150 YEARS Business NW20 • Saturday, December 12, 2009 • The Record
All in the family Copp’s Shoes is the city’s oldest business – founded in 1911
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ew Westminster’s oldest business has been in existence since 1911 and in the same family since 1925.
What started as The Popular Shoe Store at 638 Columbia Street in 1911 became Copp’s Shoes in 1925 when Clarence W. Copp bought the store and renamed it. Four years later, Clarence traded the store to his brother Percy for the Vancouver Boot and Shoe wholesale company. Percy diligently ran the business, passing it down to son Ralph Brine. For 40 years, Ralph ran the store, emphasizing the same things his father taught him: good quality shoes at affordable prices and the best customer service. Ralph’s son Terry, who studied physical education at university, was all set to go into a teaching career, but the pull of the family shoe business had him selling shoes by 1972. “I’m the third generation of this family here,” said Brine. “I’ve got three kids, and they all have their own careers. They’re too smart for this business.” Brine hasn’t changed much in the 130-foot long store where almost all the shoes are in front of you or in the boxes that are on the walls going up to the ceiling. Four original ladders – for Brine and his staff to get shoes on the highest shelves – are still in use, as is the original brass and silver cash register, which features old wooden cash drawers that used to be the individual drawers for each sales clerk and had to be balanced at the end of each day. Brine said the business stays relevant because he orders shoes specifically tailored to his key customers. He said many of his customers are older and looking for walking shoes or boots. In addition, Brine has expanded his selection of large and wide-size shoes. “The big box (retailers) cream off the regular sizes, but it’s stores like ours that service those people,” said Brine. Copp’s has been a fixture in downtown New Westminster for so long, in part, because the family also owns the building. A shoe repair store on Mackenzie Street has been in operation for 50 years and gets Brine’s referrals.
Terry Brine, seen with the antique cash register at Copp’s Shoes on Columbia Street, is the third generation of his family running the store that has been in existence since 1911 and been in Brine’s family since 1925. Larry Wright/The Record Terry learned the value of hard work. “My dad worked my butt off,” said Terry. “He showed me that in order to keep doing business, you had to make sure you took care of your customers and gave them no reason to shop anywhere else.” And that’s what’s most satisfying to Brine. Even as he does the paperwork from his second-floor office that overlooks the entire store, he’ll have customers, who were served by his father or the children of the people he once served, ask him to come down and offer advice. “It’s the little things that count and keeping our customer number 1 is both the littlest and the biggest thing in this business,” said Brine. “We try to be as helpful as we can, offer the expert advice that people are looking for and treat them with respect so they come back and bring their friends with them.” Some of the other cool original touches at Copp’s include the pot belly stove – “It’s a replica of the original, but it really kept the place warm,” said Brine – the handwritten receipts and even some of the original footstools.
“There was a time when we thought of expanding,” said Brine, “but my grandfather “We’re open every day always said it’s better to but Sunday, and I also take have one good store than Thursdays off,” said Brine. 10 not-so-good stores. ... “This business will keep I’ve got a few colleagues running as long as our who expanded to customers keep coming back. multiple stores and they It’s been so much fun for me, ended up bankrupt. That Copp’s Shoes has been serving customers at the same location at 638 and it really is a pleasure each won’t happen with us.” day to come to work.” Columbia Street for almost 100 years. From his own father, – Alfie Lau Larry Wright/The Record
In this 1995 trade magazine story about Copp’s Shoes, Percy Copp is shown in 1941 while Terry Brine’s father Ralph is shown in the inset picture.