RETAILERS MEET OUR OF THE YEAR

BY GEOFF M c LARNEY AND STEVE PAYNE

MATHIEU and MARIANNE MOISAN, proud third-generation owners of BMR Paulin Moisan in Saint-Raymond, Quebec, have a winning combination of skills and attitudes

Listening to people is our most important priority.

Last fall, cousins Marianne and Mathieu Moisan—still only 29 and 34 years of age—won our 2022 Outstanding Retailer Award in the category of Young Retailers of the Year. Their BMR store in Saint-Raymond, an hour northwest of Quebec City, is beginning to bear the stamp of their own generation. It also has tradition on its side. Their grandparents, Paulin Moisan and Thérèse Dion, had starting forging relationships in the town when they first opened their 2,000-square-foot store for business in 1961. Today, Marianne and Mathieu are serving the grandchildren of those original customers.

The duo started working in the family’s store as soon as they became teenagers. And they realized, by the time they’d exited their teens, that they wanted to take that giant leap and become proprietors. But the Moisan family had a firm rule in place when it came to succession—new generation family members couldn’t take ownership of the store unless they got some relevant work experience elsewhere. In the interview that follows, the cousins talk about where that took them.

Both already had higher education that prepared them for their current roles.

Mathieu studied sales and construction design. Marianne did her studies in accounting and has her CPA and CMA designations.

The official handover of the shares of the business to Mathieu and Marianne took place in April 2021. Today, BMR Paulin Moisan boasts one of the most sophisticated designs of any home improvement retailer in Canada.

Credit must also go to the second generation of Moisans who took over the leadership of the business in 2003. Denis, François (Marianne’s father), Bernard (Mathieu’s father), Sophie, and Lise drove positive changes that created a strong demand. Eventually, the family realized that both the lumberyard and the hardware store would need to be much bigger. After careful planning, they relocated the business—and expanded to their current 15,000 square feet of retail space—in 2011. The store also has 15,000 square feet of covered space for building materials and a large yard.

Joining BMR in 2017 was another big change that has paid dividends. Today, the business is thriving. Including management, it counts almost 50 full- and parttime employees.

Marianne and Mathieu credit BMR for its foresight in launching a succession planning program (“Le Relais de BMR”) that has helped them to upgrade their skills. The program is a collaboration of BMR and HEC Montreal—widely considered to be Quebec’s premier business school.

The Market

Saint-Raymond is compact, with just 11,000 residents. However, the number of people swells in the summer, owing to tourism: the region is dotted with lakes and cottages. And in the winter, the area is a sports hotspot, with skiing, snowmobiling, and hockey to attract visitors.

The town’s proximity to Quebec City, just 63 kilometres away, means there’s money coming in from the big city—and competition. Saint-Raymond is also a commercial centre, with two important industrial parks that are rapidly expanding. The town’s history is tied to the wood industry. There are sawmills, wood drying and treating plants, and plywood factories in the area. Maple syrup is both an economic contributor and a tourist draw—the sugar shack is an important landmark in the area.

Keys To Success

The keys to success of this business are, like most thriving enterprises, based around the quality of the staff. It has managed to retain its employees, “for reasons of the management style established by the preceding generations,” the Moisans wrote in their awards entry. “The ambiance at work is very agreeable—both in the retail store and in the lumberyard,” they say. “Listening to people is our most important priority. We have great confidence in our staff—which counts many employees with more than 20 years of service here.”

Another key to success is being on time with deliveries to both the large contractor base and to consumers. Urgent orders are handled outside of official store hours. For example, if there is a flood at a customer’s home, or some other emergency, the store will deploy pumps and heaters as required no matter what the time of day or night.

Paying Tribute To The Founders

The founders of this business, Thérèse Dion and Paulin Moisan, have now passed—but their legacy is firmly established in the town. Thérèse died in 2017 at the age of 84; Paulin last summer at the age of 88. Paulin saw the celebration of the store’s 60th anniversary in 2021. The Moisans marked the occasion with a special brand of beer in his honour, “La Paulin.”

Thérèse and Paulin were 27 and 28 years of age when they opened for business. If there had been a Young Retailer of the Year award in this industry in 1961, they would have been obvious candidates to win it. Now, the business has come full circle.

Read on for our Q&A with Marianne and Mathieu which took place in late April.