| Is Mountain Equipment Co-op’s soul in jeopardy? With its latest round of layoffs, will MEC alienate its core membership, the mountain community, which has been loyal since 1977?
The answers to those questions depend on whom you ask. Many of the Calgary employees at MEC are demoralized after four veteran senior employees were let go. Peter Robinson, the Vancouver-based CEO, will be answering to them during an eight-city tour this week. He is doing damage control at each of the eight stores across Canada, and will be in town on Thursday, March 27 to speak to Calgary staff about his plans to keep MEC healthy in a turbulent retail climate – all while maintaining its not-for-profit retail philosophy.
PRICE OF EXPANSION
How do you evolve from selling climbing gear out of a U-haul trailer (as the MEC in Calgary did) to building eight stores across Canada in 30 years? The price of expansion and increased competition is now being extracted from the local outlets. Some MEC insiders are dismayed by the recent round of layoffs of key Calgary personnel – including local MEC store manager Peter Tucker, assistant manager Bob Clark and senior staff members Jim Wallis and Kevin Blades – and feel the philosophical tide has turned at their beloved workplace. They fear that the Vancouver-based franchise may be making the perilous shift from co-op philosophy to the slippery slope of corporate cant.
"It is very sad when you have to let people go," says Robinson, who is in the unenviable position of eliminating, or changing, 57 staff positions throughout the franchise.
"Have no fear. We are not changing the MEC philosophy. We still want to provide good gear at a good price. In fact, we are trying to return to the original philosophy that our members tell us we have drifted from.
"The reason we laid off managers was so we would not be letting go of the frontline staff – they are our first link to the customer. We also want to pass the savings on to our customers who expect us to come in cheaper than the for-profit retailers."
The move follows Coast Mountain Sports’ aggressive foray into the Canadian retail outdoor market – the chain, owned by the Forzani Group, has opened 11 new stores since 2000 for a total of 16 in Canada. MEC and Coast Mountain are now going head-to-head in a Canada-wide battle for control of the lucrative outdoor market.
Robinson acknowledges that Coast Mountain is a factor in the re-structuring, but he also cites weather, the West Nile virus and changing demographics.
SOUL OF CO-OP
Changing conditions aside, it is the staff members who are shouldering the cost-cutting measures being implemented by management throughout the franchise.
"They sucked the soul out of the Co-op. They have taken it," says local MEC employee Glenn Reisenhofer, a soft-spoken climber who has been employed with the Co-op for 16 years.
Reisenhofer began his tenure at MEC at age 23 and views the job as a part of his outdoor vocation.
"The emphasis at the store has always been flexibility for staff so we could go out and do our craft. The number one thing about working there has always been the people. The environment has always been very liberal," he says.
"I feel as if my family has been broken apart. I mean, we take trips together – we have one coming up in May the staff are organizing themselves. It is the end of an era. Things are going to change. Some people at work were unaffected. Others couldn’t work. Some internalize it. I have been pretty sad."
Reisenhofer views the layoffs as an indication of changes to the philosophy of MEC.
"To me, Peter Tucker and the other people who were laid off represent the soul of the store. They are people with a history, who stand up for the kind of store we want to have," he adds.
When asked if he is going to stay on at MEC given the changes, Reisenhofer responds that he will see what happens. "I’m not too keen on the new management."
Murray Toft, MEC member number 123, was shocked and dismayed to hear about the staff changes. A mountaineer, professional backcountry guide, University of Calgary Outdoor Program instructor and fervent supporter of the Co-op, he wonders whether the decision was based on corporate profit margins.
"I knew that Coast Mountain Sport was giving them a run. It is hard for me to get a handle on this. What kind of pressure is Coast Mountain putting on them? It sounds like a David and Goliath scenario…. this is the way the free-enterprise system works," he says.
Toft adds that Tucker, Clark and Wallis are icons of the Co-op, and the shake-up has left him reeling.
"I have been with the Co-op since they were operating out of 10-gallon drums on 10th Street.... The Co-op has great value to me as a mountaineer. It is the motherlode for equipment and the bulletin board is a focal point. It is where you find out what’s happening – other retailers just don’t do that for you."
Does it really matter who sells you your fleece jacket? Toft thinks it does. "Have you been out to Forest Lawn’s Army and Navy outlet? It is hideous. The world without the Co-op would be just like that."
GRASSROOTS GROWTH
The Co-op’s grassroots staff and pre-eminent role in the mountain community are responsible for its growth – they are how it has differentiated itself from the competition. The Calgary store’s success has also prompted other opportunistic retailers to locate nearby and feed off the loyal clientele at its 10th Avenue S.W. location, creating some intense competition for MEC. The current situation leaves staff and customers speculating about the Co-op’s future. Is MEC the unwitting victim of its own brand of success? Will MEC try to emulate the model its biggest competitor is using, or will it remain loyal to the co-op, non-profit, approach to retailing?
Robinson says the hard-core mountaineer philosophy is not facing extinction at MEC.
"The Coast Mountain Sport retail model is not one we aspire to. We have a new plan in place and we still are pursuing a different way of retailing in this country."
For those members and staff who are concerned about the erosion of the Co-op, Robinson is asking them to hold off for six months before setting off the alarm bells. "Follow up with me in six months and we’ll see how we’re doing," he offers at the end of our interview.
Hopefully, eclectic climbers like Reisenhofer will continue to haunt the floors of MEC. If the core staff are ever supplanted by pasty-faced retail clerks, we’ll know MEC’s days are numbered. |
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