MacKenzie Milne

enzie,were real go-getters in business and politics. Theycontributed a lot to the Sarnia region as far as hospitals,the railway,the tunnel systemunder the river to connect the U.S.and Canada,and theyare attributed to be the first ones to export Canadian oil to England. Therewere no roadways,no railways,at the time,ev- erythingwas done through the Great Lakes system.So, theycatered to the shipping industrywith ship chan- dlery,stoves,and tin smith services.Over the years,the companycontinued to evolvewith a focus on being first tomarket with cutting-edge technologyof the times.They introduced the first electric lighting to their region selling fifty1200 candle-power arc street lamps to the cityof Sarnia in 1893. “Fast forward to 1979: the store suffered a devastat- ing fire and didn’t recover until 1983whenmy father, Allan Primmer,and three other partners,bought the companyandmoved it.Allan eventuallybought out the partners and in 1995,I became a partner and store manager.We grewthe annual sales from$300,000 in 1984 to $1.25million in 1998,largelybecause of add- ing‘safety supplies’to our current offering of hand tools andmaterial handling equipment.Having doubled our inventory,a larger storewas needed,and in 1999 wemoved to a brand new,larger facility just down the road.We broke the $2million threshold in sales in 2002,and by2005wewere doing $5million.” BVM: Can you describe the corporate culture at MackenzieMilne? Primmer: “MackenzieMilne is a familybusiness,with a real focus on creating a friendlyatmosphere for cus- tomers and employees,alike.Half the staff are family members.Themajorityof our 10 employees have 15 MACKENZIE MILNE years or more invested in the firm.Our salesmanager, Albert Hoekstra,has been here for 26 years.Having a teamwith 150-plus years of collective experience is another one of our recipes for success. “We have a lot of repeat business,thanks to our very personal customer service system.No voice automa- tion-there’s always a person answering the phone and greeting you at the store.People like that we address themby their first name.Alot of themhave been with us for years.Theymaychange their hats and the company theydeal with,but theyalways keep coming here.” Hoekstra: “As we’ve grown as a company,we’re opening up to a lot of different markets.The industry is reallybecoming automated in the supplybusiness and the end user is no longer dealingwith people.So,we’re focusing our attitude on relationships with customers, to gain ground.” BVM: Howdo you differentiate yourselves from the competitors? Primmer: “We pride ourselves on flexibilityand independence.We dowhatever it takes tomake the customer happy.We cover awide breadth of product AT A GLANCE MACKENZIE MILNE WHAT: Provider of Safety and Industrial Supplies WHERE: Sarnia, Ontario WEBSITE: www.mackenziemilne.com