This week Al is in Dartmouth, NS visiting Jason and April Weickert from Torpedo Rays. Jason has been teaching and servicing Nova Scotia’s SCUBA community for the past 26 years and counting, building it into the province’s #1 PADI 5-Star Instructor Development Center (IDC). During the pandemic April, who was also a diving enthusiast, was working on Ontario as an accountant. She decided to move home and join the family business. For months during the pandemic, there were no people allowed in their store and no classes. Learn how they persevered and emerged from the pandemic busier than ever!
You can learn more about Torpedo Rays at torpedorays.com.
Al Grego:
Hello everyone. I'm Al Grego, and this is the Yes, We Are Open! podcast. It's a rainy day in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. As I mentioned in episode one of this season, I'm racing Hurricane Lee to Charlottetown on this trip. The once Category 5 hurricane has since been downgraded to a Category 1 and is expected to hit Nova Scotia in a couple of days as a post-tropical storm. This is my only stop in Nova Scotia, and the plan was to drive to Charlottetown tomorrow afternoon, but now I think I'll leave first thing in the morning, which is too bad because I really wanted to spend more time here.
Dartmouth is a built-up community of Halifax Regional Municipality located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, its population just over 72,000. In 1749, 13 British transport ships arrived and unilaterally established Halifax as their settlement, violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq and starting the Father Le Loutre's War, or the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, which lasted six years. During that time, fortifications were erected in Halifax, Bedford, Lunenburg, Lawrencetown, and in Dartmouth in 1750.
Initially, Dartmouth was a sawmill and agricultural outpost of Halifax, but in the mid-19th century, it grew with the construction of the Shubenacadie Canal and the rise of industrial firms such as Dartmouth Marine Slips, the Starr Manufacturing Company, and the Stairs Rope Works. In '61, the town officially amalgamated with several neighboring villages into the city of Dartmouth but then in 1996, the Nova Scotia Provincial Government amalgamated all the municipalities within Halifax County into a single-tier regional government named the Halifax Regional Municipality or HRM.
In 1969, Dartmouth hosted the initial Canada Summer Games and has recently hosted the ICF Canoe World Championships in '97, 2009 and 2022. It's the location of the Canadian legal drama, Digstown, and also the location of the fictional Sunnyvale trailer park on the hit Canadian series Trailer Park Boys. But I'm not interested in the antics of Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles on this trip, I'm here to talk to Jason and April about the subject of this week's story, Torpedo Rays.
Speaker 2:
[inaudible 00:02:31].
April Weickert:
[inaudible 00:02:31] great. There you go.
Speaker 2:
[inaudible 00:02:51].
April Weickert:
Hi.
Al Grego:
Hi. How's it going?
April Weickert:
Good, how are you?
Al Grego:
Good. I'm Al. I'm here to meet with...
April Weickert:
Oh, Jason.
Al Grego:
Jason, yes.
April Weickert:
Yeah, he just ran out for a second, but he should be back.
Al Grego:
Okay.
April Weickert:
Any moment.
Al Grego:
That was April, the manager and also the owner's daughter. It turns out I'm an hour early for my interview because I can't manage my time zones, so I go to a nearby Tim Hortons and have some lunch before coming back to meet with Jason.
That's all right. I'm Al. Nice to meet you. Sorry, I was here earlier.
Jason Weickert:
Oh, that's all right.
Al Grego:
Got messed up with the time difference.
Jason Weickert:
Time zones. Yeah, it happens, right?
Al Grego:
Jason takes me downstairs to one of their classrooms and we settle in for our interview.
Jason Weickert:
Hi, I'm Jason Weickert, the owner of Torpedo Rays Scuba here in Lovely Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Al Grego:
When did Torpedo Rays start?
Jason Weickert:
Torpedo Rays opened in 1997. Our original location was in Bedford, just about five minutes away. Then we moved here to Dartmouth in 2001.
My Uncle Wally, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago, he, I guess, put the original thought of scuba diving in my mind back when I was just a little kid. He started diving in the 1960s.
Al Grego:
Oh, okay.
Jason Weickert:
Which was very early for scuba diving. He actually, at that point in time, built his own rebreather for diving underwater, manufactured his own wetsuits.
Al Grego:
Oh, wow.
