The independent Barrhead business operating The Source dealership has been told its contract will expire shortly.
The store at 5018 50th Street will no longer be able to sell The Source products from Sept. 9, the dealership termination date.
Owner Morris Vogelzang said his store would continue under a new name, probably Barrhead Sound and Audio Video Unlimited, selling a wide variety of electronic goods and accessories. Its partnership with Telus will be unaffected.
“We have to be positive and turn ourselves into an even bigger and better store, keeping the same employees we have now,” Vogelzang said last Thursday.
“Sometimes you are thrown a couple of curveballs and you just have to go with it. That’s the attitude we are going to take.
“We will have a moving on sale and a grand opening. The sign will probably be changed quite quickly.”
He added there were already plans to forge ties with Vancouver-based buying group, Audio Video Unlimited and bring in some new up-market products.
Meanwhile, there are reports The Source will be opening a corporate store next to Rita’s Apothecary in Main Street, leading to extra competition in the local electronics market.
“We will try our best to be a vigorous competitor to the new business,” said Vogelzang.
Vogelzang said he received the 90-day termination notice in a June 9 letter from The Source president. Many other dealerships in Alberta and other parts of Canada have also got notices in the last 18 months.
The letter came completely out of the blue to Vogelzang.
“It was somewhat shocking,” he said. “There had been no discussion, no phone calls, no forewarning at all.”
The letter did not explain the decision, said Vogelzang, who began making his own inquiries.
These revealed that The Source – now owned by Bell Canada – was looking to push Bell cellular services.
“We do sell Bell phones, but not enough apparently,” said Vogelzang, pointing out he had a dealership with Telus and naturally promoted its products.
Vogelzang added The Source had reaped the benefits of his store’s success over the years.
“We’ve done very well for the size of town,” he said. “We are one of the better dealers in Canada. The Source were getting quite a nice level of purchases from us.”
Vogelzang accepted his business, corporately named Barrhead Sound while trading as The Source, now faced big challenges.
Although it would lose some unique The Source products, it could compensate by aligning itself with other businesses, he said. An alliance with Audio Video Unlimited, for instance, would provide better buying power and give access to brands like Sharp.
“It’s going to take some time for us to create our identity,” he said. “One thing we are looking at is moving more into home theatre, and bringing in a higher end product.”
He said he believed home theatre was a niche, giving people a cinema experience in their homes with large TV screens and an all-embracing sound.
Formerly called Radio Shack, Vogelzang’s store started 30 years ago at the current site of Total Plumbing, across from the hardware store.
It moved to its present location in 2007, before altering its name to The Source.
“I would like to thank our customers for 30 great years of patronage,” said Vogelzang.
“l hope they will continue to look to us for their future electronics needs. Our customers say they have always come here to see us – they never came here because it was The Source.”
