Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Morgan Kunitz, from Kunitz Shoes!

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A Coffee with Morgan Kunitz, from Kunitz Shoes! · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

0:00
Hi everyone, today feels different.
0:02
Today feels big.
0:05
Today we are celebrating our 100th podcast episode.
0:10
100 weeks of showing up and having conversation over coffee.
0:14
100 weeks of telling some incredible stories behind the story.
0:19
And through it all, we have not missed a single week.
0:24
We've been here in moments of uncertainty.
0:27
In weeks when life felt light.
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And for us, weeks when it felt incredibly heavy.
0:35
When showing up was easy and when it was anything but.
0:39
And yet, every week, we sat at our table at The Wall Coffee Roasters and pressed record.
0:46
From that very first conversation with Jan Michener, to every guest who trusted us with their story, we are overwhelmed by the honesty, the courage, the laughter, and the heart that has been shared in this very space.
1:02
But this podcast is not just about us or the guests.
1:07
It's about you.
1:09
To our listeners from beautiful downtown Acheson to across the world, thank you.
1:17
Thank you for listening on your morning walks, in your cars, in quiet moments and in the hard ones.
1:25
Thank you for your messages.
1:27
Your encouragement and for reminding us that stories matter and that connection matters even more.
1:35
We truly could not do this without you.
1:39
From the very bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam and part of our family.
1:48
Here's to the stories we've shared.
1:51
Here's to the connections and the friends that we've made.
1:55
And with so much gratitude and love, here's to the next 100 episodes.
2:07
Hi, I'm Morgan Kunitz, and you are listening to Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam.
2:26
Good morning everybody, it's Cam and Jennifer here with Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam, and we are so excited that you're joining us today.
2:33
And we are coming to you live from beautiful downtown Acheson at the Wall Coffee Roasters.
2:41
That's right, one of the best coffee places around.
2:44
Hey, if you're looking for some good coffee, you will want to come down here and check us out.
2:49
And as you heard in our little preamble, this is a very exciting podcast for us because this is our 100th podcast.
2:58
Cam, can you believe we have been sitting here at this table for a hundred episodes?
3:05
That's right.
3:05
Actually, what it really boils down to is 100 weeks.
3:09
We have sat at this table every week for 100 weeks.
3:13
And let me tell you, we have tried, I think, every drink in imaginable.
3:17
We have.
3:17
I can't even say it.
3:18
Imaginable.
3:19
Yeah.
3:20
We even tried to create a drink, Cam, remember that?
3:22
Didn't go very well.
3:23
No, but hey, nonetheless, you need to come to the Wall Coffee Roasters.
3:26
Check it out.
3:27
Great place for coffee.
3:28
And as always, we thank them for letting us use their space here in our little homemade studio in the back here.
3:35
I like it.
3:36
It's really cool.
3:37
And we also want to mention somebody very special who has been with us for a very long time.
3:43
And that's our sponsor, Wing Snob Canada.
3:47
Where the wings, Cam, are fresh, never frozen, 16 different flavors, four rubs, some of the best wings you will ever have.
3:54
No, they really are.
3:55
They are some of the best wings you're ever going to have.
3:57
And they have, like you said, 16 flavors.
3:59
Your favorite flavor is?
4:01
Well, I don't know.
4:01
It changes.
4:02
I know.
4:03
Every time you go there, you got to try something new.
4:04
You do.
4:05
They also have parmesan fries.
4:07
They also have cornbread.
4:08
And I just saw an advertisement the other day.
4:11
They're doing like some poutine thing with wings.
4:13
Got to check it out.
4:14
So hey, if you don't know what to have for supper tonight, then hey, check out Wing Snob.
4:19
It's amazing.
4:19
Ten locations.
4:22
Check out their website at www.wingsnob.ca.
4:27
That's right.
4:27
I keep forgetting.
4:28
It's always CA, not com.
4:30
And you want to check it out.
4:31
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I know we have listeners all around the world, but this is a very exciting time in the city of Edmonton, Jennifer, because the Oilers are in the playoffs yet again.
4:44
First round, first game last night.
4:45
Let's go, Oilers, let's go.
4:47
Anyways, they won last night, 4-3.
4:50
And so first round of the playoffs.
4:52
This is their year, without a doubt.
4:54
But my point is, you're sitting at home, getting ready for the game.
4:58
I don't have snacks.
5:00
Get Wing Snob.
5:01
What a perfect thing to have while you're watching the game.
5:03
I agree.
5:04
That's right.
5:04
Anyway, so thank you, Wing Snob, for all you do.
5:07
Thank you for sticking with us for all this time.
5:09
And they've renewed to be our sponsors for the next little while. They sure have.
5:14
And so, hey, we're excited about that because we have sponsors.
5:17
And that's really awesome.
5:18
When we started our podcast, we had no sponsors.
5:21
Nobody.
5:22
Well, we thought it would last five episodes.
5:23
That's true.
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We did.
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We really did.
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And here we are.
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100 episodes.
5:29
Good like it's not like I'm 100 or anything like that.
5:31
It's like that podcast is 100.
5:33
That's right.
5:34
That's right.
5:34
So awesome.
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So this is just an exciting day, but I'm very excited about our guest today for so many reasons that I'll get into once we get into the podcast.
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I'm very excited about it.
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And so Jennifer, take it away.
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I'm also very excited about today's guest.
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So it is my absolute pleasure to welcome none other than Morgan Kunitz from Kunitz Shoes.