Jason Weickert:
He was really a pioneer. He taught for the YMCA back when the YMCA used to teach scuba diving.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
And he told me a story where he just got a call at home one day and it was the YMCA calling saying, "Would you like to come and teach scuba diving?" And he said, "Well, I'm not an instructor." And they said, "Well, we heard you're pretty good at it."
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
So he went down and taught scuba diving for years at the YMCA and eventually earned his actual instructor credentials.
Al Grego:
Yeah. Okay.
Jason Weickert:
But no, he was a pretty amazing guy. So I grew up in Ontario, then moved with my family to Alberta. They actually moved out here before me. I stayed there to finish my university degree.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
And then when I finished university, moved to Nova Scotia.
Al Grego:
What [inaudible 00:04:48] a school for?
Jason Weickert:
I did a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Al Grego:
Okay. In '93 you moved to Halifax?
Jason Weickert:
Yeah, '93. It was April, I believe, the exciting cross country drive with a giant U-Haul trailer and hit several snow storms on the way, but we made it. And arrived in Nova Scotia and loved it. Originally we thought, ah, we'll be here two or three years and then probably head back out west, and we've been here over 30 years now.
Al Grego:
Wow.
Jason Weickert:
So you start off as what they call an Open Water Diver, so that's your first course. So I did that and then did the Advanced Open Water Diver, then did Rescue Diver, and then started being a Divemaster, which is your first level of teaching diving. I love doing that, love interacting with students. So that's kind of when I thought, "Yeah, I should really get into this dive business, looks like a good time, better than having a real job."
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
So then we opened the shop and got my instructors. So I started teaching.
Al Grego:
The business is called Torpedo Rays.
Jason Weickert:
Yes.
Al Grego:
I mean, you're not Ray, who's Ray?
Jason Weickert:
I get called Ray literally every day.
Al Grego:
Okay.
Jason Weickert:
So when my wife and I opened the business, we're sitting around trying to think what are we going to call the business? And we didn't want to call it Scuba Shack or Dive World or all these, there's a million of those all over the world, and not that there's anything wrong with those names, but they're just not very unique.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
We wanted something that if people heard the name, they would know, "Ah, that's that shop." So there's a creature in the North Atlantic called the Torpedo Ray.
Al Grego:
Oh, okay.
Jason Weickert:
And it looks kind of like a stingray with a codfish's tail.
Al Grego:
Oh.
Jason Weickert:
And it's electric, so don't touch them if you ever see them.
Al Grego:
Okay.
Jason Weickert:
So we thought, oh, it'll be a funny play on words. Torpedo Ray, Torpedo Rays without realizing actually no one knows what a Torpedo Ray is.
Al Grego:
Right. So everyone is assuming you're the owner, you must be Ray.
Jason Weickert:
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And our logo, this guy here.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
That is a Torpedo Ray.
Al Grego:
All right. Were you successful right away or did it take some time to...?
Jason Weickert:
Oh no, [inaudible 00:06:43] every new business, there's a struggle to get things off the ground. Yeah, there was always a lot of business, but long, long, long hours. Also, when we first opened, I didn't want to give up my day job. I worked at Canadian Tire full-time as a manager there. My father owned a Canadian Tire store, so I basically, I worked at Canadian Tire for eight hours a day and then came and worked in the dive shop for another eight hours a day.
Al Grego:
Wow, yeah.
Jason Weickert:
And then you'd get up at 5:00 AM and do the whole thing over again. So we did that for pretty close to a year before we realized, yep, this is actually going to fly.
Al Grego:
So about around 1998, you were able to quit your second job and just focus on-
Jason Weickert:
Focus on the dive shop, yeah.
Al Grego:
Was there a lot of competition around here for that?
Jason Weickert:
There was actually, back then, now scuba diving in the late '80s, early '90s, that was like the heyday for scuba diving, not just here, everywhere across North America. Everybody, for whatever reason, I blame Baywatch, but everybody wanted to get into scuba diving.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
So that was the peak of scuba diving in North America, it was late '80s, early '90s.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
And it was still going pretty strong by the late '90s. So back then, including our shop, there were seven dive shops in town.
Al Grego:
Wow, seven?
Jason Weickert:
Seven, yeah and Halifax was much smaller then. Now there's like three kind of.
Al Grego:
So I mean a little less competitive?
