Curiously, Barry Lammle’s biography in Who’s Who In Alberta has one omission. While other biographies list dates of birth, Lammle’s date of birth is missing.

Although the amiable chief executive and owner of the Boutique of Leather may have lost his birth certificate, he has no use for one.

Larry MacDougal photo
Barry Lammle built his Boutique of Leather business from the ground up, and has expanded his stores across Western Canada.

Lammle has his own fountain of youth – literally.

Indeed, there is an actual fountain in his office that makes a visitor feel like the interview is being done beside a peaceful babbling brook on Lammle’s llama and alpaca ranch in the foothills.

And, if Lammle’s youthful exuberance in his 32nd year as a retailer is any indication, the fountain is working marvelously.

We should all be so lucky to lose our birth certificates.

1. Where did you get your entrepreneurial spirit?
“I don’t know. I’ve always been an entrepreneur type. When I came to the city (Calgary) at age 12, I bought a lawn mower and mowed lawns all over the neighbourhood. I ended up taking merchandising at SAIT and worked at the (Hudson’s Bay Company). I’ve always enjoyed business.”

2. How has your experience at the Bay helped you in your own business?
“When I went to the Bay, I took a two-year, on-the-job training course (in merchandising). I took courses in the morning before work and then I’d have the practical experience. As far as a training for merchandising, it’s likely the best training in the world. I’d still be with the Bay today if they weren’t so control oriented. I just loved merchandising and I just wanted to get out and work, make sales and make money for the company. But they were such a control-oriented company that you couldn’t operate.”

Larry MacDougal photo
Boutique of Leathers CEO Barry Lammle loves the leather lifestyle – buying, selling, travelling – and wants his hard-built business to stay in the family.

3. Can you give an example of that?
“At one stage, I was the manager and buyer for four departments. In underwear (sales), I should have had an inventory of $35,000 and I was down to $8,000 in inventory, writing reports why my sales were down. They wouldn’t let an order go out of the store because the store in general was overbought, in areas like housewares and home furnishings. So the accountant and controller said no one can buy anything. It was so frustrating working under those conditions. I was so underbought that the shelves were bare. I was literally out of Stanfields underwear and that was our main product in those days. I was disgruntled the last two years I was at the Bay. I just wanted to get out and make some money.”

4. What are your recollections of opening the first Boutique of Leathers store in Calgary in 1971?

“I had about $1,800 saved up and I managed to get my mother to co-sign a loan for $5,000. I started a little shop of 399 sq. ft. just half a block from the Bay on 1st Street towards the Palliser Hotel. I remember it very vividly. We made racks ourselves. I had friends who had a welding shop and we got some pipe and welded and made shelves from scrap lumber. We pretty well made a profit from the start. We had a small investment other than inventory. You didn’t count your own labour and you had one girl who worked full time and a couple others who worked part time. You worked 12 to 14 hours a day.”

5. How were sales in the beginning?
“I remember wishing from the first day that we’d make $500 a day. Our coats sold then for $99. It took a long time before we made $500 a day, but then I wished for $1,000 (a day), and then I wished for $10,000 and $100,000. And we’ve exceeded that, obviously. On some days, we sell $100,000 (in the 15-store chain).”

6. Have you considered taking the company public?
“I haven’t thought about it real seriously, but I have thought about how I would get out of (the business) when I want to retire. And I was always a bit anxious about that because the family wasn’t interested. But now my daughter (Kari Lynne Carr) is involved with the company (for the past one-and-a-half years), and she has become our marketing manager. So I’d like to see the company continue as a family business. I’m a lot more rejuvenated now by having her in the business. She has done a great job and it looks like a good match for her. Now my son (Jeff) is kind of following in my footsteps, taking business administration at SAIT.”

8. Is there a succession plan for the company?
“I have hopes that somebody from the family will eventually take over. Kari’s doing a great job right now and my son (Jeff) might be interested in coming into the company.”

9. What’s the best advice you can give to Kari and Jeff in terms of their futures in business?
“In terms of their futures in Boutique of Leathers, they have a great opportunity. It can give them the lifestyle that everybody would like, although it takes a lot of work.
But to start something like this on their own is really tough because we’re in the era where the big-box stores and the big chains control the retail market, really. For someone to start a retail chain is really tough if you don’t have a ton of money to get going. Our company is large enough that they could operate in a good retail environment, make a really good living and have a great lifestyle. So if they managed the company well, they could have a really good life.”

10. How much longer would you like to remain head of the
company?
“If you print this, my wife (Marie) will divorce me (laughing) . . . I absolutely love retail. I would like to stay in it at some level for at least 10 years, maybe not totally in control of the company. I do all the buying for the company and I travel a lot and I enjoy it all. Everybody is always asking about my age. I qualify for Freedom 55. That’s about as much as I’d like to say.”

11. Is your business feeling the economic slowdown?
“I don’t think retail is slowing down. I think retail is very strong right now. Our highest sales are in the Chinook Centre. That was once my dream, almost a fantasy, to get into Chinook, but it wasn’t easy. When the manager of Chinook came to see my store, my poodle was on the steps. The manager said, ‘I hate dogs. Dogs have no place in a retail operation.’ He was very abrupt and left. I thought I’d just blown my chance to get into Chinook. But the next morning he offered me a space.”