5:57
Welcome Morgan.
5:58
Thank you so much for having me.
6:00
Good to have you.
6:01
You know what?
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I'm going to tell you why Kunitz Shoes means a lot to me.
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I want to tell you right off the top.
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Jennifer knows this.
6:08
My mother, who passed away a couple of years ago, 80, 80, how old was she, 89, she passed away.
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My mother bought all her shoes at Kunitz Shoes.
6:20
Well, thank you to her.
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And she would like phone me and go, I just got new shoes.
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And I'd say, oh, where'd you go?
6:26
Like thinking Walmart or something.
6:28
No, no, no, no, no, no.
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She went to Kunitz Shoes because for her, they were the best shoes ever.
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So thanks for taking care of my mom.
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I really appreciate it.
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She was alone and a single mom and I'm a single child, an only child, not a single child.
6:43
No, I'm not single, but I am an only child.
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And so it was important.
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And she loved Kunitz Shoes.
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Thought it was just great.
6:50
That's awesome to hear.
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I love that.
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Anyway, so this is exciting to have you here.
6:53
This is really great.
6:54
And I can't wait to get into Morgan's story.
6:56
So we're going to kick it off.
6:57
Right.
6:57
Yeah, let's get going.
6:58
Morgan, take us back to your childhood.
7:01
What is the very first memory that connected shoes and the family business for you?
7:07
Wow.
7:07
Okay, that's early days.
7:09
So that's when we were in Heritage Mall.
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We opened in 1981.
7:13
Heritage Mall is not here no more, right?
7:15
It's a great mall.
7:15
Yeah, it's not here anymore.
7:16
It was a beautiful mall.
7:18
It was by Southgate.
7:19
Southgate opened.
7:20
Okay.
7:21
And then it was all downhill from there.
7:23
And then West Edmonton Mall.
7:25
I'm not going to talk about that.
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Anyway, we were there for about 20 years.
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And so a lot of my earliest childhood memories were actually in the mall and hanging out there in the back hallways, in the stock room.
7:40
I remember my dad worked a lot because initially the mall wasn't open till 9 p.m.
7:46
That wasn't very common.
7:47
That's right.
7:48
In those days.
7:49
That's right.
7:50
And we fought that really hard.
7:51
We didn't want to be open on Sundays.
7:53
And then eventually we had to.
7:55
So my dad was there a lot.
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And so we would hang out at the mall.
7:58
My mom would go grocery shopping and drop us off at the store for childcare.
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And my dad would put me.
8:07
We had bins of rubber boots.
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And they kind of had a little lip on them.
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And my dad would put me in those bins and I would sort of be told to stay there.
8:16
And then as I got a little bit older, we would play cops and robbers in the back room.
8:22
In all the rows.
8:23
So many happy memories, unpacking huge shipments of winter boots in our garage.
8:30
I definitely did not work below the legal age that you could work.
8:34
Okay.
8:34
But it was very much ingrained in what we were as a family.
8:39
We had a lot of other interests too, but the store was always that constant going concern.
8:45
Right.
8:45
My mom did all the bookkeeping.
8:47
She still does.
8:49
Yeah, she's amazing.
8:50
Darlene, call out to Darlene Kunitz.
8:53
And my dad, Dwayne, still works in the store every day.
8:55
Okay.
8:56
So your mom and dad started the store.
8:58
They did, yes.
8:59
And what year, do you remember the year?
9:01
What year was that?
9:01
81, before I was born.
9:03
So I was born in 83.
9:05
The same year my brother was born.
9:06
Okay.
9:06
And so they wanted to, you know, have their own business.
9:11
And they did that.
9:12
And they, boy, did they tough it out.
9:14
It took a long time.
9:15
I bet.
9:16
So just for context, so everybody knows.
9:18
Yes.
9:19
Kunitz Shoes is a shoe store.
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And it's a big, they're big shoe stores.
9:23
In the city of Edmonton.
9:24
In the city of Edmonton.
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And they're independently, obviously, owned and run.
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And all that sort of stuff.
9:29
They're not one of these big box brand shoe stores.
9:33
Nothing against them.
9:34
But I went to Kunitz.
9:36
We went to Kunitz Shoes the other day.
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And we did something.
9:41
We bought shoes.
9:42
Well, we bought shoes in honor of this 100th episode.
9:45
That's right.
9:45
So my point is, is that it's this awesome shoe store that's just a great independent shoe store.
9:53
I think we're one of the biggest, at least in Western Canada, independent shoe retailers, multi-brand.
9:58
We also have our own brand of shoes.
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We have started initially, the first store was a kid's shoe store.
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It was part of a franchise.
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And 10 years in, we became Kunitz Shoes because my dad saw all those ladies in the mall buying shoes.
10:15
Like my mom. Smart. He saw her.
10:16
Yeah.
10:18
She was there.
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And he said, I have to be selling lady shoes.
10:20
Good for your dad.
10:21
And then we also sell some men's shoes.
10:23
Yeah.
10:25
It was quite the selection and we'll get in to that for sure.
10:29
Okay.
10:30
So you, what high school did you go to in Edmonton?
10:33
I went to J. H.
10:34
Picard.
10:35
No, you didn't.
10:36
J'ai pas français, c'est vrai.
10:38
I went to Ross Shep.
10:42
That was like no parle francais anything.
10:44
That was like none, zero, but I knew of that school actually.
10:47
Okay.