Jason Weickert:
Yes and no. Of course, as with every retail business for the retail side of our business, you're competing online now.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
Which when we opened, there was no online competition, you had some mail order outfits out of the states but yeah, as far as the retail side of the business, I mean the online competition is what you really worry about now, not your other local shops. Again, as with any business, it's a very competitive environment and you always have to keep renewing yourself.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
There's Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip said "You can't give them the same show every night."
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
And it's the same thing when you're in business.
Al Grego:
I love it. Love the Hip preference. Do you have any other children? Or is April...?
Jason Weickert:
I've got three daughters.
Al Grego:
Three daughters. Okay.
Jason Weickert:
So, yep.
Al Grego:
And are they all working in the business?
Jason Weickert:
No. So April's the middle one, and then our eldest, Callie actually just took a job at a museum out in BC.
Al Grego:
Okay.
Jason Weickert:
So she's out there now. And our youngest, Grace, does work here on a part-time basis, but she's just started her BEd, so she's going to be a teacher in a couple of years.
Al Grego:
Cool. All right. So April seems to be the one who...?
Jason Weickert:
She's the most keen by far, yeah. Yeah, she's already worked her way up to being a, what's called a IDC Staff Instructor, which is the same level of instructor I am.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
But it took me like 20 years to get that far. It only took her about three years.
Al Grego:
Do all three of them dive?
Jason Weickert:
No, Grace dives, April dives, Callie, she's tried it. She thought it was okay, but not really her thing.
April Weickert:
My name is April Weickert and I am the manager here at Torpedo Rays.
Al Grego:
I hear of your three sisters, you're the most serious into diving.
April Weickert:
That would be true, yes. I am definitely the one most interested in diving.
Al Grego:
Can you remember the first time you actually dove?
April Weickert:
I do. Yeah, the first time I went diving, it was 2017, I believe.
Al Grego:
Okay.
April Weickert:
And my dad was with me. He took me diving. It was at Fox Point Beach, which is in Hubbards, and I remember being really nervous, but once we got in there, it was so bright and clear, there was little lobster everywhere. So instantly I kind of got hooked.
Al Grego:
How old were you?
April Weickert:
I would've been 18.
Al Grego:
Okay. So you weren't terribly young, so growing up, the business had already been open for 20 years. What did you think of the business growing up? Was all this something mom and dad do and I had no interest in that?
April Weickert:
Since the shop opened in '97, I was born in '98, and yeah, I didn't think too much of diving, it just kind of seemed like an ordinary thing to me, even though to most, it's so unique and special.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
April Weickert:
So diving when I was younger, 12 early teens, I had no interest because it's like, oh, that's what my dad does.
Al Grego:
Right.
April Weickert:
It wasn't cool, right?
Al Grego:
Yeah.
April Weickert:
But once I got a bit older and I graduated high school, I was looking for something to do and seemed like an obvious choice.
Al Grego:
Okay. The lessons themselves, where do you do those? I don't think you have room for a pool here.
Jason Weickert:
I wish we did.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
So there's sort of three components to learning to scuba dive these days. So you do online learning. Once you finish the online learning, then you'll come in here. We do a quick classroom review to make sure you actually understood the online learning, and then we head off to a swimming pool. The swimming pool we use is Survival Systems Limited. They're about eight minutes away, up in Woodside Industrial Park, it's actually the largest swimming pool in Nova Scotia.
Al Grego:
Oh, wow.
Jason Weickert:
So you'll spend two days in the swimming pool learning a whole bunch of skills, and then the final step is to go to the ocean and you'll do all the same skills you did in the swimming pool, but in the real world environment of the ocean.
Al Grego:
Okay. What would you say would be your heyday? Torpedo Rays, like busiest time?
Jason Weickert:
Oh, honestly, right now. Things are going really well.
Al Grego:
Interesting.
Jason Weickert:
My daughter, April, who you met upstairs.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
She's our manager and she's really helped introduce some fresh ideas. She's far more computer, internet, social media savvy than I am. I'm not even on social media, so I really know nothing about it.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
But she's done a fantastic job establishing a real dive community, making it more of a lifestyle.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
Bringing a lot more younger people into the sport 'cause we did find that for a while there, our clientele was kind of aging and we didn't see a lot of younger people getting in. And April has done a fantastic job bringing in the younger crowd back into scuba diving.
