The Globe and Mail
April 7, 1999
Family trades on traditional values
Four Toronto merchants have created a cluster of shops that harken back to when business centred on pesonal relationships, and families always worked together.
Toronto -- When Mina Ely talks customer relations, she could just as well be describing an evening of having friends over for dinner. "They come in, I greet them by name, it's a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere," she says.
Ask her mother Lana Mikhailov what makes a successful business and she replies: "It's about personality and how you treat [people]. I ask, 'How are you, how are your children, how are your grandchildren?' "
Ms. Ely and her family have created a cluster of four Toronto shops -- selling items ranging from jewelry to shoes -- based on an old way of doing business. They have tried to bring the values of European bazaars and village markets to a large Canadian city in the 1990s.
Like many offspring of Jewish European immigrants, Ms. Ely, 24, grew up surrounded by tales of her grandparents' "shmata business," a term describing the trade of buying and selling clothing, leather goods and just about anything wearable, in street markets or shops.
Ms. Ely's family is from Russia, where they sold fabrics and clothing picked up on travels across Europe.
"Back then, they would bargain, wheel and deal -- whatever they could do to make a sale," she says. "My grandmother was a smart, savvy businesswoman. She was always at the front of the shop, selling and working with customers."
Many new Canadians subscribe to a distinct set of values when doing business -- ones that have trickled down through generations. Buying and selling was a means of survival, and families always worked together. The trade often centred on personal relationships -- making deals often depended on who you knew and how much they liked you.
Instead of profit-driven, Ms. Ely says the term to describe the business is family-driven. Words such as honesty and individual attention are used to define it. "It's important for customers to see that the owner is there -- that everything is taken care of."
With five kids and little else, Ms. Ely's parents, Peter and Lana Mikhailov, came to Toronto two decades ago from Baku, Russia. Mr. Mikhailov worked as a mechanical engineer, but recognized his talent for making jewelry during the six months he waited for immigration papers in Italy.
In Canada, he continued doing custom work by hand. His jewelry store, called Gold Irene after his youngest daughter, is located among a stretch of neighbourhood shops on Yonge Street. He has no employees and doesn't advertise. Customers come by word-of-mouth and pedestrian traffic.
"There are limits to my dad's English, so he communicates with customers in different ways," Ms. Ely says. "He always smiles, and his face is very trustworthy. People don't worry about giving him a two-carat diamond."
She saw the same qualities in her husband, Isaac Ely. Their courtship was a merger of shared values and entrepreneurial aspirations. Mr. Ely had escaped as a child from Iran -- "the situation wasn't good for Jewish people," he says -- where his father owned clothing stores.
In Toronto, Isaac sold belts and watches on the street before deciding to go into business with his cousin, running a discount operation. He made enough money to help finance and run a restaurant, but eventually closed the clothing store and sold his restaurant shares back to the partners to dedicate more time to his new marriage.
"My mother always says, 'you only have one partner for life,' " Ms. Ely says. She and Mr. Ely were married last year and like her parents and grandparents before, they decided to go into business together.
Mr. Ely placed an offer with his first landlord on a rental space on Yonge Street. At the same time, Ms. Ely was working as a salesperson in a shop in Spadina Village, a retail pocket in affluent Forest Hill. When she saw a "for lease" sign next door, she knew she wanted this location.
When Mr. Ely called to put in an offer, he discovered the property's manager was the immigration lawyer who had helped him enter Canada. The couple was offered both locations on the same day.
They discussed the decision with the Mikhailovs, but ultimately Ms. Ely, at 23, felt she was ready to operate a business of her own. She opened Vivace, a shoe boutique and Mr. Ely launched a men's clothing shop called Form. They do all the buying together, but manage the stores separately.
With an investment of about $150,000 in renovations and inventory for each location, the Elys opened their doors last July. Ms. Ely greets clients by name and often recalls their size and preferences.
"I've always had the personality for it, even as a kid -- give me something and I'll sell it," says Ms. Ely, who graduated from Seneca College's program in visual merchandising and fashion management.
"My parents have always encouraged us to take risks. Do the best to succeed and if we fail, it's a learning experience."
Six months after opening the store, Ms. Ely had the opportunity to give back that advice to her mother when retail space became available next to the shoe store. She encouraged Ms. Mikhailov to open a women's clothing store, Spadina Village Boutique, in a neighbourhood where many customers appreciate the family approach.
Ms. Ely started teaching her mother about buying, merchandising, networking and developing a retail focus. She also suggests keeping the merchandise in the two stores compatible so that they can share clients.
The Elys and the Mikhailovs plan to continue to build and share their database of customers. "I send customers to my parents and Isaac, they send people to us. Between the four different stores we can cater to everybody."
