Company Profile

Community-minded approach grows business

For Cluny Sheppard, growing his business has been somewhat like nurturing a backyard vegetable patch into a full-blown farm. Notre Dame Agencies began as a one-town building supplies store and over the past three decades it has blossomed into a chain of 13 stores selling building supplies, furniture and recreation products.

And, Mr. Sheppard has always taken a hands-on approach to his business.

“There’s just something about meeting people face to face when you are dealing with not only customers but anyone related to the business,” he remarks. “I started out that way and I enjoying being that way today.”

He admits his small town beginnings have deeply shaped his business methods. “Service is as important as speaking to individual customers who have individual needs, and if you forget that you start to lose the respect of the communities you serve,” he explains.

A self-educated Mr. Sheppard has spread his businesses across Newfoundland and Labrador and in most cases in rural settings, where his community-minded operations cater to the needs of individuals. He has become somewhat of an entrepreneurial model for taking basic business principles, a strong work ethic and a natural ability to deal with people and turning it into successful business.

His humble beginnings saw him working in sales with Riff’s department store in Lewisporte just after high school. From there, he went to work for Notre Dame Agencies, a small plumbing and heating operation also in Lewisporte. However, by 1975, he had bigger plans and soon switched from being an employee to becoming the owner when he bought the store from St. John’s company, Barwood Holdings.

At the time, Notre Dame Agencies was also manufacturing tin products like stove pipe, flashing and duct work. Mr. Sheppard soon added new product lines such as electronics, furniture and recreational vehicles. The following year he opened a furniture and appliances store in Gander.

From there Notre Dames Agencies spread it’s wings; Notre Dame Home Furnishings and Notre Dame Castle Building Centres at Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Twillingate, Port aux Basques and Goose Bay; and Notre Dame Castle Building Centres at Pound Cove, Corner Brook and most recently at Clarenville.

“Focussing on the needs of the community which access our stores and putting the effort into properly training our employees allows us to better serve these communities,” Mr. Sheppard notes.

Mr. Sheppard’s daughter Tina Belbin says her father is a true entrepreneur in that “he recognizes things about people and places that allows him to better run his businesses. He also incorporates local suppliers into businesses by purchasing local products both on a community or regional level as well as on a provincial level with products like locally produced lumber and ACAN windows and doors,” she notes.

“Today's well-informed customers are leading our business to continually be customer oriented and more concerned that each customer is satisfied.” Ms. Belbin adds.

Ms. Belbin explains that to truly invest in the continued growth of rural Newfoundland and Labrador means to participate in it by becoming a stakeholder, and in this light, the Notre Dame Agencies retail business is in a continual, intense learning process. She says her father “has been very concerned with ensuring the employees, staff and even himself is aware, trained and educated in current products, services and management techniques.” 

Notre Dame Agencies currently employs some 180 people and has effectively established itself as a strong player in the provincial marketplace.

A family at the helm

For several years now, operating Notre Dame Agencies has been a family affair and Chief Executive Officer Cluny Sheppard has had the benefit of grooming the successors of his business. Three of his four daughters are currently heading divisions of the company and any reluctance Mr. Sheppard has felt about retiring is starting to wane.

He’s adamant about the importance of preparing his daughters to carry on what he’s spent 30 years building.

“My family is lined up to run this business now and I’ve got a succession plan in place to make the turning over a smooth transition,” says Mr. Sheppard. “Without such a plan, it’s easy to see how a lot of independent businesses could conceivable fall by the wayside.”

He says he’s proud his daughters were “bitten by the business bug” and though he’s encouraged independence in all of them, they were always left with the option of working with him at Notre Dame Agencies. And, being immersed in the state of affairs from an early age has allowed the girls to attack their roles in the company with mental preparedness and a positive outlook.

For the past 11 years, his daughter Tina Belbin has been at his right hand. She currently holds the position of vice-president of the company. In side-by-side offices, she and her father have spent the past decade choosing the direction of the company.

“I’ve learned a great deal from him,” she states. “I graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor of commerce, which gave me a good base to work from. But the greatest education has come from watching him in action.”

She says her father’s hands-on approach has been the root of his success. “There’s a problem out in Clarenville today and instead of sending off a fax or an email, he’s heading out there to deal with it in person. It’s just the way he deals with things,” Ms. Belbin remarks.

