For the past nine years, Joseph Calvano has been conquering Canada one dollar store at a time. Now the Dollar Giant co-founder will oversee his company as it merges with the United States’ Dollar Tree chain in a $62 million deal.
The acquisition has earned Calvano a 2010 ACG Dealmakers Award, meant to recognize “significant achievements of corporations, entrepreneurs, financiers and service providers who participate actively in merger and acquisition activity” and encourage corporate growth in the Vancouver area, according to ACG.
Gerry Bellerive, a partner with Capital West who nominated Calvano for the award, has worked as a financial adviser for Dollar Giant since the company began in 2001. He wanted others to be aware of Calvano’s accomplishments.
“It’s rare when you come across a company like Dollar Giant,” Bellerive said. “This company didn’t exist nine years ago. To build a company with 85 stores, $100 million in revenue with no proprietary advantage other than solid retail management and understanding … is nothing short of spectacular, frankly. That’s what really alerted me to the community needing to know about Joe’s accomplishment.”
Calvano said his key to success is the simple formula of a strong work ethic combined with a good team to support him.
“The key thing for me is for me, and for a lot of businesses, is if you have a vision and a passion and you work hard and make sure you surround yourself with good people and you treat those people well, you have a very good chance of success,” he said.
Calvano originally immigrated to Canada from a village just outside Sorento, Italy, with his family when he was two years old. He was raised in Toronto and began his retail career in 1973 as a management trainee at K Mart Canada.
As he moved up the K Mart ladder, Calvano realized the opportunities the retail business could offer him.
“I’ve always enjoyed the fast pace of retail,” he said. “I enjoy the change – every day it’s a different thing. I’ve been able to move up the ladder in different companies and become successful professionally and financially. It’s definitely been a positive experience.”
Calvano worked his way up to vice-president of K Mart and was transferred to work as a consultant with Bargain Harold’s once K Mart acquired the Ontario retail chain. He was then hired in 1995 as president of Army & Navy department store and made the move to Vancouver.
Army & Navy decided to make the chain family-run once the chairman died, so Calvano took a position as vice-president of Superstar Group Ltd., a fashion apparel and footwear retail chain.
When the chain downsized in 2001, Calvano decided to make a new career opportunity for himself.
“There weren’t a lot of opportunities for head officers in B.C., so [my wife and I] decided with our partners [to open our own store],” he said. “They loaned me some money. We started with $120,000 in total.”
The single Vancouver store grew into 85 across B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan.
“We took that one store and worked at it and massaged it … and we had some good employees I knew from my past experiences,” he said. “It just kept growing and growing. Now we’ve become the second-largest dollar store chain in Canada.”
Dollar Giant’s expansive growth caught the eye of numerous companies interested in purchasing the chain, but Calvano accepted Dollar Tree’s offer with his employees and company in mind.
“I think when we decided to sell, I looked at offers to buy our stores and saw it would be good for our employees and good for our growth,” he explained.
As part of the deal, slated to close on November 8, Dollar Giant’s 85 stores will become part of Dollar Tree Canada, and Calvano will stay on as president for the next five years.
“The next five years will be very focused on growth at Dollar Giant,” said Calvano. “I’d like to stay on and be their leader and president, and together we can build up to 1,000 stores in Canada. We feel we can achieve that. It’s a big country.”
Calvano’s future beyond the next five years is up in the air, but he says he’d like to continue overseeing Dollar Giant as long as his health allows.