10:47
So you went, graduated.
10:50
Yes.
10:51
I should never just say that.
10:54
What if somebody said, no, I flunked out or I dropped out?
10:59
For the next 100, I'm going to reword that.
11:01
So you went to high school and when you finished.
11:04
I did some schooling. So our route to the store takeover, that sounds bad.
11:09
The route to us taking over the business was a little bit of a long one because my parents really fostered our passion for the arts.
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So I actually did dance all through my childhood and adolescence as did my. What kind of dance? Ballet.
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So my brothers as well and they went into professional ballet.
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I went to Grant MacEwan's theater art program.
11:33
Did you?
11:33
Yes.
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So we followed our dreams of becoming performers and we had the best parents who let us do that.
11:41
No kidding.
11:42
So I moved away from Edmonton.
11:43
I think a very important thing about being from Edmonton is going somewhere else.
11:48
Right.
11:48
Checking it out.
11:49
We love to bash Edmonton and think that the grass is greener.
11:53
And in some ways it is in other places.
11:55
But when you go away and come back to Edmonton, you realize what an amazing city it is.
12:01
Where did you go?
12:03
So I lived in Germany for a couple of years touring with a theater company there.
12:07
Yeah.
12:09
And then my brothers were there for a while.
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So my brothers, I have two brothers, but the one that is the business partner as well.
12:15
And then I slowly moved back.
12:16
So I went to Montreal for a few years, then Toronto, I worked in wholesale shoes for a while to gain some experience about the industry.
12:25
And then I came back when I was ready.
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And when, I don't think I thought I was going to take over the business.
12:33
My parents, the one thing that they never did was pressure us about that. Left it up to you.
12:39
In fact, they probably could have maybe pressured us a little bit, so we knew it was an option.
12:45
Okay, that's the first time I ever heard that.
12:49
And we've had a lot of family business on.
12:51
We have, yeah.
12:51
So they were like, spread your wings and fly, which is amazing, I'm so grateful for that.
12:56
But we weren't really ever aware that that was an option.
13:00
So when we came back, they were surprised that that was what we wanted.
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So my first, the middle brother came back, and two years later, I came back into it.
13:10
And then we were ready and all that experience we had from the arts and creativity, we were able to funnel into the business.
13:20
So I think that's where we get a lot of our ability to think on our feet, our marketing, and just our passion.
13:27
It's very transferable.
13:29
Sure, sure.
13:30
That's amazing.
13:31
So you were doing ballet in Germany.
13:33
I was doing theater performing.
13:35
Yeah, I performed in like Tennessee William plays.
13:39
I was the American accent.
13:40
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:42
The rest of the performers were British.
13:45
Yeah, so that was an amazing experience.
13:47
And actually, I got to learn a lot of the European shoe brands there.
13:50
Of course.
13:51
And my brother as well.
13:52
A lot of shoes come from, yeah.
13:54
Some great shoes come from there.
13:55
Yeah, absolutely.
13:57
Exactly.
13:57
This is pretty cool.
13:59
I didn't know you were into theater.
14:00
That's really awesome.
14:01
I still do perform.
14:02
Do you?
14:03
And now I do it for fun.
14:04
I have just recently started a society for producing shows.
14:08
So that's my other passion project that's not the store.
14:12
That's your side hustle.
14:13
That's pretty cool.
14:14
Yeah.
14:15
We'll come back to that.
14:16
Yeah, we will.
14:17
That is really cool.
14:18
So Morgan, tell us about the first store.
14:21
Where was the first store outside of Heritage Mall located in Edmonton?
14:26
When did that happen?
14:27
So when the mall was almost closed, so they were literally shutting the lights off in wings, then my parents decided it was finally time to move.
14:38
And the store maintained its profitability in that mall.
14:41
So I think that just speaks to the resilience of a destination.
14:45
Yes.
14:45
People were willing to come to a mall that was almost completely closed to see our store.
14:50
So they found this location just one kilometer east of there.
14:55
It was an old drug store on Saddleback Road and 23rd Avenue.
14:59
And so that location, I'm going to be honest, at the time was like a C or a D location.
15:06
I mean it has since, but C or a D, not an A.
15:10
Definitely not an A.
15:11
And my dad had, and my parents had been spending mall rents, and that's supposed to include marketing and rent. Right.
15:17
So they found this location for a very affordable rent, and it was a much bigger store, and they moved in there, and I know the first couple years were really hard, but it did come back after about a year and a half, and then they never looked back, because all the money they were saving on rent, they spent on advertising and products, and filling the store with shoes.
15:40
I mean shoes, I mean, you know, I was thinking about this last night in getting ready for this today.
15:45
Everybody wears shoes, pretty much, everybody.
15:47
Most people have two feet.
15:49
Yeah, and in the Western world, anyways, most people have multiple pairs of shoes.
15:56
So shoes are, it's like hairdressers, you got to get your hair cut.
16:00
Well, and Cam, I think it, shoes symbolize something.
16:04
I don't know about, well, for you, so for our listeners, if you've ever seen the photos, Cam is notorious for wearing white runners.
16:13
That's his thing.
16:14
But shoes symbolize something, and I want to ask Morgan this question, is there a pair of shoes that symbolized a turning point or a milestone in your life?
16:27
Wow, that's a, that is a deep question.
16:30
Oh my gosh.
16:30
It's almost philosophical.
16:31
It's so philosophical.
16:33
Yes, yeah.
