In the season 6 finale of ‘Yes, We Are Open’, Al visits Peterborough, Ontario and Scott Stuart, owner of Kawartha TV & Stereo. They’ve been fixtures in the city for over half a century! In that time, their industry has gone through countless disruptive technology changes but they’ve been able to adapt and today they continued to provide their customers with top quality products and service. This is their story.
Yes, Kawartha TV & Stereo Is Open!
In the season 6 finale of ‘Yes, We Are Open’, Al visits Peterborough, Ontario and Scott Stuart, owner of Kawartha TV & Stereo. They’ve been fixtures in the city for over half a century! In that time, their industry has gone through countless disruptive technology changes but they’ve been able to adapt and today they continued to provide their customers with top quality products and service.
This is their story.
You can learn more about Kawartha TV & Stereo at kawarthatv.com.
Credits:
Allan: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, I'm Al Grego, and this is the season six finale of the Yes We Are Open podcast.
My final stop this season is in Peterborough, Ontario, known as the gateway to the Kawarthas in cottage country. A large recreational region in Ontario about 125 km northeast of Toronto, located on the Otanabe River. In 1818, Adam Scott settled on the west shore of the river and constructed a sawmill and gristmill, establishing the area as Scott's Plains.
A few years later, in 1882, British Parliament approved an experimental immigration plan to transport poor Irish Catholic families to Upper [00:01:00] Canada. In 1925, the first of those immigrants arrived from the city of Cork. A member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada named Peter Robinson oversaw the execution of the plan, and Scotts Plains was then renamed Peterborough in his honour.
Peterborough was once nicknamed the Electric City as it was the first town in Canada to use electric street lights. This established city is an early technological and manufacturing hub, playing host to large multinational companies such as Siemens, Rolls Royce, and General Electric. Sadly, some of the manufacturing has left the city, including GE.
The city has shifted their economy more toward a service industry. But other leading industries still include manufacturing, food processing, aerospace, life sciences, and biotechnology. It's also home to educational institutions, Trent University, and Fleming College. Today I'm here to interview one of Peterborough's long standing family run businesses.
They've been operating for over half a century. If you're from the area, you're likely at least familiar with them [00:02:00] and that business is Kawartha TV and Stereo.
Yes, good, how are you?
Scott: I'm Scott.
Allan: I'm Al. Nice to meet you. That's Scott, the owner. He greets me at the front and takes me for a tour of the store.
Scott: So you saw the front room, mostly Samsung, uh, this is our Sony room.
Allan: It's a multi level maze of showrooms, each with a different feature. You go from televisions, to home audio, stereos, speakers, and turntables, to car and boat audio.
They even have a couple of showrooms with e bikes. It's a feast for the eyes and ears of any AV enthusiast, of which I am one. Scott then leads me upstairs to another level, with more showrooms, service areas, and finally his office. That's where I set up, and we sit for his interview.
Scott: Hi, my name is Scott Stewart. I'm the [00:03:00] owner of Kawartha TV and Stereo in Peterborough, Ontario.
Allan: When did Kawartha TV and Stereo open?
Scott: My brother started Kawartha TV and Stereo in 1971.
That is a bit of a funny story. Um, he started off, he was in his late 20s. And he was selling sewing machines basically out of the trunk of his car and he was doing well. So he said, well, I better get a storefront. So he rented this 600 square foot building down on Charlotte street in downtown Peterborough and put about two or three sewing machines on display.
One of the sewing machine suppliers actually carried stereos. So, he ended up getting a stereo, uh, he got talked into it from the rep to put a stereo on the floor.
Allan: Right.
Scott: And, uh, of course that sold right away, and back then money was tight, so he took the money and run to Toronto and buy another stereo, and that sold. And, you know, the joke is we still have the sewing machines.
Allan: Ha! Ha! So you started the old fashioned way. You [00:04:00] reinvested it every time you made some profit and built it that way.
Scott: That's right. Yeah. Actually, the original name of the store, way back when, and it was only around for about six months with, uh, Kawartha Sewing and Stereo Center, and then it changed to Kawartha TV and Stereo.
Allan: What year was that?
Scott: It was probably 72.
Allan: Okay.
Scott: So it was started in 71.
Allan: Sure. So not long after you started, you realized sewing wasn't the game.
Scott: Yeah.
Allan: Is this the original location?
Scott: So the first store was 600 square feet, okay And that's where he had the sewing machines to start with. He basically ran out of room in a couple of years So it was a huge move for him. He moved across the street to 800 square feet, you know And then a few years later, and it was probably 1981, possibly, somewhere around there, that he moved to this location.
