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Sunday, November 7, 2010

 

Report on Mike Fritsch

Scent of a merchant: Fritsch marks 50
 
July 29, 2009
By Chuck Howitt, Record staff

KITCHENER — The carpet is worn and could use a good vacuuming. Boxes of perfumes, eau de toilette and cologne in all shapes and sizes crowd the counters and display cases. Old paintings depicting the history of pharmacy line the walls. Stock is piled haphazardly at the back.
Walking into Fritsch Fragrances is like taking a trip back in time to the 1960s.
Located at 201 King St. W. across from Kitchener City Hall, the store could badly use a makeover, but owner Michael Fritsch is not about to undertake one. Not after 50 years in business. He has seen all kinds of trends and fads come and go and greets it all with a good-natured, world-weary sense of humour.
Asked if he's celebrating his golden anniversary, he says, “My kids decided they should tell somebody. I am trying to ignore it as much as possible.”
How did he finance the purchase of the store in 1959? “Blood.” That and, “I had one of those nice old-fashioned, 25-year mortgages people used to have.”
Did he buy the building along with the business? “I wouldn't be here now if I didn't.”
Marketing plan? “Word of mouth. It's the best and it's cheap.”
Number of employees? “I'm the CEO. My wife is secretary-treasurer.”
Annual revenues? “Minimum wage. Sales have dropped off 50 per cent in the last 10 years.”
Why aren't sales better? “No retailers. If you took away parking from Fairview (Park mall), their sales would drop, too.”
Vacation plans? “I haven't had a holiday in 50 years. Who's going to run the store?”
The latest downtown street makeover? “Looks like another skateboard park. Maybe, they're trying to copy Waterloo.”
Changing times may have worn down Fritsch's spirit, but not his love of the business. Neatly dressed in white shirt, grey slacks and tie, experience and expertise are his sales tools, dignity and professionalism are the packaging.
A large multi-coloured chart stands near the counter, ready for any questions on the origins and ingredients of every eau de toilette, perfume and cologne on the market. A walk along his counter sparks a dialogue on any one of the brands that happens to catch his eye. Miniature boxes of fragrances near the front appeal to collectors in his customer mix.
Owning a perfume shop was not his initial goal. Pharmacy was. A tap on the shoulder from next door neighbour Erwin Fahrner got him started at 14. Did he want to do deliveries at Fahrner's drug store downtown? The part-time job kept him in petty cash all the way through high school and spurred his application to the Ontario College of Pharmacy. He graduated in 1953 with a degree that still hangs on the wall of his store.
Returning to Kitchener, he soon began working for Fahrner again, then bought the store when his mentor retired in 1959. A mortgage from Waterloo Trust helped finance the purchase and a second mortgage from his father supplied the downpayment.
Tough competition honed his skills. In the 1960s, 14 drug stores lined the streets from downtown Kitchener to downtown Waterloo. “There was one on almost every corner,” he recalls. But business was good. People lived close to downtown and worked nearby too.
In 1964, he did a complete remodeling. Out went the old wooden display cases and in came sparkling glass booths. A new sign gleamed outside. “I had the most modern store downtown,” he says proudly.
He sold piles of cosmetics to young girls, pitched by demonstrators brought in from Montreal.
Eager to diversify his product mix and boost sales, he began selling fragrances. Travelling salesmen from major suppliers such as Chanel and Estee Lauder visited his store. Fritsch tapped their brains and built up his expertise.
By the late 1980s, a new drug benefit plan began squeezing his pharmacy profits. Rebates favoured bulk buyers, not small players like Fritsch. He pulled out of the pharmacy business to concentrate on fragrances.
Chain stores began selling fragrances which ratcheted up the competition. Shoppers defected to suburban malls and box stores. Restrictions on the wearing of scents, fuelled by allergy fears, further cut sales. “In this world, can you tell me anything that is fragrance-free?” says Fritsch. “Everything you buy has scent in it.”
Beaten down but not out, he retreated to his specialized knowledge, considerable supply of more than 100 brands and the small merchant's old standby, customer service.
At 79, he's got no succession plan. His three daughters all make more money doing other things. When the taxes get too high, cost of maintenance too much and business gets too slow, “I'll shut her down,” he says. In the meantime, he plans to keep on going. “It's a hobby. It gives me something to do. It's still fun.”
chowitt@therecord

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