16:33
A turning point.
16:36
Oh man.
16:37
Okay, so I have two answers.
16:38
Okay, very quick answer is my first pair of pointe shoes.
16:41
And we used to actually sell dancewear at the store.
16:44
And so that, of course, was a really pivotal, pivotal, literally, on my toe, moment in my life.
16:50
The other pair of shoes, I think, that really, that I, it will always stick in my mind, it's more recent, is we started to develop our own brand of footwear.
17:02
Right.
17:02
And through that, we were able to do some customization.
17:05
And so when we started doing that, we were partnering with local artists.
17:10
And one of the artists that we connected with was Lance Cardinal, he's a really renown muralist, visual artist, just all around amazing, talented person.
17:19
And he created this white sneaker.
17:23
We saw them, when we were in the store, the Oilers shoe.
17:25
He did that one too, because before then, he did one that was with his syllabic, the syllabics of his name, done in the print.
17:33
And when we saw that shoe, I mean, this shoe looked so cool.
17:37
It looked so cool, but it also represented something special.
17:41
It was very personal to him.
17:43
It also had the beautiful indigenous connection.
17:46
But it was art.
17:47
I think it's the first time I saw myself in this business box, making, I didn't design it, but I was facilitating this to happen.
17:57
You were creating shoes.
17:59
And so when that came out, it was just, it was part of a bigger collection.
18:03
And the whole collection was just beautiful.
18:08
And it also was a really interesting project in our first time collaborating with an indigenous artist.
18:14
We learned so much through that process.
18:16
The shoes are now held at the Royal Alberta Museum.
18:20
That's so cool.
18:21
Okay, that's cool.
18:22
And when we were in there the other day, it was the Oilers Shoes.
18:27
I almost, I almost bought them.
18:28
He did. He was in serious debate.
18:30
But I like to wear my shoes.
18:31
And I thought I could never wear them. They are too pretty.
18:34
So that's his logo.
18:35
Yeah, they'd have to sit on the shelf.
18:36
It's like, are you familiar with Fluevog?
18:39
Fluevog.
18:40
Yeah, so in Vancouver.
18:42
Yes, and one in Edmonton.
18:43
Yes, but I've met him in Vancouver.
18:45
And when you talk to him, he's like, he's just an artist.
18:47
That's what he said, I'm an artist.
18:49
And his shoes are his art.
18:50
It's your medium.
18:51
Yeah, so how do you decide we're going to just make shoes?
18:55
Who do you, do you look in the yellow pages?
18:58
Well, we don't have those anymore.
18:59
But do you look out and go, shoe, people who make shoes?
19:02
I mean, that's a bit of a risk, too, to all of a sudden think you're going to start making your own shoes.
19:09
So yeah, yeah, it is.
19:11
So it started initially, my brother and I were, we weren't really sure where, you know, how the business was going to go.
19:19
It was it was trudging along, but we were, we were looking for something, you know, new, new to buy, at least for the store.
19:26
So we said we are going to go to the Milan shoe show. It's called MICAM.
19:30
The biggest shoe show in the world.
19:33
Yes, if you've seen Kinky Boots.
19:34
Yes.
19:35
In the end that's the Milan shoe show.
19:37
That's the runway.
19:39
So we said we're going to go there.
19:40
And a lot of the people in the industry said, you can't go there.
19:43
It's only for wholesalers.
19:45
You're never going to hit the minimum orders.
19:47
Right.
19:47
Don't bother going.
19:49
And we said, we're just going to go walk around.
19:51
And worst case, we went to Milan.
19:54
Not a bad thing.
19:56
So we get to this trade show.
19:58
And at the time, it was the size of, I think there was seven or eight halls, the size of the Expo Centre.
20:07
Wow.
20:07
That's a lot of shoes.
20:08
It's so big.
20:09
It's like an airport.
20:10
Actually, there, you would have seen it in the Olympics because they use the facility a lot.
20:14
You come in at the top, take escalators down, because it's just so big, you can't even walk it.
20:20
And we go there and it is tens of thousands of people buying and selling shoes.
20:26
Shoes.
20:27
Our shoes.
20:28
Your shoes.
20:28
And we realized when we were there that we were actually part of a global industry.
20:33
Right.
20:34
When we were in Canada, we are so small in so many ways and so spread out that it's hard to feel energy about anything.
20:44
And so we felt like that in our industry.
20:46
And then we go there and we realize this is huge.
20:50
Huge.
20:50
Massive.
20:51
Massive.
20:52
And people, we start looking around and there's all these European retailers, you know, with their stroller, little mom and pops, and they're writing little orders.
21:02
Talking to the factory guy.
21:05
So not every booth, but.
21:07
Yeah.
21:07
So you can do this.
21:09
So we walk into a booth that had some interesting shoes we've never seen before.
21:13
Yeah.
21:13
I thought that is something I can't get in Canada.
21:17
And we wrote an order and he put our name on them.
21:20
We customized the colors and some of the constructions.
21:23
And then they came.
21:26
And they sold.
21:27
And they sold.
21:29
That is fascinating.
21:30
And then a lot of the factories did have high minimums that we couldn't hit.
21:35
But over time as COVID hit, they were really hungry.
21:40
So then we just built it up over the last six years.
21:42
That's incredible.
21:43
I mean, the shoe industry, who would have known?
21:47
Progression and growth.
21:50
And that must have been, you know, a bit scary.
21:54
To take that leap.
