“PEOPLE TOLD me I was crazy, it being a recession and all, and being on such a scary street ... One woman banker just shook her head and said 80% of retail businesses fail.” With support like that it’s a wonder Sherri Lightheart didn’t just throw her business plan into Horseshoe Bay. It was 1991, the recession was in high gear and the Vancouver retail industry was moving fast — in reverse. But this bubbly 31-year-old disregarded those cynics and, against all the odds, opened 4 If I had to work with a bored staff, I'd go bonkers. 99 — Sherri Lightheart Lightheart' & Company, a. fine giftware store specializing in home ~ entertainment. . — It wasn’t a decision made light- - heartedly. ~ /°"Lightheart had just walked away from a’ secure’ management career with Mur- chie’s Tea and Coffee (her parents own the time-honored chain), and she admits she was terrified. .. “J-was scared: until the doors “opened,’’ Lightheart recalls over + coffee in a bistro across from her second, ‘ that opened last year. . “I knew what:a commitment it ‘took, to mortage half your. house. You'say to your husband, ‘I’li be barefoot and pregnant. if this . doesn’t work out.’ "’ ‘ To convince herself she wasn’t crazy, Lightheart created a detail- ed business. plan right down to ‘where the paintings would hang “and? where the bathroom would , 80." a 14-year - smaller Gastown store By Evelyn Jacob News Reporter To see if it would fly she employed an unorthodox brand of market testing, to say the least. “IT sat down in the bakery across the street and counted the people walking by and imagined what kind of people would come into my store and what they would buy,” she laughs. That bakery was on a one-way street full of ‘‘For Lease’’ signs, she remembers. Lightheart seems to lave read her potential clientele like a book. In just six months her Howe Street store was more than doubl-- ing what she thought it would do. Then came the ultimate vindica- tion: the Canadian Gift & Tablewear Association named her retailer of the year. “Do you remember, Teresa?’ she asks, turning to store. manager Teresa Sookavieff. ‘“When I got the call 1 kept asking the woman ‘on the phone, ‘Are you sure?’ I hung up the phone and just started to baw!.”’ ‘The latest addition to the grow- ing Lightheart empire is a “tabletop fashion boutique’’ that opened this past May in the lower level of her Gastown store. The 1,000-square-foot. (93.. sq. m) space is chock-full of elegantly displayed china, including high- end makes such as Fitz & Floyd, Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior, and top-of-the-line “tabletop fashion’’ (anything used to set a table and more, including napkins, frames and candelabras). Lightheart’s popular thematical- ly designed gift. baskets, packed North Vancouver School District would like to thank the following businesses for participating - in a successful student Pre-employment Work Experience Program| Maureen Buhle Colette Rimi Work Experience Coordinators Abbott and Tincombe Avalon Hotel The Bay-Park Royal Bayside Campground Blutex Bullding CKLG Radio CMI Rentals Canadian Closet . Capilano Pet Hospital Capri Photo Finis ing Caveman Car Care Coach Mouse lan Cobra Importing Columbia © Centre for Integrated Health Services Cotton Ginny Cypress Mountain Resorts Deep Cove Bike Shop Environment Canada Falrweater Capilano Mail Four Brothers asonry Forster's Restaurant Great Bi Grouse forte Resort High Output Water Sports inf nit] of North Shore he Keg Restaurant Kenan Taverna Laura Lynn Ei uestian Centre Lonsdale Renials bynn Valley Library fynn Valley Lodge jaaco f puto Baiating & Bodyworks Mana Roofi ng, Maplewood Children's Farm Maplewood Parent Participation Preschool Mosquito Creek Marina Mount Seymour Mohawk Service Station Nt Little School Daycare B Enterprises aienance “Nor ate Parent Participation Preschool Shore Disability Resource Centre Non Shore Equestrian Centre North Shore Mazda North Shore Neighbourhood House North Shore Nissan North Shore Off-Road Centre North Shore Ski and Sailboard North Vancouver Recreation Commission Park Gate Animal Hospital Performance Car Stereo Performance Motorcycles Pet Habitat Pier 96 Queen's Cross Neighborhood Pub R. Bauchman Contracting Royal Canadian Legion Ryan Chesma Roofing Sailor Hagar’s Pub Save-On-Foods and Drugs Sears Canada Seward Censtruction Seycove Community Centre Seymour Ski Country Sitver Disc Skyline Sports Steel Strawberry Patch Sundog Studios Super Save Gas Swedish Hardwood Floors Time Out Sporis Top Dog Groomers Trim Line Graphics of North Vancouver Wayne Guhler Roasting A ite's Specia ruck an utomotive Witliam Grin Centre Woodwynn Zeller’s NAME: Sherri Lightheart BOKN: Vancouver RESIDENCE: West Vancouver EDUCATION: Capilano College grad OCCUPATION: Owner, Lightheart & Company FAMILY: Married with gourmet food items and other home entertainment essen- tials, are among her stores’ biggest sellers. “Our line allows you to make things that are simple. The gift baskets are like a Body Shop idea. You can walk around the store and. choose what you want. It really makes customers feel like they’ve personalized their gifts.’’ Every retailer knows that run- “ning a successful business hinges on more than one thing, but Lightheart insists strong customer service and staying personally in- volved in her. business have been key. - “People all talk about service but nobody does it ... I talk to, some retailers and say, ‘God, you're missing the boat. You have to be there to motivate your staff.’ “If I had to work with a bored staff, I’d go bonkers,” she says, explaining her decision to spend no less than 40 hours a week -. working the sales floor. And when she’s on the floor, Lightheart just wants to be treated like one of the sales crew. “| hate giving out my business card because I want people to think of me as one of the. employees. I don’t know if it’s because when I was young I hated being called’ Murchie (at work). Pm Sherri..1 don’t want to be treated differently.” SATURN SEDAN Different Kind of Car 193 SATURN SL No other car in the world can beat its combination of & build quality, safety, stan- dard equipment and low price. From $1 1,645 SATURN WAGON Good selection now 7 avail able of the outstanding family vehicle. Definitely the best wagon value. From $13,625 Vancouver. SAA CONVERTIBLE Who Says safe isn't fun 6 TO CHOOSE FROM 91 900 TURBO CONVERT. Leather, loaded, Only $33,995 '92 9000SPG TURBO § Door hatchback, exec. dri- ven, new factory warranty. ONLY 791 900S 4 Door automatic. From °85 3000 TURBO 4 Door hatchback. . $9,885 From $39,995 $21,555 | SAP tM bee bn NEWS phato Miko Wakefield MANAGER TERESA Sookavieff (left) and Sherri Lightheart show off some of the fine giftware available at Lightheart & Company's new tabletop fashion boutique located in: The Landing building in The best kept secret in a sport utility vehicle! “Including air'cond., power windows, mirrors & locks, cruise control & alloy wheels. $23,995 STILL ONLY ISUZU RODEO North ‘America’ 5 #1 seling import 4x4, really! New power for '93 and too many features to list. ONY = $23,045 MORREY IS COMMITTED TO GIVING YOU MORE VALUE AND MORE SELECTION!!!