Unbridled debate at Champagne & Lace
January 2006

Story and photos by Baila Lazarus

Those who spent even a little time watching television this past December would have likely seen an unusual commercial -- the owner of a bridal shop in Abbotsford talking about her staff’s secret-Santa gift exchange and heralding the benefits of shopping at Wal-Mart. What? An independent retailer supporting a big-box store?

While lightening didn’t strike her home and peeved picketers didn’t close down her place of business, Champagne & Lace owner Gerri Charles did get a lot of reaction to her decision -- some good, some bad, some just wanting to gawk at “TV celebrities.” And it’s definitely brought in more business. “Shoppers are intrigued with the whole idea of being in a store where they recognize people from television,” she said.

While Charles was doing a little spotlight-basking, further west on Highway 1, Scott Cronshaw was spitting pencil crayons, incredulous. The vice-president of sales and marketing for Opus Framing & Art Supplies, could not believe that an independent retailer would support Wal-Mart.

“The first time I saw it, I was in shock,” he said. “I didn’t understand what I was seeing. I felt like she crossed the line. Especially since she’s such a strong member of Retail BC.”

Cronshaw, who is a former board chair and currently a board member for Retail BC, said that at a recent board meeting, many people were informally discussing the commercial, expressing surprise that it was done.

“I think the Wal-Mart executives were tap-dancing in their boardroom to find an independent retailer who would promote their business,” said Cronshaw. “I think there would have been high fives all around.”

As the story goes, Charles was in Wal-Mart last fall when she was approached by a staff member who said they were casting for a commercial.

“Who knows what she saw [in me],” says Charles, who at first declined to be in the ad but suggested that one of her own sales staff would be perfect because she knew the saleswoman was a big Wal-Mart shopper.

When the Wal-Mart rep found out that the staff at Champagne & Lace had a secret-Santa gift exchange, she asked Charles if they buy their gifts at Wal-Mart. Charles answered truthfully that she didn’t know.

“My credibility is really important to me,” said Charles. “So I’m not going to say anything just to appease somebody.” As it turned out, several of the staff did shop at Wal-Mart for their gifts so the secret-Santa ad was a go.

But Charles herself was conflicted about the right thing to do.

“When I was struggling with whether or not to do the commercial, my husband said, ‘Gerri, your girls are never going to forget this. It is fun.’ ” After several attempts by Wal-Mart to convince Charles to be in the commercial, she finally acquiesced.
“We all got to walk in someone else’s world for a day,” said Charles, whose store celebrated its 20th anniversary in January. “We had a really great time.”

As fun as the experience might have been, Charles was under no illusion that her decision would fly under the radar and Cronshaw is eager to start discussion about it in the retail world.

“Wal-Mart’s almost a symbol of the arch-enemy,” said Cronshaw, who said he never has and never would enter a Wal-Mart store, and who visibly bristles at the mere mention of the name. “I just can’t go in.”

For Cronshaw, the issue is not competition. “The issue is their retail practices, their buying practices,” he said. “I’ve heard horror stories first hand of how they treat their vendors. They’re teaching other retailers really bad habits. Relationships are off the table; it really is the lowest price. They limit the profit the vendors make.”

And though lower prices obviously benefit the consumer in the short term, in the long term, consumers could be facing a reduced variety of product, according to Cronshaw. As smaller retailers, such as stationery or toy stores, disappear, buyers will be forced to turn to big box stores which may only carry limited selections.

Though Charles understands the arguments, she believes a lot of the criticism that was levelled her way was pure protectionism.

“There are some small businesses that say big is bad, small is good, but I believe if we are good independent retailers and we’re doing a good job....” Charles trails off, choosing her words carefully. “If Wal-Mart can do it better than we can, then do we deserve the business?”

Charles admits that this sounds harsh but says that many small businesses serve niche markets and offer better services and product knowledge than big-box stores ever could and that’s where they can compete. She also believes that certain shoppers like young mothers and older people deserve the convenience of shopping at a one-stop retailer.

“You or I can put our credit card in our pocket and walk a couple of blocks to get to the store that we want,” said Charles. “If I had to take two kids out of a car seat and put them in a buggy, I’d only want to park once.”

Though some people have expressed concern at what Charles did, she’s also gotten reactions from retailers who said that at first they had concerns about her doing the ad, but later admitted to themselves that they would have done the same thing.

“The more successful the business, the more likely they were to congratulate us,” said Charles. “People are really proud that a small Abbotsford business was chosen ... that’s been a source of pride.”

Charles said she was brought up to support independent stores and she does so today but will not just give her money away. Other independent retailers have to earn her business.”

“Just knowing someone doesn’t give them the right to your money,” she said. “We [the retailers] can’t think that we deserve something just on a relationship. We get the business that we deserve.”

Cronshaw, however, believes there’s value in supporting independents on principal, especially regional ones and if he ever does have to shop in a big-box store he shops B.C. over Canada over the United States. Shopping at Save-On is better than shopping at Safeway, which is better than Superstore, he said.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and illustrator living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.