21:56
Yes. And you pay for those shoes before they get on a boat.
21:59
Yeah, I bet, yeah, yeah, if the boat sinks, you're out.
22:02
It's not like you pay as you sell them, the type of thing.
22:05
You gotta pay up front.
22:05
No, no, no, pay up front.
22:06
You have to keep your business cash flowing.
22:08
So, what does that mean now?
22:09
Do you still have to travel around?
22:11
Like, do you still have to go to Milan?
22:14
I, sadly, I do have to go.
22:17
Sadly?
22:18
It's a hard...
22:18
I have to go to Italy twice a year.
22:20
It's a rough life.
22:21
It's really rough.
22:22
Um, I do actually, we go to another show sometimes now in Garda.
22:27
It's on Lake Garda.
22:28
It's terrible.
22:30
But I do have enough connections with very...
22:34
because Edmonton is...
22:35
the climate is so extreme here.
22:36
Right, yeah, yeah.
22:37
We do sell every single possible type of shoe you can sell.
22:40
We do.
22:41
For everybody.
22:42
Yeah, so when you're dealing with a factory in Spain, and they're making you a quote-unquote winter boot, and I'm telling them, I need this lining to be this loft in wool.
22:53
And they're going like, where are you wearing these?
22:55
And I show them a picture of what it is like in Edmonton in February.
22:59
Minus 35.
23:00
This is where we wear them.
23:01
So we can get exactly what we need from them.
23:05
And so we do have to keep going back to maintain those relationships.
23:09
And ultimately, when you're in the booth, you're developing the product right there.
23:13
You have someone from the factory right there.
23:15
On email, it's like lost in translation.
23:17
Sure, it will happen.
23:19
And you must have to keep up with the fashions. Yeah.
23:23
Because shoes change, clothes change.
23:25
Oh, yeah.
23:26
And the global fashion market, I mean, every continent has its own trends.
23:31
So that's something that we struggle with.
23:33
Canada has very specific needs.
23:36
What kind of shoe wearers are we?
23:38
We are very European.
23:40
We wear a lot of leather.
23:41
And most of the world wears mesh running shoes or sandals.
23:46
Well, I've been to a lot of countries where, yeah, they're...
23:50
So we're very Central European style.
23:53
So like what they're wearing in the Netherlands, Germany, that type of footwear.
23:58
I think what my mom loved was she bought a pair of boots that had a little thing where she could flick it and the...
24:04
Spike boots. That's where I bought my spike boots.
24:06
She loved that because it was just pop! And then she felt like she was secure walking on the ice.
24:11
But you wouldn't need those in like Morocco or anything like that.
24:14
No, in fact, winter footwear is the...
24:17
There's the least amount of product development because it can only sell in Finland, Russia, Canada.
24:24
Right.
24:25
This is so fascinating.
24:27
The world of shoes.
24:29
I would have known.
24:30
I remember one time I watched the documentary on Bata.
24:33
Yes.
24:34
And I think that's out of South Africa or Wazir, somewhere like that.
24:37
Anyways, it was fascinating watching that history of that.
24:40
And they've grown into this kind of these multinational, every mall type of thing.
24:45
But for you, this is just amazing.
24:48
An independent shoe store and how you just keep it rolling and going.
24:53
Okay, but I want to circle back just a little bit because we talked about, they went from Heritage Mall, to Saddleback Road.
25:01
Now, when I, I'm not originally from Edmonton, but when I first moved to Edmonton, I remember the downtown location and that was the store.
25:12
I loved that store.
25:13
Where was that?
25:13
It was on Jasper and 109.
25:15
Yes, Jasper and 109, yes.
25:17
Now tell us a little bit about that move.
25:20
So that was, originally we had had an Echo store just north of that location.
25:25
So that was kind of in the Echo Hay Day.
25:27
And then once we decided to expand that into a multi-brand, we moved on to Jasper Ave.
25:34
And that was a lot of people told us we were going to fail there.
25:40
They were not excited about it.
25:41
We were excited about it.
25:42
We already had been doing business downtown.
25:44
And so we built this beautiful store.
25:47
This store was amazing.
25:49
It was so beautiful.
25:50
I'm just thinking about it still.
25:52
And sorry, my parents built that store.
25:56
I say we. I was there, but they were still owning the business.
25:58
And then that store was great for 10 years.
26:02
We did a solid business there.
26:04
We had the office crowd.
26:06
We had the locals.
26:08
That's a really high density area.
26:10
And then what happened was COVID.
26:14
And we lost about 80% of our business overnight.
26:17
Because everybody left working downtown.
26:20
And our landlord would not agree to any of the government programs.
26:26
So we moved quickly.
26:30
We moved to the West End because we thought, well, actually, we were looking for warehouse space in case we had to just put the shoes somewhere.
26:40
And we found this C, B or C location.
26:51
It's a little tucked away.
26:52
It's a little further, a little tucked away, but there is another business next to it, Pacesetter Ski. Independent speciality.
26:59
Have they been around forever?
27:02
Yes. 1991, yes.
27:03
I remember I bought skis there.
27:04
My brother's like, they're amazing.
27:07
They're here.
27:07
They're doing a business.
27:08
It's near Mayfield Common, which is a big box complex.
27:12
And that store opened even in COVID times and was just gangbusters.
27:19
We had no idea that, you know, being moving such an extreme move.
27:24
Yes.
27:24
But some people came from downtown, but it was actually the surrounding areas that we're shopping in.