April Weickert:
I started working here when I was in grade 12, so my last year of high school and kind of right away, I've always been really into just social media, content creation, that kind of stuff. So right away, even before I was in a management position, I ran the social medias. I was making different videos and a podcast and all these different things. So yeah, I definitely liked the online kind of creation aspect. Originally when I went to university, I went to Mount Saint Vincent and I wanted to be an accountant. So actually after I graduated university in 2020, I moved to Toronto for a year.
Al Grego:
Okay.
April Weickert:
And worked as an accountant, and I very quickly realized that it wasn't for me, and I came home and decided to do scuba full time.
Al Grego:
So that's how you rebel against parents who are scuba divers is you become an accountant.
April Weickert:
Exactly. That's right.
Al Grego:
It's interesting because when I was in Saint John's, I interviewed Ocean Quest.
Jason Weickert:
I know Rick Stanley.
Al Grego:
Yeah. You're saying the same thing. Now's the busiest they've ever been.
Jason Weickert:
Yeah.
Al Grego:
I guess coming out of the pandemic or maybe more tourism.
Jason Weickert:
Yeah, the pandemic, I think, made people really look for things to do closer to home, and particularly in diving. We have a lot of customers that prior to the pandemic only dove when they went down south.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
If it wasn't beautiful, tropical waters, then they weren't getting in the ocean.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
But being stuck at home for a couple of years, they're like, "Yeah, well, I'll try diving in Nova Scotia." And then they tried it and went, "Wow, this is actually really good." We've got everything here in Nova Scotia. I mean, they do call it the graveyard of the North Atlantic. There's over 10,000 shipwrecks in Nova Scotia.
Al Grego:
Wow.
Jason Weickert:
There's fantastic marine life. The visibility is usually quite good. There's lots of easily accessible shore diving sites, which is not the case in many parts of the world. So you don't necessarily need a boat to go diving, which is really excellent. Actually, the vast majority of diving we do is just from shore. Still most of our customers are local divers, and they live here and they dive here, but we are seeing more and more people coming from away, other provinces, the States, Europe, that want to try diving in Nova Scotia because they've heard about it.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
Also, with all the cruise ships now that come into Halifax, we offer cruise ship diving where people show up on the cruise ship. We go down and pick them up, take them for a couple dives, drop them back off at the cruise ship.
Al Grego:
So you moved back to work here in the family business. I mean, how have you enjoyed it?
April Weickert:
I love it. Yeah, I love working here. Aspect of the community. Getting to dive for a living is pretty cool. I mean, there's definitely the office aspect to it.
Al Grego:
Sure.
April Weickert:
But I do love diving, so I'm very happy to be here.
Al Grego:
Up next, Jason has successfully grown Torpedo Rays into the largest dive shop in Eastern Canada. So what has been his biggest struggle in the past 26 years of his business? Stay tuned to find out.
You're listening to Yes, We Are Open! Jason Weickert started Torpedo Rays 26 years ago and turned it into Nova Scotia's number one, PADI 5-star Instructor Development Center. Jason's business requires a very specific set of skills and training. Hiring is an ongoing challenge. Not only is he constantly looking for good people, you also need to be qualified people. So what happened when Jason had no choice but to lose those good people indefinitely with no guarantee they'd come back? Let's find out.
What's been your greatest struggle?
Jason Weickert:
Greatest struggle? Well, there've been many over the years, and it's certainly changes from time to time.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
I would say when you're first open, financials tend to be your biggest struggle because particularly when you don't have a track record or a lot of credit to show people.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
It can be very difficult getting bankers to trust you and lend you some money to get your business started. So out of the gate, I would say that was probably the most difficult. And then getting suppliers to deal with you again, because again, they don't know who you are. They don't want to open you up as a dealer for their product, and then you go out of business in two weeks and it doesn't look good on them. Once you get established, I would say your biggest struggles probably staffing, honestly.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
It's worse now than it's ever been, but it's always been a struggle to find good staff members.
Al Grego:
How many staff do you have?
Jason Weickert:
In the store we have seven or eight that work sort of in front of the customer, but then on the teaching side of things, we have probably two dozen Divemasters and instructors.
Al Grego:
Oh, wow.
Jason Weickert:
Now these are people that all have day jobs. They just teach evenings and weekends or days off, but yet it's really hard finding good staff that offer the same level of customer service that you would.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
It's not hard to find staff, it's hard to find good staff.
