Wheeling and dealing at Goodwill’s Used Cars

by Rob Perry

of The Aylmer Express

Red Hooghiem and Al Hooghiem said they remain in business as the owners of Goodwill’s Used Cars because they love the “wheeling and dealing.”

The business was started in 1974 by their parents George and Corrie, after George had worked for another car dealer in town for 17 years as a service manager. (George, though retired, continues to drop in at Goodwill’s every business day.)

Their parents bought East End Arrow, a garage and gas station, but on opening day, George had forgotten to order a fuel delivery for the gas bumps.

Somehow, they said, George talked Ultramar into taking payment after the fuel was sold, not before, an unheard-of practice.

Red said the station should have been open seven days a week, but George and Corrie would only open for six. His father told them he sold as much fuel in six days as others did in seven.

In addition to servicing cars and selling fuel, the business after four or five years started offering a few used cars for sale as well.

Their father was a natural bargainer, they said. “Dad will still go to the store and offer $1,500 for a $2,000 couch.”

Both Al and Red worked at the station in their youth, pumping gas and changing tires.

Al went into the business full-time in 1978, while Red, after graduating from high school in 1978, worked installing dairy equipment for a few years. When he married in 1983, he came back to the family business.

The brothers would take over running the busi- ness in 2003 when they moved across Talbot Street East to their current site, where the Aylmer Dairy used to be, between East and Elk streets.

They’d worked at first as mechanics, pumping gas as well, while George would go to auctions to pick up used cars to sell.

“That is enjoyable, as long as you don’t have to do it all day, every day,” Red said about the auctions.

“It’s a long day.”

About 10 years ago, Al noted, they quit having to travel for auctions, as all sales moved online, which was a great relief.

They made the big move to their current site in the former dairy in 2003. They’d purchased the property two or three years earlier and used it for the company’s body shop. They had 95 cars, starting in the late 1990s, crowded onto their original property before the switch. “We couldn’t move.”

The key to their success, Al said, was “Good service, good cars,” and standing behind the products they sold, as well as ensuring that every customer got value for money in their purchases.

They had Toronto customers who kept coming back just to talk to the salesmen, they liked them so much, they said. A company from Ottawa continued to buy white Ford trucks from them.

The old rule, that customers would only drive a half hour to buy a used vehicle, had gone by the wayside, especially during the last two years of the pandemic. They had many regular customers who kept coming back.

Holding onto cars

By late 2019, Goodwill’s would have as many as 250 cars for sale on their lot, but that number had fallen due to challenges in stocking used car inventory. Semiconductors, vital in making new automobiles, had been in short supply since the start of the pandemic.

As a result, so used vehicles cost more due to the high demand, and were harder to come by, since the owners were holding onto their vehicles while they waited for new models.

“The bottom fell out in March of 2020, and April and May were quite slow months,” Al recalled, but after that, business began to pick up again as buyers, realizing they might face a long wait list to receive a new vehicle, chose to go the used route instead.

They worked hard to keep their inventory up and, despite shortages, still had about 150 used cars on their lot at any given time.

They kept their 22 employees working through the pandemic as well, since car dealers and servicing were considered essential businesses.

The federal government helped with COVID-related funding, he added.

Even when the business itself was closed to the public, salesmen could still work remotely from home, Red noted. And Goodwill’s offered free delivery to customers at their homes.

“We did fine during COVID financially,” Al said, but they recognized not every business was as fortunate. They did struggle with a decision about whether to put a new electronic sign at the front of the Goodwill’s lot, but, after waiting “quite a while,” decided to do so.

Now, the new-car business was getting a little better as vehicles began to be delivered from factories, but a shortage still existed for both them and used cars.

They had six or seven retirees who they’d send out as drivers to pick up vehicles to bring back to the business, covering a big part of Ontario.

They recently saw a bit of a downturn in sales after interest rates increased but believed that wouldn’t last.

Trusted team

They also gave credit to employees, especially long-term ones, for the success of Goodwill’s.

“They know how everything works here. They understand how we work too,” they said about the veterans.

“You get along with them so well,” and that made being the owners easier, Al said.

“We have a lot of fun with the staff,” Red added.

Al and Red noted the company also believed in being part of the community and supported several Christian charities and schools.

They’ve both been involved in fundraising for the building of the Corner Cupboard, the food bank, East Elgin Community Complex, donated to the Aylmer Performing Arts Council and many other local charities, causes and sports teams.

They’ve also backed Sanctuary Homes in St. Thomas and were part of a new church program in that city providing social services and meal opportunities.

“They’re guys who love day trips,” Al said. Prices for vehicles and parts were more expensive now, but the same was true for just about everything else.

Al said the business started to return to something resembling normal by June of 2020. Sales rose back to pre-pandemic levels, even with 100 fewer cars in inventory.

“It’s possible 250 was more than we ever needed,”

Al admitted.

Red added their philosophy was to keep the lot as stocked as possible, and customers reacted by driving further to make a purchase because they had a selection to choose from.

And they’re notorious for the humorous entries they and their employees put together for local parades.

The brothers paid tribute the patience of their wives, Randee (Al) and Sylvia (Red), “because it’s an around-the-clock business. The phone never stops ringing.”

As for the future, they’re pretty happy with the business as it is.

Recently, they’ve sold a few electric vehicles. Al said the most recent was a Nissan Leaf, which had 185 kilometres of range. Finding a used electric car suitable for long trips was still a challenge, but newer models had ranges of up to 500 kilometres.

“The ness that long might not have been with them, but they managed to beat them, he said. “We’re pretty blessed that way.”

Dennis is from a rural background, growing up on a 50-acre farm outside Windsor. His niece’s children, he noted, would become the sixth generation of their family living on that farm. Lana is originally from Montreal.