27:29
Okay.
27:30
That location, there used to be a restaurant there.
27:33
Astros.
27:34
Astros.
27:35
Yes.
27:36
I know that restaurant.
27:37
It burned down.
27:39
Well, I got kicked out of there.
27:41
That's a long story.
27:41
That's another story.
27:43
I got, I did, I got kicked out.
27:45
But it's, yeah, but because I remember.
27:47
It's an institution. It was.
27:49
It was actually a really good restaurant.
27:51
It was my own fault I got kicked out, but nonetheless, it was, yeah, yeah, they were in there, weren't they?
27:56
So it wasn't, it was a place people knew.
27:58
Yeah, you have to look at the other businesses that have been there a long time and go, well, they're here.
28:03
And then you start looking at the West End and there's all these little independents nestled in there that have been there for 10, 15, 20 years.
28:12
Yeah, and people know about them and it's word of mouth.
28:14
I mean, I only knew about you because of my mom.
28:16
She told me about you.
28:17
I've never been there.
28:18
And then Jennifer started talking about how she went there all the time.
28:21
And I thought, okay, so yeah, it's word of mouth and the way you go.
28:24
And yeah, it's pretty good.
28:26
That's wow, what a story.
28:28
And you're happy in this location.
28:29
And yeah, so then we opened, we're happy in the west store.
28:32
And then we opened the east store with everything about the west store in mind.
28:36
It's proximity to the ring road, the Henday.
28:39
Also the nestled in a high density neighborhood.
28:44
Affordable rent again.
28:45
We're actually with Smart Center, who are the Walmart conglomerate that leased the surrounding areas.
28:52
And it is been so busy there.
28:55
And you just opened.
28:56
We just opened.
28:57
Yes, and it's in Capilano.
28:59
Capilano, East Edmonton.
29:01
I love Capilano.
29:02
Close to Sherwood Park.
29:03
Yeah, and I used to go to the McDonald's at Capilano all the time.
29:07
The spaceship one.
29:08
Yeah, the spaceship one.
29:08
Yeah, yeah.
29:10
Okay, Capilano.
29:10
That's pretty cool.
29:12
This is just...
29:13
I'm just blown away by all of this.
29:15
This is fascinating.
29:15
You know what though, Morgan, we were talking a little bit about this before we got on air, and I thought this was so fascinating.
29:22
So you took over from your parents, you and your brother, but how did that dynamic change?
29:31
Because you're not just siblings anymore.
29:33
Now you're business partners.
29:35
You are.
29:36
Well, I would say like the most serious relationship in my life is with my brother slash business partner.
29:42
Of course.
29:44
It is more entwined than a marriage in many ways.
29:47
Do you fight?
29:48
Oh yeah.
29:50
He's my brother, not physically.
29:51
No, no, no, but you have it out.
29:53
I mean, he's the middle child, and I have to say he was always growing up my nice brother, you know.
30:00
He's the middle child.
30:01
We're very close in age.
30:02
Are you the youngest or the eldest?
30:04
I'm the baby.
30:04
You're the baby.
30:06
We're very close in age, and all of his friends were my friends.
30:09
Right.
30:09
Do you fight about shoe styles?
30:11
Actually, the thing we never fight about or rarely fight about is the shoes.
30:16
It's always operational stuff, right?
30:21
It needed, yeah.
30:22
And so we, the big stuff, we tend not to disagree on.
30:26
It's usually little stuff.
30:27
And so we, like about a year and a half ago, started getting some business coaching and planning help, because we needed to know where we were going.
30:37
Sure.
30:38
What is, what are we doing?
30:39
What's the plan?
30:40
And so it's sort of like having a babysitter that makes you do your chores.
30:45
Do you have to take like timeouts from each other?
30:48
Well, the nice thing is we've got a couple stores.
30:53
I was going to say, if it gets really tense, just come out here to the wall coffee roasters and sit in this space for a while.
30:59
Take a breath, calm down.
31:01
Just put it on my tab and away you go. Now everybody knows I have a tab.
31:07
Oh, here we go.
31:08
That's going to just skyrocket through the roof.
31:11
I mean, we're so different in so many ways.
31:13
My brother is like very analytical.
31:16
He's the brains of the business.
31:19
He's the one that's going to be able to break down the numbers into something that makes sense.
31:24
I am the like emotional.
31:26
Like I have a feeling.
31:28
I have it.
31:28
You're looking at each other.
31:29
Yeah, I have the feeling.
31:30
You can figure that out, right?
31:31
But it's usually pretty correct based on no facts.
31:34
My feelings are pretty good.
31:35
That's what I always say.
31:36
But I get overwritten sometimes.
31:40
And Everett's like building the systems, right?
31:43
How are we going to do this?
31:45
So with a third location, how are we going to operate with more staff, more inventory?
31:50
You're growing, yeah.
31:51
Three locations and keep it consistent.
31:53
So that's his screen.
31:54
Bigger means more.
31:55
Yeah.
31:55
And then I'm like the people side.
31:57
So dealing with most of our staff and dealing with...
32:01
Now, you said something else to us before we started recording, that your mom and your dad are still, they still come to the store.
32:09
They do.
32:09
So they handed it over.
32:12
They didn't make us buy the business.
32:13
They handed it over to us, like the family farm gave us the keys.
32:20
We don't make them work.
32:22
Full disclosure.
32:23
They are allowed to retire.
32:25
But they are...
