i 4 al aircare entre N. Shore’s John and Lotte Davis Layne Christensen STYLE NOTES WHEN JOUN and Lotte Davis started bottling hair- care products in the basement of their North Vancouver home — with no experience and no money — who would have believed that five years later they would come out on top with an award-winning enterprise and projected sales for °94 of over $10 million? Certainly not the Davises. “I don’t think either of us went into this thing imagining it was going to be the success it is today,” says John, reflecting on the growth of A- G (Advance Group) Professional Haircare. In a handful of years A-G, has skyrocketed to the top of the uttra- competitive professional haircare market, pushing aside such high-pro- file multi-nationals as Joico, Paul Mitchell and KMS. In doing so, the company has realized a 6,000% increase in sales since day 1. In recognition of such phenoine- nal growth, the Davises were, on Nov. | in Ottawa, granted this coun- try’s premier business honor — the 1994 Canada Award for Business Excellence, in the smal! business cat- egory. But accolades haven't come read- ily. “Tt was tough,” says John. “When we started, we were basically in our basement and obviously everybody else was fully established in the mar- ketplace.” In the beginning there were just two A-G products. The couple would buy gallons of shampoo and condi- tioner from a generic manufacturer. In the basement of their home on Grantham, near Seymour River, they would pump the products into cight- ounce bottles and paste on sticky labels. “We'd do that at night and John would go out and seil them during the day,” says Lotte, who handled the administrative details of the busi- ness while looking after the couple's two small girls. It was during this time that John would drive by the salons every night just to look through the win- dow and count the number of bottles sold off the shelves. The couple had taken out 4 sec- ond mortgage on their home to finance this initial stage. A year and a half later, when they decided to manufacture their own products to ensure quality control, John and Lotte moved their fledgling business into a 4,000-square-foot manufactur. ing plant in Burnaby. An old peanut- butter filling machine was purchased using ricked-up credit cards. John toiled at night to perfect his formula tions; Lotte filled and cupped bottles during the day, Remembers Lotte: “We used to lay awake at night thinking "What have we done? How are we going to manufacture our own products? We know nothing about this’ ° John's background was in hairdressing: Lotte’s in graphic design. Both had just come out of a failed business venture with a company that import- ed haireare products from England.) “But John just read up on it researched it, got some basic formu- las from the manufacturer and then we started adding the highest quality ingredients we could, Testing the products was a family affair. “Joho and | used to wast our hair with competing brands half-head and then haif-head with our shampoo, We did this everyday for months until we were finally able to say ‘This is now better than that, that, that and that’,"' says Lotte. “Our kids had the cleanest hair in the school,” recalls John with « chuckle, But two years into the business venture, the Davises weren't laugh- ing. We were running up personal debt, the banks wouldn't talk to us, the house had a second and third mortgage ... there was nothing left over.” “ASK WAYNE Graduated 1968 from the International Fabricate Institute in Silverspring, Maryland. Q: How should I care for my suit? A: A suit is a very Important and expen- sive article of ciothing. For long life, be sure you take proper care of it. Here are some suit care tips. When you purchase a sult, check the care label or ask the salespeople about proper care instructions. Let the suit breathe; once at home, remow any plastic bag, even after cleaning, and keep the suit (n 4 well ventilated closet. Also, your suit will be less wrinkled if you leave some space between garments in your closet. Do not bang the jackel buttoned, since this distorts the drape of the jacket, Also, place the Jackets on shaped hangers. Likewise, bang the slacks on special hangers which will keep the vertical slack creases. Your suit needs to rest between wearings- about 24 hours, Frequent wearings subject the fabric to undue stress, Finally, and most importantly. have your suit professionally cleaned. The more you do, the longer your suit will last. [If dirt, grime, food Stains, and perspiration stains are left on your suit, they will cause the fibers to break down and wear faster. CAROUSEL CLEANERS Outside location between Canada Trust & The Bay Mon Wed 6.30 to 6.30 pan Thuty Fil. 6.30 ta 9.00 pwn Saturday 6 30 to 5 30 pm Sunday 12 00 to § QUpin 922-4811 Park Royel North Dollar Shopping Centre %29-4890 eatin NEWS photo Ten Petore AS THE only 100% Canadian-owned and operated manufacturer of haircare products, A-G picked te up a Canada Award for Business Excellence this rnonth. Company founders Lotte and John Davis ® .- on reaching $10 milion in annual sales: “We felt that if we could just make enough to keep ‘our-:: selves alive then that would be great — bu? with a lot of hard work, an unflagging commitment to 7 quality and some very good people working with us it has turned into quite a successful company.”:” The painful decision was made to sell their home to finance expansion of the business. The ultimate person- al sacrifice paid off: “Business went ballistic after we sold the house,” says Lotte. After six months they had outgrown their 16,000 square-foot Burnaby headquarters. The search is "on for an additional 25,000 square feet of space to accommodate a new production facility and house their 39 full-time and 20 seasonal employees. Today the 20-product A-G tine is sold in over 2,000 salons across Western Canada and Ontario, with 30 new accounts being added every month. Plans for international distri- bution are in the works. EET And after spending two years ina townhouse, Lotte, John and the girls, now eight and 10, have relocated to a - newly renovated home in the British. _ Properties, = What of that pretty little house on... Grantham, right on the river, where it: all began? The Davises have never looked back. EDT ERE ER Wool bec : & OFF Wool Car Coats Selected Suits