He spent 16 years on the road as a watch and jewellery salesman before they decided to take a crack at running their own store.

Lana didn’t have a background in jewellery like he did, but learned on the fly, and he credited the displays and merchandising inside the store entirely to her talents.

He didn’t know what to expect, breaking into a new community, but he’d dealt with all kinds of jewellery people during his time on the road. He came in with access to a buying group that let him pass on savings from discounts to their customers, and let them know he had access to any kind of product they might want.

Community immersion

They’d been looking at two or three towns they were considering setting up shop in, “and Aylmer just fit for whatever reason. I don’t regret it in the least.”

Outside the store, when they started in Aylmer, they had no friends, but quickly immersed themselves in the community.

Dennis joined the Masonic Lodge and Shrine Club in Aylmer, and also served on boards for the Business Improvement Area, Aylmer—Malahide Museum and Archives and the Aylmer Area Community Foundation.

“We’ve been honoured to be part of this community,” he said, and he liked to think they’d been generous in giving back to it.

He hadn’t been surprised to see someone coming in just about every day, seeking donations of prizes or sponsorships for charitable events or sports teams. “A lot of towns work that way.”

Dennis said he’d always believed a “mom and pop” shop was better when it came to offering personalized service than a big box like a Walmart, and that was especially important when selecting jewellery.

With a chain, a customer would be dealing with a part-timer with limited training.

“You come to us, you’re talking to the owner, someone’s who’s going to be fo- cused on the diamonds.”

He really enjoyed the engagement ring business, and was honoured that customers would come to him to make a purchase for such a special moment in their lives.

He thanked every customer who did so, and said the personal touch meant that, at times, “We’ve been invited to weddings.”

The store did much of its own designs for rings. “Custom work is a big part of our business,” drawing patrons from as far away as Windsor and Mississauga.

Often, customers would come in with their mother’s rings, and ask that the jewels be placed in a new, more modern setting. That wasn’t just for wedding rings, but for all sorts of old jewellery.

The process used to take three weeks, but could now take up to four to six, he said. “We used to have 10 casting houses we could deal with. Now it’s only a couple.”

The buying group the store belonged to had the best of the crop when it came to casters, but they were always busy as a result. Engagement and wedding rings brought much less pressure than, say, wedding cakes, since they were usually prepared long before the actual ceremony.

Most couples who came in didn’t even have a date set yet, though usually they were within a year of their wedding. He liked to have at last two months to get rings ready, to ensure they fit before the actual ceremony.

A different approach

Buying at a small store meant that customers didn’t get the high-pressure sales tactics they might at a chain store.

Employees at franchises worked on commission, and that meant closing sales. Dennis said he’d had couples come in telling him how different the approach was at O’Neil’s.

An old marketing saying back when he was a salesman on the road was that couples would visit five stores before de- ciding on an engagement ring. When their store opened, he’d take time to educate customers, not just try to sell them.

“Kids today are a lot more savvy. They’ve gone online and done their homework before setting foot in a jewellery store.”

Ten years ago, when the Internet was hitting full stride, people were buying diamonds online, “but they didn’t necessarily get what they thought they were.”

Now, they came into a store knowing what they wanted, but seeking the trust and expertise of working with an owner.

The single biggest change he’d seen in recent years was the growth in diamonds created in a laboratory, rather than in nature.

The lab stones were identical to natural ones, and could be labelled a diamond, he said.

The same applied to other coloured stones, such as rubies and emeralds.

The market had gone in the last four years from 100% natural stones to 80% lab-formed for engagement rings, because of the lower cost points.

Lab versions cost 50–60% of what natural diamonds did, he said.

In the past, he’d usually dealt with a man who was buying an engagement ring, and now, couples were more involved, and women were less fussy about where their diamonds came from.

A woman then often wanted a one-carat diamond, and quality and cut determined the price. Today, young couples wanted a house, and had their minds on other things.

Pandemic changes

“It’s changed everybody’s way of doing business,” Dennis said about the Covid pandemic that arrived in 2020.

“No one saw it coming,” and then, on March 17 the store, not considered an essential service, had to shut down.

They were closed for about six weeks during the first lockdown, and when they could open, they faced restrictions.

Another time, they were shut down again, but were allowed to provide curbside service. However, “You can’t take a tray of diamonds out to somebody’s car.” Fortunately, though, they could have jewellery delivered to people’s houses.

A regular customer might call and say he wanted something for his spouse for their wedding anniversary.

“We know our customers pretty well. We know what they’re looking for.”

They’d pick a gift, wrap it and deliver to the door, on the understanding that if the recipient didn’t like it, it could be exchanged for something else.

“We’ve always had that sort of system with old customers,” he said. “This is a very trusted business. How you keep and grow a business is customer service.”

However, because a pandemic was such a foreign experience to everyone, no one really understood what was going on at first.

They were lucky in that, after over 20 years in business at the time, they had no debt and, being “old school,” had set aside savings for a rainy day. If they’d had to pay off some big expenses, the store would have been in big trouble, as some other businesses experienced, he said.

They did reduce the hours they were open for walk-in trade, but they’d also always offered consultations by appointment, especially for customers who worked through the day or were travelling some distance.

Two long-time part-timers had retired in 2019, and Dennis and Lana had thought they wouldn’t need additional staff early in early 2020, so they put off hiring replacements. They were grateful not to have to lay anyone off. “We dodged that bullet.”

While couples couldn’t be sure when they might be able to have a wedding during the pandemic, they still got engaged and needed rings, he said. Others, stuck at home, decided to treat themselves if they couldn’t travel.

“And the ‘shop local’ became huge,” he said. He believed every small town experienced the same resurgence in doing business locally.

As a result, the kind of personal service a hometown store could offer was coming back into fashion for shoppers, something he expected to continue.