32:27
They want to work.
32:28
And I think there's been a really big movement as the population is going down, that people are working longer, sometimes because they have to.
32:39
But a lot of times because they have skills that we aren't able to replace yet.
32:44
Isn't that true?
32:44
Well, you know, and here's the thing I think anyways, I'm a big believer in this is that, that we forget sometimes that our parents, our grandparents, all they went through, all they learnt, all they experienced.
33:01
And here we come along, we came along with these young people who thought we knew everything.
33:06
Oh yeah.
33:06
And they, their experiences worth...
33:08
It's gold.
33:09
Oh, it's gold.
33:10
It is gold.
33:10
Yeah, I always call it heritage.
33:12
Your heritage is your greatest asset.
33:14
Yeah.
33:15
Because they know.
33:16
My mom doing the bookkeeping, like the cash flow side is so important to the business.
33:22
And her doing that all these years, she's got it so dialed that she can do it a couple hours every day.
33:28
Yeah.
33:28
When they do go away in the summers, I do her job.
33:31
Yeah.
33:31
So I know exactly how long it would take a normal person.
33:37
She's amazing. She can do it so fast.
33:39
And so we've got coverage where they can leave, they don't feel like they have to be there.
33:44
And then when my dad's at the store, he comes in every morning and he works till about 2 p.m.
33:50
And he always still notices something, oh, we should move that.
33:53
Or I can do that or I notice this about the customers.
33:56
So he still often will come to the shoe show with us.
33:59
And they've been very good about letting us lead it.
34:02
Like, they don't help us make big decisions at the end of the day.
34:08
But you know they're always there.
34:10
They're there.
34:10
They're always there.
34:11
Nobody can say I did not hang out with my family.
34:13
No, and if you needed them, they're there.
34:15
Yes, I love this.
34:16
Yeah, I love it too.
34:17
Yeah, if you need them, they're there.
34:19
That's right.
34:20
That's phenomenal.
34:21
Okay, well, we got to move on here because of time.
34:24
We went to your store the other day, Jennifer and I, and we bought for two reasons.
34:30
We knew you were coming on the program, and secondly, our 100th episode, and we bought Kunitz Shoes.
34:37
Yes.
34:37
I have in my hand a Kunitz that I bought.
34:40
As dis I.
34:40
It is your brand, Kunitz Shoes.
34:42
I'm going to say two things.
34:43
One, I've never been in your store before, so I didn't know what to expect.
34:47
I love that.
34:48
Two, the people were amazing.
34:52
They were just right in the sense that, I don't know how you felt, but they weren't like on you.
34:58
They weren't all following you.
35:00
How can we help you?
35:02
If you need anything, just ask.
35:03
They let me look around, because you have a lot of shoes.
35:06
There is a lot of shoes in there.
35:07
My mom always said she would never shop at our store.
35:10
There's way too many shoes.
35:13
There is a lot of shoes.
35:14
And so, you know, but the minute I had something, can we help you?
35:20
Can we get you a size?
35:21
They were just so pleasant.
35:22
They were so wonderful.
35:23
And we ended up buying them, and I'm so excited about this.
35:26
So what I'm trying to say is it was a great experience.
35:30
I like that because that's a question actually I wanted to ask Morgan.
35:35
For somebody coming in, Cam just explained his experience with your store and what your brand and what you want to represent, what do you want somebody coming in for the first time, what's your experience with your store?
35:50
That's a deep question too.
35:51
You guys are like, so I think when people come in, I want them to feel excited and impressed by the product.
36:00
The product is, that is what you can get right.
36:03
The service is the next thing, but sometimes you fail, sometimes you can do it well.
36:08
But with the service side, as far as the experience, my parents have always believed in paying a living wage.
36:17
So you do get what you pay for.
36:19
If you take care of your people, you pay them properly, they're trained properly, they're gonna deliver that experience every time, and they're proud to work there.
36:27
They love working for you.
36:30
They loved working there. Our retention is incredible high.
36:33
Whereas, I'm not gonna name them, but I wear a lot of runners.
36:37
I've been to some big box stores, and the people that work there, it's like, they're not happy.
36:44
Yeah.
36:45
They're not happy.
36:45
And I would be happy, because you're with white runners all the time.
36:49
They're not happy.
36:50
You should go work somewhere else.
36:52
At Kunitz, they were happy.
36:54
She was very happy.
36:56
And you want to shop somewhere where you think it's gonna be there for a while, right?
37:00
You get the feeling like our business is going to be around.
37:04
And you know what's awesome with these shoes is your name is right there.
37:07
It's on them.
37:08
So if you don't like them, you don't like me.
37:10
You know why I like that?
37:12
I do like them.
37:13
So I do like you.
37:14
And Cam, do you know what else we were really impressed with?
37:17
Warranty.
37:18
Cam could not believe it.
37:20
When he told me that at the till, six months.
37:24
Six month warranty.
37:25
He almost fell over.
37:27
I did.
37:28
I almost fell over.
37:30
I couldn't believe it.
37:31
You know, and I won't name the store.
37:33
You don't go to the one with the swoop line.
37:36
Those people, they don't look at you and go, six month warranty.
37:39
They look at you and go, you can wear them at home on the carpet and return them.
37:44
But if there's any dirt on them, I'm not taking them back.
37:46
And I'm like, come on.
37:47
And when that gentleman said, six month, I thought, I'm not, I don't think I can shop anywhere else.
