12 Volt accessories including lighting and remote starters. We carry a lot of towing accessories, really anything that you need for your vehicle to tow a trailer for your snowmobile, your RV unit, your fifth wheel; we’ve got all those products. We’re really trying to grow those product categories,” Brian said. Growth is a theme of sorts at Grandwest. In fact, it’s been a necessity since day one. From Grandwest’s Head Office at their now-expansive warehouse on Circle Drive in Saska- toon, Brian explained that the very first warehouse was little more than a closet. “We are here to help our customers; we are here to help you get that sale.” “When the owner George Reddekopp and his partner at the time first started the business nearly four decades ago, the initial storage space was in his apartment,” Brian explained. “They started off, back in the day, by going out and building-up a very modest inventory of products that they could sell to local farmers. They eventually branched out into the automotive sector because they realized that a lot of these farmers wanted to have running boards for their trucks. That’s how it all started. From there, it just ballooned into the accessory business that we are in today.” Nowhere is the balloon-effect better illustrated than at grandwestauto.com. There you’ll find the decades-long six-phase expansion of the warehouse clearly labelled on an aerial photograph. For Brian, the photograph is proof of a team that’s “always ready for the future.” “I think we have been able to keep up so well with expan- sions because we’re so committed to providing superior customer service. We’ve always strived to have on-hand the products our customers may want so they can have it when they need it. That’s required us to keep a very healthy inventory throughout the years. Nowadays a lot of the products are very vehicle-specific. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of a universal fit anymore so that requires you to have way more skews and inven- tory on-hand for each individual application. That is why we need such a deep inventory. That’s where our deep inventory comes from,” Brian said. A major component of Grandwest’s superior customer service is their road sales force. “They’re an out of the office sales force and they’re unquestionably the best,” Brian said with a hint of pride in his voice. “There is no other business in this country that has as many road sales people out there that are constantly calling on customers to sell car and truck accessories. We have 12 full- time road sales people who are out there year-round listen- ing to the customer and seeing what their needs are, which allows us to build that deep inventory I spoke of before and move forward in the most customer-driven way possible.”
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2018 104
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