KEEPING UP WITH ROSEMARY

The latest installment in her coast-to-coast retail marathon

When we last checked in with Rosemary Eisenhut, Director of Retail, and her plan to personally visit all 125 Roots stores in Canada this year, she had just returned from a trip to stores in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. That was back in late June and she still had 17 more locations to hit before she’d be able to say she'd seen them all.

Today, true to form, Rosemary is on the road heading to Windsor, Ontario to visit the Roots stores just across the border from Detroit. With her irrepressible energy, Rosemary racks up more miles than a politician on the campaign trail. She completes itineraries that would reduce most travelers to mush.

It's only a week ago that she returned from yet another daunting trip. This one was to Western Canada during which she visited 18 stores including four she’d never seen before. For those of you envious of people who travel for their work, the following account may take away some of the allure of business travel.

On Friday, July 28, Rosemary began her journey with an evening flight from Toronto arriving in Victoria at midnight local time, (3 a.m. on her body clock). Early the next morning, Rosemary met up with Pauline Landriault, Director of Visual Planning and Store Development, and together they visited one of two Roots stores in Victoria, meeting with Senior Manager Lea Weir. From there, they headed across town to the Mayfair Mall store and spoke with Manager Bob Heyes.

Then, they went straight to the West Coast Air Terminal to take a water plane to Vancouver where they were met by Lyn Frankel, Roots Corporate Sponsorship and Sales Manager in Western Canada. Lyn drove Rosemary and Pauline downtown to the Robson Street store where they met up with Store Manager Mark Farr and his team along with Roots Co-Founder Michael Budman. Next, they toured the nearby Roots Kids store on Robson, meeting with Manager Debbie Barnes and her team. Barely catching their breath, they walked over to the Pacific Centre to visit the Roots store there and met with Manager Aimee Guido. The day ended with dinner at The Lift on the Wharf with Pauline and Lyn.

The next morning, Rosemary and Pauline were on the road early en route to Whistler with Lyn at the wheel. There they met with Store Manager J.M. Ogden.

From there it was back to Vancouver to meet up with Michael to check out possible new locations for Roots stores. Then, they checked out the stores at Park Royal and Grandview where they met with Manager Daniela Bosa. Next stop was Metrotown store before returning to Robson to meet up with Roots Home Design Creative Director Diane Bald to talk about store design ahead of going to the Lift for drinks with Diane, Michael and their daughter Alex.

The next day began with a rendezvous with Michael and Diane at the Pacific Centre, followed by a pit-stop at the Richmond Mall store and then off to the airport to fly to Kamloops. After visiting the Kamloops store and meeting with manager Darlene Thorne, Rosemary and Pauline drove to Kelowna (in a Mustang GT convertible), looking like a 2006 Roots version of Thelma and Louise).

On Tuesday morning, they met with Kelowna store manager Lindsay Kern and her team and then headed to Vancouver Airport. (Pauline flew back to Toronto) Rosemary flew to Edmonton where she was met by Regional Manager, Western Canada, Samara Snyder who took her to the Kingsway Mall store just in time for the re-opening in the new location. Rosemary met with Manager Sheila Brisson and her team along with James Wilford, Field Visual Merchant, Toronto, and Colin MacDonald, Field Visual Merchant, Western Canada, who were working their visual magic. Then it was off to check into the hotel.

Up early on Wednesday, Rosemary met with Field Business Manager Ross Shafer and then preceded to the new West Edmonton Mall store for most of the day before returning to Kingsway. [The week before, Pauline had been there to direct the merchandising ahead of the store’s July 29 opening]. Thursday, Rosemary had a breakfast meeting with Ross and then visited West Edmonton, Mayfield Outlet and South Park Outlet with Samara, Ross, and Colin before leaving for the airport in the afternoon.

Rosemary touched down in Toronto at 2 o’clock Friday morning. By 9 a.m., she was back in the Head Office, as exuberant and fired-up as ever.

With only 13 stores left that she’s not yet seen, Rosemary is clearly on track to make good on her vow made in January.