37:55
Oh, that's awesome to hear.
37:56
Yeah, we actually have a repair guy.
37:58
It's kind of like the shoemaker elves.
38:00
He comes at night and he does all our repairs for the warranty.
38:03
So we bring the shoes and we put them in a bin, and he comes in, because he has his own repair shop.
38:08
So he works at night for us, and he does the repairs and they're magically ready the next day.
38:13
That's a dying art right there.
38:14
I was going to say, that is a lost art.
38:16
We're trying to keep him employed.
38:18
You don't see a lot of cobblers anymore.
38:20
That's a dying art.
38:21
So hard and so scary.
38:23
Again, this is just unbelievable.
38:25
This is incredible.
38:26
Unbelievable, really.
38:27
Okay, we've got to wind down here.
38:30
So, and you sell other things.
38:32
Oh, yeah.
38:32
Yes.
38:33
So I was actually, it was the first time I had seen some clothing in there.
38:37
Yeah.
38:38
Yeah, we have a Canadian brand called Amien.
38:41
They make wool jackets.
38:42
They're made in Victoria, BC, I think.
38:46
We also have a handbag line that we sourced from India.
38:48
And wallets.
38:49
Wallets.
38:50
I saw your wallet.
38:51
Those, I got to go back and take a little bit more look at.
38:53
Those were, because I like that.
38:55
Shoe adjacent products.
38:56
Shoe adjacent.
38:58
I like that.
38:58
We might have to rebrand Kunitz goods.
39:02
I got to tell you, I'm going to be, I'm just going to be, I'm always trying to be transparent on our podcast.
39:08
I'm thinking, okay, we're going to talk shoes.
39:09
That'll be an interesting conversation.
39:11
You know, it'll be, but this is just blowing me away.
39:15
Warranty, your own cobbler, like that is just amazing to me.
39:20
The only thing I would say, and this is just me, just saying it, probably should say it off air.
39:24
Few more white runners, then we'd really be, I got you.
39:28
We'd really be, like, that's just me though.
39:32
I love a good white sneaker moment for a guy, I love it.
39:36
There's a story behind it.
39:37
I mean, it's Alberta though.
39:38
Well, this is the problem.
39:40
So you do, I have to buy. Gotta keep those clean.
39:42
Yeah, so I have a few pair and I have cleaner that cleans them and all that kind of stuff.
39:46
But other than that, I think I found my shoe store.
39:50
I should have listened to my mother when she was here.
39:54
She's like, yes, you go there.
39:54
And I'm like, well, I don't know.
39:56
I'm glad I introduced you.
39:57
You reintroduced me.
39:58
You did.
39:59
No, you reintroduced me because I knew about it.
40:01
But I used to drive by it and go, that's where that pizza place was.
40:07
That's another podcast.
40:10
Anyway, this has been fantastic.
40:12
There is.
40:13
So Morgan, we have one final question that we ask each of our guests.
40:17
What is the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you carry with you to this day?
40:26
So I think it's got to be from my dad.
40:29
And he always told me that you are your best investment and never let anyone else tell you otherwise.
40:37
So that is what my parents did.
40:40
They've always taken the business profit and put it back into the business and grow in the business.
40:46
And a lot of people from the outside tell you that there's something else you could do better in, but you know your business.
40:53
And that's always going to be your best investment and return.
40:56
Wow.
40:57
Great advice.
40:58
Morgan, where can people find Kunitz Shoes?
41:01
Okay, so we have three locations in Edmonton as well as Kunitzshoes.ca.
41:07
Our Saddleback Road location is on the south side, 114th Street and 23rd Ave.
41:12
The West End location is just south of Mayfield Common.
41:16
And our new location is in Capilano, right next to the Winners and Dollarama.
41:22
If you have not, you've never, you gotta go.
41:24
If you have not been to a Kunitz Shoes, you gotta go.
41:26
You have to check them out.
41:27
And if you don't live in Edmonton, visit them online.
41:31
Absolutely, because these are great shoes, folks.
41:33
I'm not even kidding.
41:34
I got a lot of shoes.
41:35
I got more shoes than anybody else in my family.
41:38
And these, I'm so excited about these.
41:40
I haven't worn them, they're so clean.
41:41
But I'll wear them.
41:42
These are absolutely awesome.
41:43
Check it out.
41:44
It's absolutely amazing.
41:47
You're gonna love it.
41:48
Hey, don't forget Wing Snob.
41:51
Check out their wings.
41:52
Amazing.
41:53
16 flavors, 4 rubs.
41:56
www.wingsnob.ca They're absolutely amazing.
41:58
And we need you to tell people about the podcast.
42:01
Tell your friends, your neighbors, your enemies.
42:04
If you don't have any friends, make some just so you can tell them about this podcast because it's absolutely awesome.
42:11
And you can find it wherever you get your podcasts or at www.coffeeinthepark.com.
42:18
That's right.
42:19
And hey, just check it out and you need to make sure to subscribe and then you will not miss a new episode of Coffee In The Park.
42:26
That's right.
42:27
Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.
42:30
And after today, ladies and gentlemen, and all who listen, pets, animals, people, it'll be our hundred and first podcast.
42:40
That's right.
42:42
Unbelievable.
42:42
Thank you, everybody.
42:43
Appreciate it.
42:44
Thank you, Morgan.
42:45
Thanks, Morgan.
42:46
Thanks for listening, everybody.
42:47
See you next week.
42:48
See you next week.