Exclusive turf

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There is no secret about the fact that one way of improving your business is to have product exclusivity. But it’s a different ball game when that exclusivity prevents other businesses from obtaining entire product lines.

This has been the case for several Mistissini Crees who have to go beyond a few extra miles to get stock for their stores because of competitors in Chibougamau and other areas having exclusive deals with manufacturers.

“We have our share of trouble with this,” said Steve Forward, who works at S&S Office Depot, an office-supply store in Mistissini.

According to Forward, S&S Office Depot has struggled for years to obtain accounts with manufacturers and distributors of office furniture for their store because those suppliers already have established business relationships with their competitors.

One supplier, Givas, would not open an account with S&S because, according to Forward, it already had exclusive product deals with two other stores in northern Quebec. Those stores, however, are in Val-d’Or and Amos, over seven hours away from Mistissini.

“We tried Artopex. They are manufacturers as well and their dealership is in Chibougamau and therefore we are inside their territory,” said Forward

Forward said that even their regular inventory supplier, Novexco, gives better deals to the BuroPLUS franchise store in Chibougamau than S&S since the franchise technically has a 150-km territory, which includes Mistissini. With better deals, the Chibougamau store can offer its clients better promotions and therefore have a more competitive edge on the market.

“It’s a bit cruel in the sense that they had all of these franchises before development in the Cree communities occurred, so we are trying to play catch up,” said Forward.

The situation worsened for S&S when Novexco merged with Corporate Express, their supply distributor. Whereas the office-supply stores in the north were not in direct competition with each other, the situation changed with the merger which put everyone in the same pool.

Though S&S has managed to survive over the years, the situation can only be described as frustrating as they have had to seek other suppliers in certain instances or have had to pay more of a mark-up on their merchandise from distributors.

To get around this, Forward said that S&S will most likely be starting a business relationship with Office Pro in Ontario so that they no longer find themselves in the same market.

Cree Sports and Outdoors Center owner Calvin Blacksmith knows this story only too well. Years ago when he opened up his store he was unable to obtain the Columbia line of clothing because it was being sold in Chibougamau.

After threatening to draw media attention to the issue and encouraging a First Nations-based boycott of the product, Blacksmith said that he was able to make a deal with Columbia but at a cost. Rather than having the product representatives visit him in Mistissini as is the norm for many retailers, Blacksmith has to go and see the reps himself in Montreal.

Though the Columbia issue was resolved, Blacksmith said that he still cannot obtain certain product lines such as Easton Hockey and Bauer Nike because of the exclusive deals that Chibougamau stores have with them.

Considering the fact that stores in major city centres will have competitors next-door selling the same products, Blacksmith has wondered if the issue here really has to do with race or zone.

Blacksmith has feared that perhaps some companies might be less inclined to give the Crees accounts because their relationship has been tarnished by competitors in other towns.

As a former police officer, Blacksmith has had first-hand experience with Chibougamau business owners slandering Crees, saying that they are bad at business because they are “druggies and alcoholics.”

“We eventually realized that some people from Chibougamau were saying that the Crees were bad people to do business with and that is why some companies were reluctant to open accounts with us,” said Blacksmith.

However, Forward doesn’t think that the lack of accounts in Mistissini has much to do with race but more with the Chibougamau Chamber of Commerce being more established. He feels that people in Chibougamau are more inclined to support their own local businesses, plus those stores have had longer relationships with their suppliers.

Whatever the case, the situation has created a few more obstacles for Cree businesses.

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