HHIQ_3Q_17_Complete

ENDCAP
FLE
A CLIENTELE FROM FARM TO TABLE,
AND STORES FROM WEST TO EAST
BY GEOFFREY McLARNEY
Red Deer, Alta.-based Peavey Mart made the news last summer when it announced that it was acquiring a
controlling interest in southern Ontario-based TSC Stores. Peavey’s president and CEO spoke with HHIQ about
the company’s plans to harmonize and grow the two businesses in the rapidly urbanizing Canadian market.
D
oug Anderson, president and CEO
of Peavey Industries, isn’t too concerned
about the increasing urbanization
of his market. While rural customers
remain Peavey’s driving focus, the appeal
of its product mix is broader. Customers
include not only owners of multi-acre agricultural
operations, but smaller-scale hobby
farmers and DIY foodies. “A lot of our products
are relevant not only to rural people,”
he explains, citing seasonal, work wear,
and automotive categories as especially
popular both within Peavey’s primary base
and beyond. Still, the company knows its
customers and Anderson’s commitment is
unequivocal: “Our overall focus will always
be to tailor our product mix to the needs of
the rural consumer.”
At the same time, even as Canada’s
population becomes more and more concentrated
in urban areas, in many ways
they’re taking the country there with them.
Anderson notes that some of the more
conventionally rural items are gaining in
popularity in cities and suburbs. Notably,
while Peavey Mart customers have been
able to order bees and chicks for decades,
Anderson describes a rise in “urban interest
in what would traditionally be considered a
rural application” as more municipalities
make provisions for backyard beekeeping
and chicken-raising.
“People want to take control of their food
chain,” Anderson explains. The relaxation
in recent years of by-laws in cities from
Montreal to Edmonton encourages the
already budding interest in urban homesteading
and local food. And as Anderson
puts it: “Where else are you going to go but
“A lot of our products are relevant
not only to rural people,” explains
Doug Anderson, president and
CEO of Peavey Industries.
a farm store?” It helps that for lots of Peavey
staff the work is personal. “We have many
staff who have backyard chickens—and
bees as well—as part of our overall lifestyle.”
GROWTH, WITH INTENTION
In taking on TSC, Peavey can tap into a similar
rural base in Canada’s most populous
province. But the company is prizing quality
over quantity, and the stores’ locations
are naturally not in the biggest population
centres. Anderson doesn’t rule out further
regional expansion in the long term but the
company is determined to smartly navigate
its current growth first. “Right now our
focus is really on alignment between the
two businesses, but we definitely have the
intention of continuing to grow,” he said,
pointing to expansion in B.C. as one of
Peavey’s more pressing priorities.
With TSC, Peavey has landed its third
banner. In 2012, the company opened
the first of its smaller-format MainStreet
Hardware stores, in Blackfalds, Alta. Where
the addition of TSC has Peavey serving a
similar customer profile in a new region,
MainStreet inverts the product mix at the
three Alberta locations open to date. Here,
the general merchandise lines that complement
Peavey’s core agricultural segments
are the main attraction, rounded out with a
selection from the broader range of Peavey
inventory.
“For the most part, it’s a smaller footprint”
at these proximity stores, Anderson
says, though he added that some of the
smaller Peavey Marts are comparable in
size. As with the other banners, the strategy
is to plan for slow and steady growth.
Anderson says the company is “taking a
cautious approach overall” but the retail
concept’s first stores have been a success.
“We’re continuing to add locations as we
find the opportunity.”
50 THIRD QUARTER / 2017
Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly
www.hardlines.ca