ensure the chain of jewellery stores’
        future, his father decided to look outside
        the family for a successor.
           “I went to him and asked that he give
        me a chance to run the company,” Mr..
        Trepel says. Armed with a business degree
        from the University of Western Ontario
        and with experience in sales in the com-
        pany’s Alberta stores and in merchandis-
        ing at head office, young Mr. Trepel had
        a clear vision of what Ben Moss Jewellers
        could become.
           “The upshot is that he said yes. I knew
        going in that my father had taken a great
        risk, but he always said he had full confi-
        dence in me and never regretted his deci-
        sion for a moment.”
           Time has proved Mr. Trepel senior was
        right. Over the past 22 years, Brent Trepel
        has turned an 18-store, regional jewellery
        chain in the Prairies into a national re-
        tailing force, with 58 stores from Victoria
        to Halifax.
           The 1,000-square-foot outlets share
        a singular distinction in the intensely
        competitive retail jewellery trade. Mr.
        Trepel says they average $1,500 a sq. ft. in
        sales, an astonishing figure considering
        what they sell is gold, silver and diamond
        jewellery aimed at mid-market, youthful
        consumers.
           “Our focus has always been on con-
        tinuous operational improvements,” he
        says. “Year after year, we have not only
        been able to grow revenues by 15% a year
        but improve our margins as well.
           “I have great confidence that will con-
        tinue to be the case going forward.”
           What will also be the case is that Ben
        Moss Jewellers will continue to grow.
        All the company stores are situated in
        shopping malls, and most of them are in
        smaller centres or in the suburban areas
        of major cities. Each year, the company
        adds between two and four new outlets
        to the Ben Moss chain.
           Its next growth target will be Ontario.
           “We have 17 stores there now but
        Ontario will be the focus of our next
        push,” Mr. Trepel says. “We want maybe
        20 more new stores in Ontario over the
        next five to 10 years.”
           The company also intends to expand
        its Web presence, he says, making a selec-                              Brent Trepel is proud of his company’s reputation within the retail industry as a sought-after place to work.
        tion of diamond rings (Ben Moss is the
        country’s largest retailer of Canadian dia-                  ations trim has been a hallmark of Mr.            “That worked so well we added Prince
        monds) and jewellery available to anyone                     Trepel’s presidency since he took control      George, Victoria and then Burnaby on
        with access to its Web site.                                 of the company.                                the fringes of the Vancouver market,”                BEN MOSS JEWELLERS
           “What we are doing is creating a                             “The first five years I was in charge,      Mr. Trepel says. Then came Ontario. The
        national Ben Moss brand,” he says. “Can-                     was devoted to the financial health of         first store there was in Belleville. Atlantic   Head office Winnipeg
        adians are increasingly mobile, and we                       the business,” he says. “A recession in the    Canada followed.                                Business sector Retail jewellery
        can take advantage of that trend. They                       west meant we had to retrench, put our            One thing Mr. Trepel is enormously           stores
        know us from their home town and when                        house in order and even shut down some         proud of is his company’s reputation as         Market Canada
        they move, they will find us in their new                    stores.                                        a terrific place to work. Staff turnover is
        locale.”                                                        “By 1991, however, we were in wonder-       remarkably low for the retail industry, he      Number of Employees 600
           In an industry still dominated by                         ful shape. We had cash in hand, were well      says.                                           Web site www.benmoss.com
        mom-and-pop, local or regional oper-                         organized and enjoyed healthy margins.            “In Alberta, where many employers
        ations, Ben Moss has the advantages                          Then, frankly, we got lucky.”                  have a tough time finding staff, we have
        and the synergy that a national chain                           That luck came in the form of the           rarely had to run an ad to fill positions in
        can bring to an intensely competitive                        bankruptcy of Canada’s two largest jewel-      our 15 stores, he says. “When we opened
        market.                                                      lery chains — Peoples and Birks. As they       in Halifax we were quickly able to staff
           Mr. Trepel points out that the size                       slid into receivership, there was suddenly     the store with people already working for
        of the chain and its long history with                       room for a national mid-market jewelry         other jewellers, and it was all by word of
        major shopping centre developers makes                       chain. There were also a small army of         mouth.”                                            Roynat Capital lends to and invests
        it a sought-after tenant when new shop-                      shopping centre owners keen to have Ben           It comes down to applying the same             in growing companies such as this
        ping centres are opened or old ones                          Moss replace them as tenants.                  policy of friendly, efficient service to           one. To read more Entrepreneur
        are refurbished and reformatted. That                           “They began knocking on our door,           customers to staff as well, he says.            profiles or to nominate your company
        size and track record can also be a plus                     offering some very attractive deals and           “This is a company where everybody                 to be featured, please visit:
        when it comes to negotiating leases.                         incentives for us to take over their Peoples   feels comfortable in calling me by my first
           At the same time, Mr. Trepel has a                        and Birks stores,” he says.                    name,” he says.                                   www.roynat.com/services
        sharp pencil when it comes to controlling                       The first move out of the Prairies was         “I think that says a lot about our cul-
        costs. That keen eye for keeping oper-                       into Kelowna in 1993.                          ture and our values.”




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