Anders Jorgensen doesn’t believe much in luck — good or bad. He thumbed his nose at some possible bad luck 30 years ago and has more than lived to tell the tale. He and his furniture company have thrived despite it.
Jorgensen is one of the partners in Scan Designs and nearly three decades ago one of his Vancouver-based partners called to suggest maybe they ought to hold off opening the first Island store in Victoria.
“It was supposed to open Friday, Jan. 13 1984 and one of the partners called and said ‘it’s not that we’re superstitious, but what’s one more day?’ ” Jorgensen recalled with a laugh.
“But I told him ‘no, we’re ready to open.’ ”
Not only has that store survived its brush with superstition, it has thrived and led to expansion on the Island, while many competitors in the home furnishings sector have folded their tents.
Jorgensen and Paul Ritchie, the Island partners, have come a long way from the two-floor, 8,800 square foot space near Town and Country Shopping Centre they called home for 25 years.
“It was just the two of us for a number of years,” said Ritchie, who was originally hired as an 18-year-old in 1983 to help with the renovation of the space. “But I’m always up for a challenge and I enjoyed working with [Jorgensen].”
Ritchie was hired to work in the warehouse and soon a partnership was born. It’s worked out well for both men with Ritchie now running the Victoria location and Jorgensen running Nanaimo. There are two other partners who have a stake, and are involved in the four Scan Designs stores on the mainland.
The group remains small with six Scan Designs locations and four Muse and Merchant stores — a new offering attached to Scan Designs with an eclectic mix of furniture featuring reclaimed and recycled materials in a variety of styles. Ritchie and Jorgensen believe it’s part of what’s allowed the company to survive.
“It’s a tough business, and it’s very cyclical,” said Jorgensen.
Scan Designs has managed to grow while Victoria has seen long-serving companies like Standard Furniture wind down operations before being resurrected by Iqbal Dodd and many relative newcomers like Liberty Home Furnishings and Nood come and go.
Ashley Furniture is the latest to go, selling out now and giving up its space to a new Quality Foods grocery location.
Five years ago, Scan built a 35,000-square-foot showroom in Millstream Village that now includes a Muse and Merchant location.
Ritchie said the company’s commitment to customer service, offering an inviting and comfortable shopping experience and a broad product mix has kept Scan Designs vibrant and profitable while others have faded.
“We strive to be the best in terms of customer service and we’re always looking at the future, what’s happening and where the trend is going,” he said. “We’re big enough that we can buy right, but we’re still small enough that we can react and make changes. We’re not too big we can’t adapt.”
Customers have also adapted.
Jorgensen said while Scan Designs focused on Scandinavian staples like teak and rosewood when the stores first opened in 1976 in Vancouver, there has been an evolution driven by demand for more sustainable products.
“Trends change and the supply of wood has changed, so you now see more metal being used for furniture because there is an abundance of steel and things like reclaimed wood and bamboo, which is sustainable,” he said.
“People are catching on to that.”
Scan Designs also prides itself on a broad range of styles and entry points for all kinds of consumer.
Both men note there’s no one label you could slap on Scan Designs given the eclectic mix in the showroom, which they believe mirrors what’s happening in homes these days.
“Homes no longer have one style. They have a mix,” said Jorgensen.
And in a world of disposable goods, Jorgensen said they have tried to provide a durable option for single people and young families as well as more established homes.
“You have to balance inventory to have a range to attract and have something for everyone. We want to be the store that’s there for them all the way through a lifetime,” he said.
Since the store moved to Langford, they have seen more young families. The Town and Country spot tended to cater to the 45-plus set.
But Jorgensen said it didn’t take long before their regular customers started to make the trip out of the city, validating their decision to relocate.
“We had considered other options than Langford, but red tape stopped us from moving closer to town, and we knew the growth was out here and they welcomed us with open arms,” said Jorgensen.
Ritchie added that setting up digs close to Costco didn’t hurt, either. “Plus we got to build what we wanted. This is where the future is and they are very much open for business out here,” he said.
Scan Designs employs 20 people in Victoria and seven in Nanaimo.