Allan: So about 10 years later
Scott: Yeah, we needed a bigger location, and then we bought the building next to us and tore it down and added to this building too, so
Allan: Is it just you and your brother, siblings?
Scott: Yes, [00:05:00] just the two of us.
Allan: If you hear Scott speak fondly of his brother Glenn, and you're wondering why I'm not interviewing him, sadly, Glenn passed away back in December, after losing his battle with cancer. It was 81.
Okay. So 71, your brother opens, opens a sewing place that turns into TV and stereo. When do you get involved?
Scott: I get involved 40 years ago.
Allan: So 84, almost 12 years later.
Scott: That's right.
Allan: What were you doing while your brother was running this place?
Scott: Well, uh, I went out west to seek my fame and fortune and I worked in the oil industry.
Allan: Alright.
Scott: And my brother used to joke, he said he pumped gas at a local shell station, but no, I was actually, I was actually out in the oil patch, you know, on the drilling rigs and whatnot.
Allan: What brings you back from Calgary then?
Scott: Well, he was having some staffing issues that led to theft, and he basically had to fire three quarters of his staff, [00:06:00] and he wanted some people he could trust, so he called me and asked me if I was interested in working in retail, and I dabbled in retail a little bit before I went out west, so it wasn't new to me. And I was selling appliances when I was 16 years old, believe it or not. But anyways, I said, sure. Yeah, I think I'm ready. Cause I had already spent about six or seven years out West and I was ready to come back and give it a go. So, and I'm, you know, obviously I've been here ever since.
Allan: I imagine there were other competitors too, like kind of talk about the general market here for you guys.
Scott: So the, I guess the first competition, there was a couple of local independents that were in town. One was a giant RCA dealer. And back then RCA was basically the number one. And, uh, Um, the suppliers weren't allowed to have two RCA dealers in town. So, you know, we were up against them. Anyways, long story is that particular retailer, he ended up [00:07:00] retiring. Actually him and my brother were great friends as it turned out, but he ended up retiring, we did get RCA for a while. And of course, you know, RCA has gone basically the way of the dodo bird in quality, but the name's still out there on a few items.
Allan: If you were to say what a heyday for audiovisual is, because a lot, we're going to talk about the massive amount of change that's happened since that, but what would it be? Would it be kind of the 80s where everyone's like upgrading their car scenarios or home theaters in the 90s? Like, what would you say?
Scott: Well, certainly the 80s probably, I mean, much more margin. Suppliers are easier to get along with. Yeah, I'd have to say the eighties, you know, there's a lot of growth in the retail outlets and multi store.
Allan: I feel like that market's shrunk a bit in terms of the suppliers.
Scott: Sony's still big, you know, Samsung, of course, I think it's probably the leader cause they're with their appliances and whatnot. And LG, of course. So, you know, Panasonic used to be a big player, but they don't have their TVs in Canada anymore. Panasonic used [00:08:00] to be our number one line in the store. And when they basically bailed on Canada, Samsung took that particular spot. They're our number one line now, them and the Sony.
Linda: My name's Linda Athier and I'm the controller.
Allan: And how long have you been at Kawartha TV and Stereo?
Linda: 38 years.
Allan: I mean, you must like it here. You've, you've, if you've been here that long, like what's your favorite part of, of working here?
Linda: I think it is the fact that we have employees who have been here for a very long time. We feel like a family. Now we're watching our babies have babies together because it's been so long, a group of us.
Scott: It certainly didn't happen overnight, but you know, We hung in there and we just always had good people, good staff, kind of, you know, if somebody asked a question, uh, that was a main thing of what we're doing, our hiring. This is, if you don't know the answer, there's a good chance that someone in the building knows the answer or we'll find it out. So, you know, make sure that the customer is getting proper information. And I think that's paid off over time.
Shaun: I'm Shaun williams. I'm the store manager of Kawartha [00:09:00] TV and Stereo, and I'm also in charge of the marketing as well.
Allan: Okay. And how long have you been here?
Shaun: Ah, gee, about 23, 24 years.
Allan: What do you enjoy most?
Shaun: You know, every day is different. It's always something new to learn, which is kind of nice. Um, it's kind of a fun industry to be in too. I'm kind of a techno guy as well too. Musician. So music and stuff all kind of ties them together, which is nice.
Scott: Doing our own service, that was a big deal. Hardly anybody does their own service. So we actually have technicians that open up circuit boards and use soldering guns and fix products. So it's pretty rare now. Yeah, really rare. Yes.
Allan: What would you say is a heyday for this place for Kawartha TV & Stereo, or are you in it now?
