Two of Windsor-Essex's members of Parliament spent some time Friday listening to ideas on how to make convenience store operations more efficient.
Windsor West MP Brian Masse and Windsor Tecumseh MP Cheryl Hardcastle took part in a roundtable discussion at the Fogolar Furlan Club, in which dozens of convenience store operators in Windsor-Essex discussed issues facing their industry. Also attending was MP Peter Julian of the B.C. riding of New Westminster-Burnaby and the NDP's finance critic in Ottawa.
There were several key issues that came up in the discussion, with one of them being the frequency in which convenience stores across the province fail. Terry Yaldo, a Windsor convenience store owner and a director of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA), said they want to work together to help these small businesses succeed.
"We want to stop these closures and we want to keep these stores viable in our communities because they're very important," said Yaldo. "When you bring it down to the local neighbourhoods and the streets, we all represent our neighbourhoods in a different way and we want to stay viable."
Other concerns that were discussed were how operators can make the most out of phone, utility and internet use, which can eat into a store's profit margin; as well as merchant fees that are charged to store owners by credit and debit card companies. Yaldo said the latter issue consists of card rates that are lower in Europe.
"We heard about some of the challenges that other small businesses face in terms of credit card rates, and some of the ridiculous rates we pay as Canadians, compared to Europe or Australia, where they're at 0.3 or 0.5 per cent. We're paying anywhere from two to four per cent," said Yaldo.
Hardcastle also heard suggestions on how to better train convenience store employees when it comes to items that have age restrictions on them.
"Similarly to how SmartServe is provided, they're very interested in having something for employees for tobacco," said Hardcastle.
Complete information on the OCSA is available on their official website.