Another year has gone by introducing new players to the market and congratulating those who derive their success from innovative ideas and impregnable work ethic. Amongst the vast amount of retail stores, there are some who thrive on the challenges their work gives as it brings the absolute best out of them. Trader’s Forum maintains a watch over several stores annually to pick out that year’s Retailer of the Year. This year, the watch took us all the way to Langley B.C. to the home of Salim Dhanani; the proud owner of Dollars & Cents.
Salim was kind enough to share the story of his determination and the path he and his family took to achieve and run a successful business. Here is what he had to say:
 Q: Salim, give us a little background about yourself. How and when did you first start out in the dollar/discount business?
I started in this business in late 1992, helping a friend with his new family business. I was attending University with the hopes to go to Medical School; but, as it turned out, the dollar/discount business became my “calling” and my friend turned out to be my brother-in-law. The store in 1992 was called “Loonie Plus”, a franchise store, in Willowbrook Mall in Langley B.C.
I had previously worked at Canadian Tire for 5 ½ years, 3 ½ of which I’ve spent as an Assistant Store Manager. While working part-time and attending school, my brother-in-law asked me to help him out since I had retail experience. My sister also came on-board with us and contributed her retail experience from Hallmark Cards.
It was extremely challenging when we first started as we were inexperienced; but, more so because the parent franchise “Loonie Plus” went into receivership 4 months after we opened. We also had an established direct competitor inside Willowbrook Mall. Fortunately, with a lot of hard work, as well as, support from our suppliers we were able to independently establish ourselves as a successful business and renamed our store to “Dollars & Cents”.
In 1996, we opened two more similar format stores, in Guildford Mall and West Oaks Mall, in Surrey and Abbotsford respectively. All 3 stores flourished for about 4 years, then hit “road-bumps” with a major mall reconfiguration in Abbotsford and significant rent increases at Guildford and Willowbrook.
We took on a new direction in 2001, opening 2 larger format stores and closing the previous 3 stores by 2002. The 2 new stores were significantly larger at almost 7,000 sq. ft. in Chilliwack, B.C. and 10,000 sq. ft. in Coquitlam, B.C. The Chilliwack store was also different in that it wasn’t part of a major regional mall; but rather a big-box strip-mall which was adjacent to Great Canadian SuperStore. The Coquitlam Store is a part  of Coquitlam Centre. Although the store in Coquitlam Centre has only an outside entrance; it is close to 2 of the mall entrances with a significant amount of parking, a very large window frontage and excellent signage.
The Chilliwack location proved to be too challenging to stay in business; therefore, was closed in 2004. The Coquitlam location was also a challenge at first; however, perseverance proved to be worthwhile.
Q: What played a role in your choice of location of the stores?
I think that location plays a huge part in any business and ours is of no exception. Although rental rates are high, being in a major regional mall brings continual traffic so that you can establish regular buying patterns throughout the year. The consistency also helps with labour considerations.
Q: When did you decide to branch out from the dollar store and become more of a discount store carrying items as high as $100.00 retail? How has the change affected you?
At the beginning of 2006, we decided to alter our ‘Retail Philosophy’ whereby we distanced ourselves from being a ‘dollar only’ (or mostly) store. Although we had always carried higher ticketed items; we decided to focus on value rather than price. It has proven to be a good decision, from a business perspective.
Q: Can you touch down on some of your price points?
We try to keep our price-points to $10 and less for the large majority of items throughout the year, increasing theprice-points closer to major seasons in the seasonal and gift categories, as appropriate.
 Price-points to me are less of a concern than the value-proposition to our customer. I don’t believe that we have to be the ‘cheapest in town’ although we must provide consistent value and quality to our customer, with a watchful eye on the competition.
Q: How are merchandising decisions made in your store about selling certain items?
Variety and selection are very important aspects of our retail philosophy. We have the benefit of a larger location and therefore try to maximize the categories in which we can provide good value to our customers.
We can’t carry all of the items that we like or see from our suppliers but we will try certain items and categories if the trends in the marketplace appear to be gaining in popularity.
We try to keep the known ‘basics’ (mostly dollar-type merchandise) in-stock, to not turn-away customers to our competitors and most importantly, to not waste their time and leave them disappointed. The basic items are the ‘hook’ by which we can generate customer traffic and the selection of different perhaps higher-priced merchandise is the ‘profitability’ and ‘charm’ of our business that keeps our customers intrigued and wanting to come back again.
Q: What do you consider to be your best selling categories?
Our best selling categories would be Housewares, Party, Cards, Stationery and Gifts.
Q: What do you look for in items when buying them? Do you have any rules when buying an item?
I tend to look at an item very closely. I rely on a first-impression, from years of experience as a buyer, then as a consumer. I then investigate further as to why I like the item and if it is useful to our customers. Sometimes what looks ‘cool’ or ‘neat’, is not as worthwhile as it needs to be and therefore doesn’t provide value, at any price. I believe in trying to obtain the best possible quality vs. cost. The next important consideration is the cost of an item and whether or not the previous criteria justify its cost. Finally, I consider the marketability of the item within our business - sometimes people will not consider buying a particular item from our store if it is too specialized or if we cannot support the item with other related items. For example, why carry a scrapbook album if you don’t have a scrapbooking line or section? In my opinion, we need to do what we are good at and focus on becoming better at it, even though it may mean passing on opportunities that may seem beneficial.
Q: What do you think differentiates your store from any other dollar/discount stores in your area?
 We try to offer the best selection of good-value merchandise that is competitively priced in a large format store. We are fortunate to have an excellent location with convenient access and great parking. We maintain stock-levels that satisfy the customer base in our market and we strive to serve them quickly andas efficiently as possible with 8 POS check-outs that can process credit, debit and cash transactions. We accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit card purchasing. Our operating hours are: 10am to 9pm during the weekdays and 10am to 6pm on the weekends, offering convenience to our customers. We have plenty of staff on the floor to provide service and we try to maintain a clean and safe shopping environment.
Q: What are your future plans/ goals?
Our goal is simple - we want to fulfill our ‘Retail Philosophy’ - and do it better, each and every day!
Salim’s story is clearly inspiring. Starting out with little experience in a very competitive business with a dream and resilient work ethic he is living proof that hard work pays off.
Trader’s Forum would like to congratulate Salim on being 2009’s Retailer of the Year and wish him success in all his future endeavors.
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As we exited Toronto and entered Hamilton the weather conditions began to worsen and there seemed to be fewervehicles on the roads. However amidst a snow flurry there seemed to be an abundance of cars parked in front of one particular store which not only impressed with its stature but the overall attraction it had to its visitors. Driving closer, the store seemed to evolve out of the flurry of snow exposing its true size making us realize we were in front of a true giant.
We moved along the aisles to find a great variety of every day products, housewares, kitchen utensils, greeting cards, some winter items as well as a spectacular section of scrap booking. It was impressive to witness aisles filled with people filling their hands with products as well as a seemingly growing line at the cash register. Looking outside the window we felt very warm being inside listening to holiday music hearing laughter and constant appraises from the surrounding us buyers. 
Q: Joe, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. It’s fair to say that the Dollar Giant is living up toits name, having opened 68 locations across Canada in 7 years; do you have plans for expanding further given the current state of the economy? 
For this year's retailer of the year, Traders Forum traveled to Quispamsis, New Brunswick, home of Kevin Kane and the largest "The Great Canadian Dollar Store" in Canada.