Scott: Wow. Uh, you know, you know, I've been here 40 years. So, I mean, there's certainly been peaks and valleys, ebbs and flows, but I'd have to say, I mean, back in the day, like you said earlier, uh, car stereo was very, very, very strong.
Allan: Yeah.
Scott: I mean, we had a separate building that we [00:10:00] did, uh, just up the road. Yeah. That we did nothing but car stereo installations. We also had that in that same building. It was a quite a good size building. Service departments, we had seven full time service employees and we have three full time car stereo installers and that middle room that we walked around in earlier, that small, there's a little bit of car stereo in the back room there, but almost that whole room was car audio product. So that was a big part of it. Big thing for us back in the day. Most of the stuff now is either for older cars or for marine boats.
Allan: Sure.
Scott: And we do a lot of that still.
Allan: Obviously there's been massive change in AV since this place has been open in the last 50 years.
Shaun: Oh yeah.
Allan: In the time you've been here, what would you say has been the biggest kind of disruptive change?
Shaun: The introduction of the soundbar, I think has been a huge shift for [00:11:00] things. I remember back in the day, typically if you wanted bigger sound, it was typically a home theater receiver and a whole speaker system. And it was, you know, taking up the whole room. So obviously the soundbar definitely give it a lot of those features now in more of a compact form. So obviously easier to fit into different decors, different rooms, different things like that. So that's been a bit of a game changer for that for sure.
Allan: Yeah. What was the biggest change you've seen? I
Linda: would think it is people still wanting bigger and better. You're not satisfied because there's always something new coming up. And you know what, even though I just got a TV two years ago, I really want a nicer, better one.
Scott: Thinking back when we had 8 Track, I kind of remember 8 Track for a little bit. Believe it or not, I did own one, but I do remember going to cassette. Turntables were really strong way back when, of course they've come back. But then I remember going to CD's and that was a big one, that was giant for us and that just took the industry by storm for [00:12:00] probably 8 to 10 years, which led to DVD's of course.
Allan: How many employees do you have right now?
Scott: 18. Sales staff, service staff, and our delivery staff, of course, and then we have our custom installation for home automation. We've always been into home automation. There's different levels of it. We'll do anything from a simple TV hang on the wall to a sound bar or maybe surround sound or outside speakers to maybe a whole home automation or, you know, we're doing one now that's, um. A little over 8, 000 square foot home. So we're in the middle, that was a new build. So we've done all the pre wire, which is, uh, actually we're just at the stage of putting in the products. Those ones take a little while because you know, sometimes it takes over a year to build that house of that size. I guess in the beginning there was no big box stores. Here, uh, Peterborough, uh, believe it or not, including the surrounding areas, around a hundred thousand population. And it's growing anywhere from two to 3 percent a year. So there's another almost 3000 people moving into [00:13:00] town. So you can't stop advertising because these people don't know who you are for one thing, but you know, there was no box stores at the time. Everybody counted on the local. And so, you know, if you hang in long enough, like as we've done, we get to know. So now all of a sudden it's the grandkids coming in, buying from us, whereas their grandfather or grandmother used to shop here or still do.
Allan: Up next, Kawarthatha TV and Stereo has successfully become a fixture in Peterborough for AV enthusiasts. But if there's one industry that has seen more disruptive change over the last 50 years, I can't think of it. Think of the format changes in audio alone, from 8 track to records to CD to streaming.
Or video formats going from VHS to Beta to DVD to Blu ray to streaming. You'd think streaming would be a four letter word to them. What about TVs that have gotten bigger yet slimmer with no end in sight, or speakers that have gotten smaller while maintaining big sound. That is a lot of [00:14:00] change to endure. How have they adapted to this change?
Let's find out.
You're listening to Yes We Are Open. After stumbling into the audio and video game back in 1971, Glenn Stewart happily pivoted from his sewing machine business to build Kawartha TV and stereo. Now, over 50 years later, Scott Stewart has stepped in for his late brother to continue the family business.
Half a century is a long time to be in any industry, let alone one that changes so rapidly as audio and video. But those changes, while disruptive, brought them opportunity to sell new products. The challenge there was staying on top of the latest and greatest, and choosing the right technology to keep in stock.
The majority of struggles Glenn and Scott encountered had more to do with external factors. Factors they couldn't plan for. What were those [00:15:00] factors, and how did they adapt? Let's find out.
In the last 53 years, you know, that's half a century. You've seen a lot of change and I'm sure there's been many ups and downs. What would you say has been your biggest struggle?
Scott: Well, I can, I remember once when they brought in the goods and services tax, GST, and now they've changed it to HST. But when they brought that in, that was a big deal because of the tax. And we immediately, I remember my brother, he was a great marketer. He immediately had a no GST sales, which was great.