12. Are you planning to expand beyond 15 stores?
“Yeah. We’d expand in a slower way. We’re always looking, and we’ll likely add some stores in the next year. I don’t think we’ll go to the (U.S.). I think there are good opportunities here before a person has to go to the States. Too many people I know have gone to the States and haven’t done well, like Canadian Tire and Mark’s Work Wearhouse. I’m a little gun shy of that. But we did open our first free-standing (not in a mall) big-box store in Edmonton. It’s 65,000 square feet and has done well since we opened it last October.”

13. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in business?
“In terms of our business, the most important thing is to do whatever it takes to get customer loyalty. Some products may become a bit of fad, but if we feel in the long term that if it’s not good for the customer, we won’t carry it in any significant quality or depth. For example, we know suede is always a problem for cleaning. It’s not going to be nearly as nice after it’s cleaned. We also give cash refunds, a competitive guarantee and a full year’s warranty, things like that.”

14. How would you describe your management style?
“I don’t know if I want to put that in print (laughing) . . . I’m a hard-line manager. I have a strong mind of my own, and I tend to do what I know is right. I tend to do it quick. Sometimes, it ruffles a few feathers. I’m quite a demanding manager.”

15. Has your style changed?
“Some people say I’ve mellowed a bit. When you own the whole operation and you travel around to different stores and see waste and inefficiencies, I find it very frustrating. Over the years, you learn to live with it. I used to lose sleep if I’d lose a coat. It was a real issue and I got real uptight about it. Now, I’ve learned it’s part of doing business, and there’s going to be stock shortage for whatever reason. I also used to be bothered by unnecessary costs and ridiculous fees we have to pay, particularly to landlords, for certain things. But I’ve learned that if you’re going to be in business, those are fees that you’ve just got to blink and pay and write the cheque and not let it weigh heavily on your mind. I’ve also learned to smile and say hello when I go to the stores. I used to come in and say, ‘Why do you have six lights burnt out in the ceiling?’ ”

16. What did winning the Innovative Retailer of the Year award for Boutique of Leathers from the Retail Council of Canada mean to you?
“That was likely the highlight of my retail career. This is the greatest recognition that I’ve ever had. Sometimes, you don’t get a lot of recognition in retail. It was wonderful. I think one of the things that helped me get this award was my daughter Kari’s applying for some marketing awards, and I think that brought to their attention some of the things we’re doing. We do some community things like supporting the Women’s Shelter.”

17. Do you anticipate the Internet having a major impact on Boutique of Leathers?
“I don’t think so. Although we have a website, we’re not really selling off it. I’m not sure it’s going to be that significant. When you stop to think of it, how many women would shop the web for a handbag or a coat? I could be wrong, but I haven’t heard any success stories in (online) consumer stores.”

18. Any regrets reflecting on your business career?
“None at all. No. Yeah, I suppose I have one regret. I think we could have really expanded a lot more if I’d have been wise enough and maybe been more cautious and put a little more away in the good times so we’d have been in a better position in the bad times. But hindsight’s always 100 per cent.”

19. How important is money to you?
“It was actually more important years ago than it is now. Now, I’m more focused on doing a better job and having a better business environment for staff and customers and everybody. I sacrifice profit now to have a better business. I’m very basic. I’m likely the only guy you’ve interviewed in a long time who does all the things I do myself. We don’t have hired help (on the DeWinton ranch, featuring 400 llamas and alpacas) and we do our own haying.”

20. How do you view the many corporate scandals of the past year?
“I think they’re really disgusting – and the tip of the iceberg. I’m disappointed in the laws that govern these people, too. We’ve always prided ourselves in our business as being totally honest, and we’ve never had a lawsuit against us for being dishonest. I would never have that happen. I like to do business on a handshake, and I realize now that you can’t.”

IN PROFILE: Barry Lammle
* Title: President/CEO/owner, Boutique of Leathers; part owner, Lammle’s Western Wear & Tack.
* Born/raised: Banff; Calgary.
* Family: Wife Marie, children Kari Lynne Carr, Jeff, David.
* Education: Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), merchandise administration (graduated in 1965.)
* Career: Lammle began his retail career as a department manager and buyer with the Hudson’s Bay Company in Calgary (1959-65). He founded Boutique of Leathers in Calgary in 1971 and has been president and CEO since. He hand-selects and styles all merchandise. Lammle is a past member of and an adviser to the SAIT faculty of business administration and a member of the World Presidents’ Organization, an organization devoted to enhancing leadership.

THE COMPANY: Boutique of Leathers
* Profile: Boutique of Leathers is a privately held fashion-forward retailer of men’s and women’s leather
garments and accessories through 15 stores in Western Canada, including 14 in major malls.
* Award: Boutique of Leathers won the Innovative Retailer of the Year award for 2002, presented by the Retail Council of Canada.
* Claim to fame: Boutique of Leathers claims to be the first fashion chain to introduce the 2-for-1 plus $10 sales
concept in the 1970s.
* Website: www.boutiqueofleathers.com
* Head Office: 6012 3rd St. S.W., Calgary, AB T2H OH9
* Phone/Fax: 403-259-2727, 403-255-2641.