From Tube TVs to the Latest in Industrial Tech: Munro’s Celebrates 30 Years
SAINT JOHN – A business that got its start as a television repair shop is celebrating 30 years in business this month.
Today Munro’s has made a name for itself for selling industrial technology, computers and lighting solutions to both industry and individual consumers in the greater Saint John area.
“It started back as C.A. Munro over on the west side,” says Paul Palmer, Munro’s current owner and president. “C.A. Munro was a furniture distributor and they also had a service centre, so they would service and repair TVs back in the day.
“At the time, Mike O’Brien, who was the previous owner, approached the owner of C.A. Munro’s and said, ‘Would you be interested in selling this service department? I’d like to buy it.'”
That was on April 29, 1988, and O’Brien named his new business Munro Electronics Limited
“That’s how it started, it was just a small service repair centre for TVs,” says Palmer.
Munro’s moved from the west side to the outskirts of uptown Saint John on Hanover Street in 1992. At that time, the shop was selling a limited selection of electronics, but in 1994 the company joined The Edge Group, a buying group Munro’s is still a part of to this day.
“[The Edge Group] would be the equivalent of 100 stores like this one all across North America,” says Palmer. “We meet once a year and it gives us the buying power to compete with some of the larger companies.”
Joining the buying group helped take Munro’s to the next level.
“All of a sudden there was a lot more product lines that we had access to,” says Palmer. “It opened up the doors and that’s really what made a big change at the time for Munro Electronics.”
To accommodate their growing product offering, Munro’s moved into a giant warehouse on Marsh Street, an industrial area underneath a highway overpass, often surrounded by giant trucks.
The location makes sense since more than half of the company’s business is with industry. Though that’s a big piece of the puzzle, Munro’s also sells and repairs computers both for businesses and individuals. For example, a lot of local gamers come to Munro’s for customized systems.
“The core was our industrial electronics, and customers were coming in and they were asking, ‘Do you have any cables for my computers?’ or ‘Do you have a printer for my computer?’ ” says Palmer.
“They started asking us for more computer stuff. So Mike O’Brien at the time said, ‘Maybe we should expand and have a whole computer section here.’ It was customers looking for more products that led us in that direction.”
Munro’s also has a big lighting showroom, which services businesses, electricians, designers, and homeowners. The decision to sell lighting was made by the previous owner, Mike O’Brien.
“When they moved over here (Marsh Street) in 1998, there was some space out back. At the time Mike said, ‘What am I going to do with that?’ ” says Palmer. “At the time, his family had O’Brien Electric, so they said, ‘Maybe we’ll put a lighting showroom in there’ and that’s how the lighting showroom got started.”
Take a look inside Munro’s today:
It’s often advised in business not to try to be everything to everyone. But in Munro’s case, offering three different products to different kinds of customers has proven successful. Palmer says the key is to know how to attract those different customers.
“It certainly brings different challenges for marketing. For industrial electronics, those types of customers we have to go out and find,” says Palmer. “It could be the government, it could be the hospitals, it could be industry. You have to go right to them and tell them what you’re doing because they’re not going to be coming in here shopping.”
For attracting non-industry customers, Palmer says strong marketing is key. Since the store isn’t located in a commercial retail area, letting the public know about the business and what they offer has been a focus since he took over the business in 2009.
We’re a destination place. Someone is not going to drive by and say, ‘Oh honey, let’s stop in and see what they got at Munro’s,’ ” says Palmer. “When they come in, they know what they’re looking for.”
Palmer says Munro’s uses social media, billboards, and hosting events like their annual yard sale to get the company’s name out in the community. But he doesn’t discount the power of referrals and word-of-mouth.
“Being in a small city, I find word of mouth is a huge marketing [strategy] a lot of people don’t utilize. Our people do a really good job on the customer experience side,” says Palmer. “That’s part of the reason why I bought Munro’s. We have a lot of well-established regular customers. Our staff knows most of them when they come in the door.”
He says the company has stayed in business for 30 years because of its customer service. Munro’s is still servicing accounts they’ve had since the early days. As technology and customers’ needs evolved so has the business.
“They’re still with us,” says Palmer. “So as they grow, we’ve been growing with them.”
Looking forward to the years to come, Palmer says Munro’s is creating a strategic plan about where the company will head in the next 10 years. This includes offering solar power products and possibly a change in location. But he says the one thing that will remain the same is the customer experience they offer.
“We’re really trying to focus in on the whole experience,” says Palmer. “While you’re buying lights or computers or electronics, it’s the experience from start to finish that you have when you come into our store that’s really important to us.”