You know, even though we lost, uh, what it was. 13 percent at the time, but the interest rates back in the day when they were going through the roof, I mean, uh, I think mortgage rates were up around 18, 19%. That was in the eighties or early nineties. I can't remember. That was tough on us because nobody was shopping. So the economy wasn't good. And, you know, he's had to struggle through that. And I want to keep everybody employed too. So I think, as I mentioned before, we did have some internal theft. That was, that was a big one. That almost sunk my brother.[00:16:00]
Allan: Talk about that. Just for as much as you want to. Or yeah. So, uh, you had, you had some employees that were caught stealing from, from the store. You weren't here at the time.
Scott: I wasn't.
Allan: So what was the follow up from that? Like, uh, how did your brother handle that?
Scott: Well, uh, once he found out about it, we've got the local police involved and we caught them red handed stealing from us and selling the product actually at a local bar in town. So they ended up getting charged and some went to jail.
But it was the part where we had some management possibly that weren't taking a blind eye to it, they just didn't see it. We needed them to be a little bit more involved. And that's when my brother decided that maybe he needed to change up the staff. And that's what happened. He had a general manager. He hired back and he got me from out West and he got [00:17:00] some really good people. And then we went from there just to call them company people. You know, you're more concerned about your surroundings than just getting a paycheck. And that paid off down the road big time. So
we've been very fortunate with staff. There are two people here that have been here longer than me still. Yeah. And I'm 40 years now. One is just since retired. However, I've asked him to, so he's working. Three days a week. He's still hanging in. He's just very valuable. So staff, like I said, we were a fortune and then, and then COVID.
Allan: Yeah.
Scott: So COVID laid off 13 people immediately. And at the time I was wondering what was going to happen. Cause I just placed my Samsung spring order and the COVID was hitting. It was all over the news. I was laying off people and good, bad, or whatever. I kind of forgot about the order and then it showed up one day and I'm sitting here and there was five of us.
There was two administration staff and [00:18:00] myself, one delivery person, and one service person. We were here and I'm unloading the truck and I said, Oh my God, what am I going to do? I've got all this inventory, you know, and basically business had just stopped. Well, when I say good and bad, I mean, that was the bad.
And the good was I was glad I had the inventory because it was less than a month later. Um, where, uh, people were staying at home, they wanted to upgrade their TVs. They wanted to upgrade their stereos. And I actually had inventory, which was great. Cause there was, you know, supply chain issues big time. So it started off really bad. They kind of bounced back for us big time quickly.
Allan: The big box stores, we won't mention names. I mean, we renamed it. A couple of the older ones, but now we know the ones that are bigger and are probably giving you fits. How do you deal with that? How do you combat that?
Scott: Well, we push shop local. I don't know if you saw when you drove up today, we have that giant digital sign out front and we [00:19:00] actually give space away on that for free to local organizations, charities and whatnot.
We personally like to shop local. So if I'm using any kind of. I think construction or electrician or a plumber or a painter or anything like that for the store, we always use local and then I think it's more and more and more people are aware of that and they do try to whenever possible shop local, however, it's easy now to pick up your phone or your tablet and push a button and have something delivered to your house or a business, but in our industry, a lot of people still want to see it. Hear it, touch it. So it's a little different than ordering a hat or something. So, uh, we still have that. We also offer in store service, setup, delivery.
Allan: I imagine repair must be...
Scott: repair is big. We actually give it a little bit of an extra warranty on our product. All for the same price as a big box store. Most cases, a $699 TV is $699 East coast, West coast and everything in between. [00:20:00] But if there is a value added to that TV, then the customer knows it, sees it, appreciates it, and will buy it there. And they feel comfortable buying from a place that's been in business for 53 years too. It's not like we just opened up yesterday.
Allan: Coming up after the break, we find out what the future holds for Kawartha TV and Stereo.
Cass: Success in business doesn't come without moments of struggle. Moments when you had to face your challenges head on. As the proud partner of Canadian business, Moneris plays a critical role in empowering businesses with the payment processing tools they need to succeed. Together, we are building stronger businesses, where business owners everywhere can stand up to their challenges without slowing down. Moneris.
Allan: Welcome back to Yes, We Are Open. Kawartha TV and Stereo continues to find ways to provide [00:21:00] Peterborough with the latest and greatest in quality audio and video products. And now they've found a great new market in e bikes. Now with the right space, staff and expertise, all of which they have in abundance, they seem poised to take on whatever the next 50 years brings on. So what does the future of the business look like? Let's find out.
53 years. We already mentioned a long time and to be here and it looks like you guys are a fixture in the community in Peterborough. What does the future look like for Kawartha TV & Stereo?
