Segal explains how Fields started

Here's more from Joe Segal's session at the November NAIOP Vancouver breakfast. In this segment, the legendary commercial real estate investor, philanthropist and retailer recalls how the Fields department store chain, a predecessor of Zeller's, started up . . .

4. “I started in the war surplus business, and in that business I sold everything from medical equipment to lighter flints to pounding equipment . . . You name it. It was a great experience.

"I had five bargain-centre stores. I used to buy army trucks. They were four-by-fours or six-by-sixes. Big trucks . . . So what are you going to do with the trucks. These were brand new trucks. They had maybe 400 kilometres on them – 2,000 was a lot. I would buy these things 20 at a time, and I would take the four-by-fours and would put a tack on the map and sell them as firetrucks in every small (community) in the (Greater Vancouver Regional District), on (Vancouver) Island, next door, (across) British Columbia. The six-by-sixes became logging trucks . . . I would get maybe $5,000. They would cost me $400 anyway. I was in the surplus business and I had five bargain-centre stores. At that time, Sears had just opened. You know, I have to tell the story that Sears put me in the retail business. I had a person that walked in the door and said, ‘I’ve just bought a deal from Sears.’ I said, ‘What’s the deal?’ He said, ‘Twenty thousand dresses and skirts. Women’s clothing.’ This was the end of the season catalogue. Sears had a catalogue operation on Smithe (Street) . . . He said, ‘I haven’t got the money to pay for them. I paid $1 a piece for them – 20,000 units.’ I said, ‘Okay, I won’t lend you the money, but I’ll give you a profit . . .’ So I bought 20,000 skirts and dresses and, you name it, women’s clothing . . . I gave him a profit of 10 per cent . . .

"Now, what am I going to do in a war surplus store with ladies’ dresses and ladies’ blouses? So I went down Hastings Street and mid-block between Abbott and Carroll, there was a 15-foot, perfectly empty store, and I rented it. I opened up with these 20,000 units and I had two or three ladies to run it, and that’s how I got into the clothing business. And after that, I started developing a relationship with Sears. In Vancouver, it never snows, and I would buy snowsuits from right across Canada. From Halifax. Toronto. Regina. Operations of the end of the season . . . One thing led to another. In the old days, you didn’t operate by a computer. You operated by the sliding rule. You know what a slide rule is? . . . You determined how many you were going to sell based on the early calls. Your 10-day calls. Your 30-day calls . . . If the trend flattened, you had a lot of surplus inventory. I would buy the surplus inventory. In December or November, or whatever it was, it was getting toward the end of the season. I would buy tons of this stuff and, then in December, when the calls picked up, I would sell it back to them . . .

"That’s how Fields started. At that time, I had all my ads and everything set up to start my first Fields store. If it wasn’t (going to be called) Fields, it was Thrifty. I said to myself: This is Thrifty and it’s going to guide me, because Thrifty is a connotation that’s cheap. It’s price-sensitive, and I don’t know where this business can grow. It may go up quick . . . so I changed the name to Fields, which really meant that it wasn’t a high price. It wasn’t a low price. It was the right price.”

Segal to speak at NAIOP breakfast

Legendary philanthropist, entrepreneur and real estate investor Joe Segal will share his views on the commercial property market during this month's NAIOP breakfast in Vancouver.
Segal , founder of Vancouver-based venture capital and development company Kingswood Capital, will explain why he has been actively investing in commercial real estate this year despite the global economic downturn. Kingswood launched in 1979 after Segal built the Fields department store chain, turned it into Zeller's and then sold the operation to the Hudson's Bay Company.
Among his many other pursuits, he has also built a clothing-store business, expanded First National Properties, formerly Block Bros., into a land development and property-investment powerhouse, acquired several clothing manufacturing companies and spearheaded the creation of Simon Fraser University's downtown campus.
the company formerly known Block Bros. into a land developm
During these years the company acquired many other clothing manufacturing companies.
In 1985, Mr. Segal acquired national retailer Collegiate Sporting Goods from Imasco. In 1986, he merged Collegiate with Sports Experts and became Chairman of both.
In 1988, Mr. Segal was instrumental in the 150 million dollar acquisition of Block Bros., a Western Canadian company in the land development and property investment field which now operates as First National Properties.
Mr. Segal served on the board of Simon Fraser University for over 12 years & was Chancellor for 6 years. In 1989, Mr. Segal was one of the individuals instrumental in establishing the Simon Fraser University Harbour Center downtown campus. Meanwhile, he has worked with, and financially supported countless charities, and provided the building virtually free of charge that now serves as the home of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee (VANOC).
The NAIOP breakfast will be held Wednesday (instead of its usual Thursday) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, starting at 7:30 a.m.