She says she’s learned to listen to customers and to recognize the general needs of a community or region in order to fine tune the various operations throughout the province. “The simple fact is that the product lines and services we offer are driven by customer preference,” she notes.

Mr. Sheppard’s second daughter, Jennifer Welsh is vice-president of the building supplies division of the company and has been with the company since the fall of 1997. She graduated from Memorial University with a Bachelor of Education but shortly afterwards, joined her sister at the company conference table. “I knew there was a place here for me and I was excited about joining our father. It’s comforting to know he held places for us and that he’s willing and eager for us to learn his business,” Ms. Welsh explains.

Ms. Welsh says that her time at the company has taught her a lot about the pressure that comes with operating a business the scale of Notre Dame Agencies. Joining him in the offices has opened her eyes the amount of work her father has put in over the years, unbeknownst in most part to her.

Mr. Sheppard’s youngest daughter Anne Marie Hodder is the latest to join the team. She also graduated from Memorial with a Bachelor of Commerce. She brings an energetic approach to business expansion and fine tuning. “I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time and here I am, a part of this team and it’s still pretty amazing to me to see how all this comes together behind the scenes,” Ms. Hodder remarks.

Mr. Sheppard thrust her into the lions den by offering her a replacement manager’s position at the company’s Home Furnishings store in Gander in 2003. She says she took the job on the run and realized early that the learning curve was steep. “My experience in Gander taught me that customers are the base of a business and unless you learn to deal with them in a professional and compassionate manner, your success will be limited,” Ms. Hodder points out.

The family effort also extends to the husbands of the daughters. Tina’s husband Scott helps shore up the financial end of things as the company comptroller, while Ann Marie’s husband, Kirk heads the advertising department as marketing manager. Jennifer’s husband Byron logs part-time hours performing merchandising duties.

Mr. Sheppard’s daughter Lorna is an Information Technology specialist who currently lives and works in the United States.

Mr. Sheppard’s wife Golda has buoyed up his efforts from the beginning. She has backed his choices and has been a strong-hold for him for both in the business and in the family. She’s been his partner in the office, working for several years as the company’s interior decorator.

“It’s more than a simple relief to know that my family has a vested interest in the success of this company,” Mr. Sheppard remarks. “And, the fact that they know up front what I require and how I work has been an advantage for me and them as they come to work each day.”

The girls and their husbands have big shoes to fill. Mr. Sheppard has developed a reputation that has helped him create a respectable rapport with business mogul across the province and Canada, as well as respect from his customers. And, at age 58, Mr. Sheppard is still greatly interested in directing the company but says he has a growing realization that the reins must soon be handed over.

The Chronology of NDA

• 53 years ago, Lloyd Noble, Ted Carpenter and Harold and Harry Starkes started Notre Dame Agencies, a plumbing and heating business in downtown Lewisporte.
• Barwood Holdings of St. John’s bought the business in 1972.
• Store Manager Cluny Sheppard bought the store from Barwood in 1975 and joined the Castle buying group that same year.
• In his first year, Mr. Sheppard expanded the product line to include electronics, furniture and recreational items.
• In 1978, Notre Dame Agencies moved to uptown Lewisporte after Mr. Sheppard purchased a building supplies building from a St. John’s businessman.
• Next, Notre Dame Agencies bought out Central Building Supplies in Grand Falls.
• A furniture store was opened in Lewisporte beside the first building supplies business.
• The next move saw a building supplies store opened in Twillingate.
• Two years later, Notre Dame bought out Snelgrove’s Home Hardware in Goose Bay, Labrador. The business was expanded to include furniture, appliances, and recreational products.
• Four more outlets were opened in Central Newfoundland.
• In 1996, Notre Dame Agencies purchased Louis Briffetts and Sons’ hardware store in Pound Cove, and currently operates a building supplies business there.
• In 1998, the furniture and appliances division of Notre Dame Castle in Grand Falls-Windsor was separated from the building supplies store and set up at it’s own location in the town.
• The company opened a building supplies store in Corner Brook in 2000.
• In 2001, Port aux Basques became the next location for expansion when Notre Dame opened a building supplies/furniture store.
• The latest move occured when Notre Dame opened a new store in Clarenville in the spring of 2004