Scott: No, the future looks good. The future is so bright. You got to wear shades, you know, we're planning ahead. Like last year we did a big reno in the store, uh, inside and out. It kind of made it a little bit more modern. And so I hired some staff and we're sending them some extra training for, you know, moving forward. You know, we're always trying to find that next widget or gidget to sell and what's out there. I mean, what we did is a few years back is we took on electric bicycles [00:22:00] and e bikes. And we've done very well with those. So we've removed some stuff from the store and we've replaced it with that.
Shaun: I think we just want to maintain giving the best service we can to our customers. That's kind of been our, Building block from when Glenn even started. If you give people good customer service, you know, good products, they're always going to come. You know what I mean? I think we need, moving forward, we'll continue to have, we always continue to evolve that.
Scott: I'm 65.
Allan: That long?
Scott: You know, so, but I'm still enjoying it. I, you know, I love being here. I love the staff. I love what goes on. I love the business, love the industry, you know, I hang out with a bunch of the guys that are still been around for years. Uh, we get together, we call each other all the time, asking them what's new, what's going on.
I like everything about it, you know, and I like the town, I like Peterborough. I get, you know, mostly positive responses from customers. I do like going down to the floor and walking around and talking to customers. I'm probably [00:23:00] not the best person to give electronic advice anymore, so I let the sales guys and girls do that.
But I do like talking to them, you know, what brought them in today? How are you? What's going on? And they said, well, my dad shops here. So I've always shopped here. You know, I'm looking forward to the future.
Allan: Scott is Kawartha TV & S stereo open.
Scott: Yes, we are open!
Allan: That's the story of Kawartha TV & Stereo. When we talk about adaptability in business, often we're talking about reacting to market conditions and making adjustments. We don't often see complete pivots that fundamentally change the business.
But that's what happened back in 1971. Glenn Stuart was in the sewing machine business. But he saw the opportunity in selling stereos and completely pivoted his [00:24:00] business. Good thing he did. When's the last time you went shopping for a sewing machine? Even if you are an avid sewer, you might buy, what, one or two in your entire career?
How many TVs, stereos, or other AV components have you purchased in your life? It was obviously a good business move. In the past 50 years, Glenn, and then Scott, have had to adapt many more times. Perhaps not as drastically as that first time, although I'd say e bikes is a bit of a pivot. And they'll likely adapt many more times in the future.
So I'd say adaptability is a fundamental trait for the audio visual industry, but I think it's generally true in any industry, those who don't adapt risk being left behind. Another big part of Kawartha TV & Stereo's success, I think lies in the development of their staff. The only way they can compete with the big box stores is to offer service and expertise above and beyond.
And the only way to do that is to hire good people and continue to invest in them. From what I saw during my visit, they've done just that. It's because of [00:25:00] this, I'm confident Kawartha TV & Stereo will continue to succeed regardless of what changes come next.
Yes, We Are Open is a Moneris podcast production. I'd like to thank Linda, Shaun, and Scott for taking the time to share their story. You can learn more about Kawartha TV & Stereo at kawarthatv.com. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter @kawarthatv and on Instagram they're @kawartha_tv.
Please support this podcast by writing us a review on Apple Podcasts, or rate us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.
If you're a Canadian small business owner or know of one with an interesting story of perseverance to tell, I'd love to help tell it. You can contact me at podcast@moneris.Com.
And that does it for this season. That was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I'd like to thank everyone on Moneris' MARCOM team for their help and support in putting this season together. There are too many to name, so please check the show notes for their names.
I'd like to also thank the [00:26:00] amazing merchants who welcomed me to their place of business and allowed me to tell their stories this season, River Café, KAKS Bar and Podcast, Mountain Chocolates, Going with the Grain, Regrub Burger Bar, Heritage Park and Historical Village, Italian Ice Cream, and Kawartha TV & stereo. Please support them by supporting their businesses.
Production on Season 7 will begin in the fall, so expect a whole new season of small Canadian businesses and their stories by October of 2024. Keep an eye on this feed and I'll post updates as Season 7 approaches.
And finally, I'd like to thank you, the listener, for listening, subscribing, and spreading the word. Your support has once again helped this podcast earn nominations for the most creative branded podcast and branded podcasts of the year by the 2024 Quill Podcast Awards. Winners will be announced May 23rd, but are already counted as a win to be named among the other nominees.
So a huge thank you to all of our listeners. Without you, this would not be possible. On behalf of all of us at Moneris, sincerely, [00:27:00] thank you for listening to the Yes, We Are Open podcast. I'm Al Grego, see you in Season 7.