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CHAPTER 10
When I lost my father, it had a profound effect on me. My stepfather was a nice guy, but he was suicidal, so I didn’t exactly have the best guidance. He wanted me to become a pharmacist. He was willing to pay for my schooling. He had all these big plans to open a drugstore for me. But I didn’t want to stay at school. I hated school, and I turned down his offer. My mother had security for herself and me, but it wasn’t the happiest of marriages.
At 16, I left school and joined my brother in the family clothing business — the outside markets. My older brother Ralph had a car, a wife and kids and seemed to enjoy life. It appeared more appealing to me than staying in school. So, in 1961, I started working in the family business full-time. My brother and I car- ried on working in the markets together. We sold coats and dresses at different market stalls. I really enjoyed working with people and the freedom of running my own business. Customer service was a critical foundation for me and has stayed with me for over six decades. The only thing I didn’t like was working outside when it rained. We had to put up sheets to cover the coats and dresses.
As my brother and I worked together selling on the markets, he became quite friendly with a manufacturer of ladies’ coats. They decided together to open an actual brick-and-mortar store. This was a big move from just the regular outdoor stalls we’d had for over 40 years. Besides a store in Bury, my brother and his partner opened a store in Doncaster. The store was called Bon Marche.
Since my brother worked in the retail store, I was left to focus on the Bury out- door market. We eventually expanded and opened six Bon Marche stores.
It became such an entity that I realized I needed to move from outdoor retail- ing and expand my horizons. I decided to emigrate to Canada. Another reason for my departure from the United Kingdom was the coal miners’ strike. It was 1967, and life in England was very unpleasant without electricity.
When I arrived in Canada at age 21, I walked up and down Yonge Street, look- ing for a ladies’ wear store where I could apply all my retail experience.
Unfortunately, no store would hire a man to sell ladies ‘wear back then. But there was a menswear store called Studio 267 on Yonge Street. I walked in and
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