Raising Caine in Nova Scotia
Steve Proctor - Halifax Chronicle Herald. January, 2008.


If you watch TV in the Maritimes, you've undoubtedly seen one of the Simmons Mattress Gallery commercials.

You know the ones. They feature the Caine family dressed up as everything from bowling pins to swashbuckling pirates charging around their mattress showroom.

The 30-second spots may make marketing professionals cover their eyes, but the family patriarch and writer of the majority of the 80-plus commercials, makes no apologies.

Born in England but educated in Canada, Derek founded the business in 1998 after years of working in Nassau and Australia.

He arrived back in Canada with his wife, June, a Miramichi native, and his son, Daniel, just as Eaton's was closing down its furniture and bedding departments.

Having worked in a very aggressive specialty bedding market in Australia, Derek saw a business opportunity. He opened one of the first free-standing Simmons Mattress Galleries in Canada.

Simmons Mattress Galleries usually operated as internal departments in existing furniture stores, but affable fast-talking Derek made the pitch for a stand-alone store in Bayers Lake Business Park, and Simmons management agreed to let him try.

On the strength of advertisements that helped them stand apart from competitors and an emphasis on customer service, business boomed.

With his wife acting as comptroller and his son working in sales, he leased a second store at Woodlawn Mall in Dartmouth in 2000. The business continued to thrive and by 2003, it had outgrown its Halifax space. Derek decided the only way to capture pent-up demand was to purchase land in Bayers Lake and build a bigger showroom and a warehouse.

Just three years later, a continuing surge in sales necessitated a change in the Dartmouth operations. The store there moved to Burnside Park, and a larger showroom was created.

"There are challenges to running a family-owned business no doubt, but at the end of the day, for me, it has been unbelievably exciting and gratifying," Derek told 150 members of the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise at a recent dinner. "There are times when business and personal lives overlap, but as a result, you get closer than you ever think possible."

Michele Williams, managing partner for Grant Thornton in Nova Scotia, said family-owned businesses are a mainstay of the Nova Scotia economy. Although precise numbers are hard to come by because most family-controlled business are privately run and don't disclose operational information, a 2007 study estimated such businesses account for more than 60 per cent of job creation in the province.

She said family-owned businesses are not only well-positioned to succeed, but they may also be in a better position than their corporate cousins to deal with expected labour shortages.

"Finding dependable employees is going to be an ongoing challenge, but if you can re-seed from inside from inside your organization, you may have a competitive advantage."

She cautioned, however, that succession plans are especially critical with family-owned businesses, a notion that Derek came to realize all too well when he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004.

"In an instant, my life changed," recalls Derek. "Business was no longer the be-all and end-all. I knew 50 per cent of people are touched in one way or another by cancer, but that was no help as I tried to come to terms with it."

While he was trying to absorb what was happening to him, son Daniel, now 32, stepped up and took over the business, and his daughter, Jordanna, 35, a teacher by training, moved from Australia to join the business.

"I gained a new respect for both of them," said Derek, who has recently been given a clean bill of health following numerous rounds of treatment. "Daniel proved he was very capable, and Jordanna discovered she was open to new opportunities. They've developed the passion for the business that I've enjoyed."

New indeed. Although Jordanna carries the title general manager and oversees five sales people and four support staff, she admits she knew little about the business just three years ago.

"I pretty much had a whole other life in Australia. But I'm a quick study and see the opportunities here."

As a small business, she said, it's hard to compete against the big-box stores on price, so the operation focuses on service and a degree of flexibility "the big boys" can't match.

She recalls that view was underscored by her father one day while he was working in the store between treatments.

"You can do anything you want with the business," he told her, "but customer service is paramount."

As part of his therapy, Derek embraced the healing power of music and started jamming at clubs around Halifax on his harmonica.

"Playing the blues harmonica lifted me into another level of healing that only music can bring," he says.

The music therapy initiative took on added importance as it grew into a fundraising effort for leukemia patients at the QEII hospital.

He played at clubs and concerts and has recorded two CDs with Charlie A'Court. The efforts have raised $67,000.

His song Haemo Blues, which he allows people to download from the Internet for a donation, chronicles his struggle with the disease.

Music, he said, helped him to stop feeling sorry for himself and realize the leukemia wasn't a death sentence but an opportunity to take life by the throat and enjoy every minute of it.

That means stepping away from the business. He still holds the title of president but he is officially retired, except for appearing in the commercials. His wife, June, is still comptroller, but Jordanna said her mother is gradually giving up the position so she can travel with her husband.

Derek is grateful.

"They are giving me the time to enjoy my music and seriously engage in my membership of the SKI club - Spending the Kids' Inheritance."

Jordanna said the company is still reorganizing to accommodate the changes made in the Dartmouth, but with continued growth of the specialist bedding industry, the future appears bright. And you can keep looking for the wacky commercials. She has taken over creative control of advertising but doesn't plan to tinker with the formula. She believes her sense of humour - and sense of family - is the same as her dad's.