Al Grego:
Yeah. At any point of those 26 years, were you ever in any jeopardy of going out of business?
Jason Weickert:
No. Again, coming from a business background, both with my family and doing a BCom degree, I'm very tuned into financials, so we tend to keep ourselves pretty safe. So I can't say that we've ever had to worry about having to lock up the doors or anything like that. Some years are certainly better than other years.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
But overall the business has been pretty good to us.
Al Grego:
So in the last couple of years when lockdowns happened, you guys were ready?
Jason Weickert:
Well, I don't think anyone was ready for COVID. Actually, when COVID broke out, ironically enough, I was in Asia and we were hearing about it over there. We were on a dive trip over there doing some vacationing, and at first didn't seem like it was a really big deal. People were like, "Oh yeah, it's just in China, like nothing to worry about." And then we were there for five weeks and it seemed to be getting more and more progressively worse, and we were flying home out of Taiwan, and when we flew out of Taiwan, everybody was wearing masks and taking people's temperatures. We're like, "Ooh, this maybe is getting serious."
Al Grego:
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Weickert:
And then a couple of weeks after we got home, they closed the border and restricted. We couldn't do any teaching, really couldn't rent any gear because everything had to be sanitized so ridiculously thoroughly. So yeah, the COVID period was not a fun time, but we did stay open the entire time.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
We never closed.
Al Grego:
Okay.
Jason Weickert:
I ended up working some crazy long hours, I think for about four months. I worked literally every day.
Al Grego:
Wow.
Jason Weickert:
We had staff members as well that didn't want to work 'cause they were scared of getting COVID, which was completely legitimate.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
So it was a long go. Sales is our biggest revenue generator.
Al Grego:
Okay, yeah.
Jason Weickert:
But if you're not teaching classes and you're not generating new divers, then you're not making any sales because if you've got nobody that needs equipment, then you're not going to sell any equipment.
Al Grego:
Right, right.
Jason Weickert:
And the people that have been diving for 20 years, I mean every once in a while they need a new piece of gear, but chances are for the most part, they have what they need. So it's key to keep creating new divers so you can keep the other avenues of the business going.
Al Grego:
You weren't able to have classes though?
Jason Weickert:
No, we couldn't do any teaching whatsoever for quite a few months during COVID and all depending on what the restriction levels were at the time.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
And of course, they kept changing things, so you couldn't teach and then you could teach and then you couldn't teach.
Al Grego:
Yeah. It was like a yo-yo thing.
Jason Weickert:
Yeah.
Al Grego:
So your teachers weren't working?
Jason Weickert:
No, no. None of the instructional staff were working at all.
Al Grego:
Your seven to eight staff that you would normally have, were they laid off or temporarily? Or what did you...?
Jason Weickert:
Yeah, I mean basically we had to do temporary layoffs. Again, a lot of them are students or have other jobs and that sort of thing. So with the exception of our manager at the time, 'cause we had a different manager back then and [inaudible 00:19:46] some of them could apply for some COVID benefits, so it wasn't a great time for them either.
Al Grego:
Sure.
Jason Weickert:
We were all really happy to see that end.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
April Weickert:
A lot of 2020 I was actually in Ontario working as an accountant. I moved home in December, so when I came back to work, it was definitely an interesting time.
Al Grego:
Right.
April Weickert:
The good thing for scuba was basically the only thing people were encouraged to do was to get outside.
Al Grego:
Right.
April Weickert:
So in the community, we definitely saw a lot of people diving. Our club dives had huge turnouts, which was really cool. But yes, there was a time where we'd unlock the door and no one was allowed in, and we had a little doorbell. People would ring it and we would fill their tanks and bring them back out to the parking lot, different things like that.
Jason Weickert:
We were really uncertain what was going to happen when they started slowly lifting the restrictions. But that's kind of what I said earlier. There were a lot of people, because they couldn't travel, were looking for things to do, they were bored. They were shack wacky from being inside.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
So they were looking for things like scuba diving.
Al Grego:
Yep.
Jason Weickert:
I've talked to some people in the paddling sports industry, and they said, "Oh, everybody wanted to kayak or a stand up paddle board because they just wanted to get outside. They were tired being in their houses."
Al Grego:
A lot of outdoor hobbies took...
Jason Weickert:
Really took off.
Al Grego:
Yeah, so I guess scuba was no different.
