How a Stratford, Ont. biz owner turned her high school job into an award-winning online store

Imagine returning to your high school joband turning it into an award-winning business in the online era.

That's precisely whatKarina Bogledid.

Nearly a decade since her days as a teenage sales associate atWhite-Balmer Shoes in Stratford, Ont., Bogle tookover as owner in 2019andpivoted to online sales at the start of the pandemic.

That pivot helped earn Bogle theEmerging Ecommerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award at eBay Canada's annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Today, White-Balmer Shoes continues to operateas both an online shop and as a physical location in Stratford.

Bogleshared her story with CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive. Here's part of that conversation, edited for breadth and clarity.

You have a pretty long history with the company. Tell us a bit about your first exposure to the business.

I started working for White-Balmer Shoes as a sales associate during high school in 2009. That's where the development of my passion and interest for shoes started, and I knew then that I wanted to stay within the footwear industry. I went to the University of Guelph and moved to Toronto after that, where I worked for a Canadian shoe distributing company. I was there for about five years when Pat White and Glee Balmer, the previous owners of White Balmer, contacted me and let me know that they were ready to retire. I jumped at the opportunity to purchase it from them and I've had the store now for just over two years.

Did you have any idea back inhigh school that you would eventually want to come backlater in life as the owner?

No. Not specifically here. I thought maybe I'd own some sort of shoe-related business. But as soon as I heard this, it was like, 'yes, this is what I'm meant to do.'

You took over as owner in summer of 2019. How much of the business was being done online then?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

And in less than a year in your time as owner, COVID hit. What was that like?

It was very challenging. I was just learning the ropes of owning the company, and then it hit. So, trying to pivot and adapt to all of those challenges was something that was very unexpected.

White-Balmer was one of many businesses that had to pivot to become an online store during lockdown. What made you decide to concentrate on eBay, as opposed to focusing on building a White-Balmer webstore?

I did build a website first, actually. And that was going okay. But I found that being a new website, some people weren't comfortable purchasing on a site that they don't know much about. I already had some experience selling personal things on eBay, so I thought, 'OK, I'll link our website to eBay and give that a shot.' And that has worked really well because it's a global marketplace that people know and trust and are comfortable shopping on.

There's certainly a convenience in online shopping, but I imagine some would say it's not nearly as personal as having the owner of the store with you as shop in-store.

That was a challenge (while the physical store was closed during lockdown). We tried to do everything that we could: we did a lot of local deliveries, lots of emails, sending photos and phone calls back and forth. And as online orders come in, we always write little notes to the customers, whether if it's special care instructions they need to know about their shoes, or really just thanking them and letting them know that we really appreciate their business and choosing to shop with us.

You get $10,000 as part of this award. Have you decided how you're going to spend it?

Yes, a big chunk of it is going to go towardbringing new brands to the store. And I was also able to give a nice little gift to my two employees who have been so flexible and patient and understanding through the whole pandemic.

What would your advice be to any small business owner trying navigating a path for themselves during a pandemic?

I'd say just try to keep a positive, happy outlook on things. I chose to be optimistic about it. And with the pandemic challenges, try to pull away positive things and use it as a learning experience, and jump on all the potential opportunities that you could have.