We’re a talented group of individuals interested in horticulture, gardening, home decor, Christmas, Halloween and everything in between.
Cam
Cam started with Potters in 1992. He showed up with a friend who was already working for us because we needed help unloading trucks. At the end of the week, we kept Cam and fired his friend. They still talk, which we find amazing. When we opened our 72nd Ave store a year later, we made Cam the manager. If I remember right, no one else wanted the job. Cam was instrumental in starting our House of Horrors Halloween attraction and ran it for the first eight years. When our Ocean Park store opened, we moved Cam over to manage that store, much to the disappointment of his long time customers at 72nd Ave. He is also our General Manager and spends a portion of time visiting growers to earmark the best plants for our stores. And he is addicted to Tim Horton’s but refuses counseling. We tried an intervention, but wouldn’t you know it….someone brought coffee. Cam is currently managing our store on 192nd street.
Gale
Like most of our managers, Gale started out refilling plant benches and unloading trucks. After 15 years of that, we thought she might make a great manager so we promoted her. Then a couple of people died and yada, yada, yada, she’s now the Merchandise Manager for the chain. She travels extensively with the Boss buying spring and Christmas items for all the stores.
Tia
Tia started with us as a cashier in 2000. We were so impressed with her ability to balance her till every night we made her head cashier shortly after. When it came to light that the system she was using – “one for them – one for me” wasn’t what we had trained her to do, we sent her thru cashier training one more time. Seriously though, Tia is one of our bright stars and we are indeed fortunate to have her. She cashiered for many years, sometimes in very cold weather. In fact, it was so cold in the early years she lost 2 fingers to frostbite and still finished her shift. What a good sport eh? Tia is now the assistant manager at our 192nd street location and customers adore her.
The Boss
Our Boss got his start in business when he was eight years old selling Kool-aid by the exit door of a local Legion. Everybody paid him a nickel cause he was young and looked industrious, but nobody wanted any. (After 3 or 4 pints of beer, who would?) In high school he organized noon-time sock hops (dances) in the school gym. He convinced the principal it would be great fun and totally non-profit, then got the bands for free and charged everyone 50 cents. By the second year he was making more money during the lunch hour than most of his teachers were making all day. Seriously though – He got his start in the plant business in 1975 when he co-founded a store in downtown Langley that sold tropical plants. He sold that store in 1982 and started White Rock Nurseries, a wholesale greenhouse operation. Under the trade name ‘Tried and True,’ the company built a solid reputation importing new plants from Europe, which it produced and sold across Canada and into most of the U.S. In 1991 he opened the first Potters store on 152nd Street. The second store on 72nd Ave opened in 1993. The third on 192nd St. in 2001, which was replaced with a state of the art 28,000 sq ft facility in 2008.
Bella
Bella oversees the daily operations of the garden centre often with one eye closed. She keeps a mindful watch over the daily comings and goings of staff and customers and (begrudgingly) tolerates the 4 legged, tail waggy 🐾 visitors that drop by the store. Bella keeps herself busy in all areas of the company – she’s got her paw in financials, supplier relations and overall daily operations. Bella requires a lot of naps in order to keep up with the demands of her position.
Ad Guy
Our Ad Guy was reluctant to share any info with us, so I took a peek in his personnel file and garnered this info from his employment application: He apparently graduated Suma Cum Laude from Harvard in 1977 and went on to practice law in the US, eventually becoming a U.S. Senator. He held that position until the early 80’s. It ended when he was indicted with electoral fraud. He turned State’s Witness and after testifying went into the Witness Protection Program. Gee…. I guess I shouldn’t be telling you this…….