Jason Weickert:
Yeah, like I say, once the restrictions lifted, a lot of people really started getting outside and doing things, including scuba diving.
Al Grego:
So you talked about the challenge then to hire, because once things started ramping back up, were you able to bring back your staff?
Jason Weickert:
We brought back the ones we could. Again, like many other industries, some of the staff weren't going to hang around for us to rehire them, so they went on, took other jobs, moved away, whatever. So we did have to retrain a fair number of new people once we needed people back in the store, and it happened really quite quickly. So again, it resulted in a lot of work for April and I because we didn't really expect things to ramp up that quickly.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
So her and I were here a whole lot until again, we got new staff members hired and new staff members trained.
April Weickert:
I became manager of the shop in 2021, so we were still pretty well in COVID times. Our past manager, Justin, who had worked here for 10 years, had decided to move on to a new opportunity.
Al Grego:
Right.
April Weickert:
So coming in as a young manager in the middle of COVID and all these lockdowns, it was definitely very interesting, but it kind of ignited a fire and gave me something to work towards and get excited about. So I was up for the challenge.
Al Grego:
Right.
April Weickert:
I think you always need a fresh outlook on things. So Justin did an incredible job here as manager, he was awesome, but to kind of have some fresh blood come in and a young person with all these new ideas and kind of a new passion, I think it really sparked a community aspect, the online aspect, which of course during COVID was huge. Getting people engaged on Facebook groups and Instagram, through these different channels was really cool and important, and I feel like we're still kind of seeing some of that now a few years later.
Jason Weickert:
Moneris as a company as a whole, we've always been super happy with, I get calls literally every day from other credit card processors looking for us to switch over to them. And the answer is always just a flat no because honestly I've dealt with some of the other companies and none of them compare at all and service level to Moneris. So you're definitely sticking with that route.
Al Grego:
Coming up after the break, we find out what the future holds for Torpedo Rays.
Audio:
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. Proud partner of Canadian business.
Al Grego:
Welcome back to Yes, We Are Open! Torpedo Rays managed to make it through the pandemic without having to close their doors, and now they're busier than ever. Staffing is still a challenge. With April back home to help Jason manage the shop, learn the ropes from her dad, and maybe even teach him a thing or two about social media, perhaps we're getting a glimpse of the future of the business. Let's find out.
So let's talk about the future outlook for Torpedo Rays. What does the future look like?
Jason Weickert:
Well, the future's hopefully going to be to grow the business. Like I say, eventually we'll reestablish a presence in Halifax. We actually constantly have customers in other parts of Atlantic Canada asking us to open another Torpedo Rays in their neck of the woods.
Al Grego:
Yeah?
Jason Weickert:
I'd love to do that, but once again, staff is the big hold back.
Al Grego:
Right.
Jason Weickert:
Especially when you have a store that's four or 500 kilometers away, you really need someone you can trust to operate that.
Al Grego:
For sure.
Jason Weickert:
So yeah, growing the company, increasing our product offerings. We've dabbled a bit in some of the water sports, again, sold some paddle boards, sold some kayaks and life jackets, that sort of thing. So we'll continue to explore other avenues and see if we can widen what we offer to people.
April Weickert:
Oh, everyone wants to see growth.
Al Grego:
Sure.
April Weickert:
Yeah, so of course I want to see growth. I'd love to see diving become a bigger and better sport in Nova Scotia. I feel like in the '90s it really hit this peak, and then we saw the decline. So now it'd be really nice to see it get big again. I mean, surfing is huge in Nova Scotia.
Al Grego:
Oh yeah?
April Weickert:
And I feel like scuba and surfing, I mean-
Al Grego:
[inaudible 00:25:28].
April Weickert:
... I don't know, kind of the same vibe.
Al Grego:
Would that be something you might branch out into? Surf culture? Or is that already taken care of by other places?
April Weickert:
Yeah, I think surf has its...
Al Grego:
Yeah?
April Weickert:
Yeah, it's taken care of and yeah, I'm definitely, I belong under the water, not on top of it.
Al Grego:
That's a good answer.
Jason Weickert:
Well, I'd like to see us be more active in the community. Like already we do, we call the Discover Scuba program. We do that for a lot of community groups, the Scouts, Girl Guides the Cadets, so that's always really great 'cause you can introduce kids to scuba diving. It's not a full certification program, it's just a one evening thing in a swimming pool. Kids get to put the full gear on, get in the water, experience breathing underwater.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
And it's just really fantastic to see people, especially kids, do that for the first time.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
And that keeps you going when you see that people are really loving it, they're enthusiastic, and hopefully some of those kids someday will take the full course and become divers.
