A&B finally jettisons the downtown Edmonton store

Edmonton Journal: A&B Sound leaving downtown: Problems with building behind decision

Ron Chalmers
The Edmonton Journal
Friday, March 02, 2007
EDMONTON - A&B Sound will close its downtown store after March 10 and move all staff to the southside location.
The lease at 10232 106th St. runs out at the end of March and will not be renewed because of deficiencies in the structure, store manager Mickey Ali said Thursday. "We are looking at properties in all parts of the city."
Until a suitable location is found, A&B will operate from a single location, at 3110 Calgary Trail.
The downtown store occupies a two-storey brick building that once held an upscale Alberta Liquor Control Board outlet.
The A&B store has been "very successful," said Ali, who has worked there from the time it opened in 1993.
He closed the second storey in September because it suffered "a lack of staff and a lot of theft."
A&B, like many retailers, has struggled to retain employees who can earn more in the oilpatch, Ali said -- while emphasizing that top sales staff do very well.
During December, four of the store's commission salespeople earned more than $20,000, he said. "There is money to be made in this game."
But successful salespeople "must have a passion for the things we sell."
At the same time, "you have to be a people person," Ali said. "You must meet the customer's wants and needs."
A&B sells home and automobile sound systems, recorded music and computers -- but mostly "large-screen TVs, 42 inches and up," Ali said.
A&B was founded in Vancouver by the Steiner family in 1959. After losing $6 million from 2002 to 2004, it filed for creditor protection and was bought, in 2005, by Seanix Technology, a Richmond computer manufacturer, for $25 million.
The company has since closed two stores in Manitoba and two stores in Saskatchewan.
After March 10, the chain will have 15 locations in Alberta and British Columbia.
The downtown store is holding a clearance sale.

While I wish them well, not everybody shares their enthusiasm. One vendor who does business with them confided that he doesn't believe one location is enough to service the Edmonton market. A company insider related to me that their attempts to secure a second location in the west end have been hamstrung by indecisiveness at HQ back in Vancouver; several hot retail properties here in Edmonton have been snapped up by other companies while A&B has considered their options.

Still, insiders at A&B Sound have expressed their positive feelings for the company's future to me on several occassions. After a couple of rough years, it's good to see them starting to pull it together in a challenging marketplace.

That said, I think it was unwise to trumpet how much the top salespeople made last December. I recognize that Mickey (whom I know personally, and he is a hard working, dedicated man) was trying to throw out a banner to attract new staff, but that kind of loose talk can get used against you when dealing with customers, and you are trying to add value, rather than discount. I can just hear a certain type of customer as he yells "OF COURSE you're gonna give me a thousand dollars off this tv! I know how much money you guys are making! IT'S A RIPOFF!"

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