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
So yeah, looking forward to the future. Yeah, I don't plan on retiring tomorrow or anything like that. It'd be nice to get away a little more in the winter time. I do enjoy skiing, but at the same time, I don't enjoy seeing the snow coming here. It'd be great if it just fell on the ski hills.
Al Grego:
Right, yeah.
Jason Weickert:
And I'll be very active in the business for a long time, but having my daughter, April involved is really great 'cause obviously you've got a family member there, so it's someone you can implicitly trust.
April Weickert:
I hope that the future, as much as I want to say it's going to be different, I kind of hope it looks a little bit of the same.
Al Grego:
Okay.
April Weickert:
I feel like my dad, in the past 25 years, has done an incredible job of building the name and running the business, and I hope I can hold it up to that standard. I hope that, again, there's a little bit of new energy and new ideas involved in the shop, but yeah, I hope it's always run just as the strong family business it is.
Jason Weickert:
Oh, we're obviously really proud of the business and the fact that we have grown it. We're the largest dive shop this side of Quebec, Montreal, the next bigger one. We're very well known throughout Canada, just Atlantic Canada. I ship stuff out west pretty much every day. People calling from Alberta saying, "Hey, can you send me this? Can you send me that?"
Al Grego:
Yeah.
Jason Weickert:
So it's good to know that we've got an excellent reputation. Honestly, the customer complaint is almost unheard of, so when I do get one, I react to it very quickly and make sure I find out what went wrong but-
Al Grego:
Take it very seriously.
Jason Weickert:
... for most, very seriously. Yeah, we give a survey to every single student who finishes a course with us and say, "How did you enjoy the course? Would you recommend us to friends? If you had any problems, what are they?" And if anybody does have any issues, I'll contact them personally and say, "Hey, what went wrong? What can I do to fix the situation?"
April Weickert:
Torpedo Rays is very special. I always say it almost feels like a family member at this point. It's something I've grown up with. I mean, Torpedo Rays has always been a name for the past 25 years of my life, and I have such an emotional connection to the business, which I think is what helps me get up every morning because obviously I want to come to work and make it a bigger and better place. It's pretty cool place and a pretty cool shop that we've all come together to create this awesome space.
Al Grego:
Jason and April. Is Torpedo Rays open?
April Weickert:
Yes, we are open!
Jason Weickert:
Yes, we are open!
Al Grego:
That's the story of Torpedo Rays. Succession isn't just a hit TV show. It's also an important consideration for any business big or small. And the key to any succession plan is investment. And I don't mean money. Already this season we've witnessed a couple of different examples of succession. Take Don Lane for instance. He is Lane Gallery. His photography is the product, so when he retires, so will his business, and he's okay with that. He'd rather retire and destroy his original prints and files than see them devalued by a different owner who isn't as invested in the art.
In the last episode, Rita Hunt started the Bradford Academy of Music 36 years ago, and then found Tyler Tossounian, a willing buyer. Rita was confident that Tyler would continue to run and grow that business because he's invested in bringing music to as many young people in Bradford as possible.
And in the case of Torpedo Rays, we're seeing succession in its most traditional sense. Parent prepares child to take over the family business. Now Jason is nowhere near retirement, but I think now he can breathe a little easier knowing that when the time does come, Torpedo Rays is in good hands with April, because he knows she's invested in engendering a love of scuba to a new generation in Nova Scotia. With new blood comes new ideas and renewed energy. After spending the afternoon with both Jason and April, I can attest to that renewed energy and I'm confident in the bright future of Torpedo Rays.
Yes, We Are Open! is a Moneris podcast production. I'd like to thank April and Jason for taking the time to share their story. You can learn more about Torpedo Rays at Torpedorays.com. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram at Torpedo Rays and on YouTube, they're at torpedorays6488. You can also catch April's podcast called Dive In: The Podcast on all major podcast platforms.
Please support this podcast by writing us a review on Apple Podcasts, or rate us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Tune in next week for another story of small business struggle and survival on the Yes, We Are Open! podcast. I'm Al Grego. Thank you for listening.