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Award winners North America Canada Pacific

H.Y. Louie Co. Limited holds a very special

place in the history of British Columbia. Tracing

the history of the business through the 20th

century opens a window into the extraordinary

history of the Chinese community on the West

Coast of Canada. The business was founded

more than 100 years ago by Hok Yat Louie.

As well as struggling with the difficulties that face all entrepreneurs, he had to deal with the

widespread prejudice prevalent at the time.

His perseverance and resilience have been an

example for successive generations. Today,

H.Y. Louie Co. Limited is moving into its fourth

generation as a family business. It is led by Brandt

Louie, who is recognized as a doyen of the North

American business community and an exemplar of

the best of family business.

Europe

North America

Latin America

Asia-Pacific

Brandt LouieH.Y. Louie Co. Limited

“I hope that future generations will recognize the advantages of maintaining the family culture.”Brandt Louie, Chairman,

H.Y. Louie Co. Limited

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Family businesses are often depositories of the wisdom of the past. The Canadian company H.Y. Louie Co. Limited is a particularly good example of this. At the company’s headquarters in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, there is a series of letters on display. They were written in 1934 by Hok Yat Louie, the company’s founder, a few weeks before his death. He had gone to China to visit his ailing mother and was writing to his sons back home in British Columbia. His letters express a simple but

profound wisdom about what matters in business and how the family should work together for the benefit of their customers and their company.

“Be earnest, fair and loyal in your dealings with customers … discuss things with your fellow workers. Be amiable to them.” Although written more than 80 years ago, the statements contained in the letters are relevant now and would be recognized by family businesses as the essence of the stakeholder value approach. Brandt Louie, Hok Yat’s grandson and the current Chairman of the H.Y. Louie group, believes that the principles expounded in the letters remain vital for the business today. “The messages in these letters are our company’s mantra, and we always attribute the success of the company back to them,” says Brandt.

When you look at the numbers, it is clear these principles have guided the company very well. Today, the H.Y. Louie group of

companies is one of the largest family businesses in Canada. It employs more than 8,000 people across a range of businesses, including food wholesaling and retail.

The history of the business stretches back to 1903, when Hok Yat set up a small general store that sold seeds and fertilizer to Chinese farmers in British Columbia. For Hok Yat, being an entrepreneur then was doubly difficult because, as a Chinese

immigrant, he faced widespread prejudice and the host of laws that existed at the time. In addition, he spoke very little English, but he persevered and taught himself. “He used to hold the reins of his horse-drawn buggy in one hand and an English book in the other to learn the language,” says Brandt.

Acquisition of London Drugs

After Hok Yat’s death at the age of 59, his eldest son Tim Louie took charge of the business, which was, by then, known as H.Y. Louie. Tim remained in charge until the early 1950s, when Tong Louie, Brandt’s father and Tim’s younger brother, took over.

Among his many achievements, Tong’s expansion of the business into retail was, according to Brandt, perhaps his greatest. Central to that expansion was the acquisition of London Drugs in 1976. Back then, London Drugs only had 10 stores — which sold pharmaceutical products, cameras and cosmetics. “My father

Award winners North America Canada Pacific

01 Founder Hok Yat Louie; 02 Hok Yat with his sons Tim and Tong (Brandt’s father); 03 the whole Louie family; 04 Tong with a relative in front of a store; 05 an early London Drugs branch.

bought it and made it into something,” says Brandt. That is no overstatement — Tong transformed London Drugs into a highly successful and trusted chain of stores, selling everything from prescription drugs to computers and microwave ovens. London Drugs now has 78 stores throughout the western half of Canada and is the eighth-biggest drug store chain in North America.

Before joining the family business, Brandt first studied at the University of British Columbia, then worked as a chartered accountant for six years in Vancouver and Montreal. When he joined H.Y. Louie, he had to serve his apprenticeship, which meant doing many different jobs, including stocking shelves, before he could move into management. “My father had the view that no person should come straight from university to try

to run the business,” says Brandt. “You have to build a track record and allow the people reporting to you to grow their confidence in you.”

Go out into the world

In 1987, 15 years after he joined the firm, Brandt replaced his father as President. He encouraged his two sons to follow the same approach he did. “I encouraged them to go out into the world and seek their own profession, and to take 10 years before considering their future with the family business,” he says. “After that period, they needed to tell me what they wanted to do. If they didn’t want to come back into the family business, that was fine. But I had to know either way for planning.” And that is what

A contemporary London Drugs branch.

01 02 03 04 05

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“We can make long-term decisions that we feel are in the best interest of our customers, employees, community and, lastly, shareholders.”Brandt Louie

Award winners North America Canada Pacific

they did. Gregory trained as a doctor in the US before becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Stuart became a lawyer, working for a top US law firm; both eventually decided to work for the family firm.

Neither son, however, has taken an operational role at H.Y. Louie. “I may be the last family member to take a full operational role,” says Brandt. He has always accepted that this was possible, and told his sons they did not have to go into operations just because their name was on the building. “There’s a great deal of wisdom in getting the best person to run the business.” Today, Gregory and Stuart work as governors in the business. Interestingly, the success of H.Y. Louie has all come without the business having a board of directors. “We’ve never felt the need for one and, frankly, it has been easier not having a board,” says Brandt.

Family businesses are quick in decision-making

Explaining how the absence of a board has had its advantages, Brandt tells the story of the acquisition of London Drugs. “My father was able to do the deal in 20 minutes and seal it with a handshake,” he says. “All the other companies involved in the bidding needed at least a week to talk to their boards about the deal, but we were able to move much quicker.”

Brandt argues that structures such as boards are not something that concern most family businesses. “Family businesses don’t sit down and say what the structures needed to make them successful are, because most family companies are struggling just to survive,” he says. Brandt is quick to point out the broader advantages of being a family business. “There’s a lot of pride in the business,” he says. “We can make long-term decisions that we feel are in the best interest of our customers, employees, community and, lastly, shareholders.”

Now in his early 70s, Brandt is selectively handing over some of the day-to-day running of the family business to his senior managers and increasingly including his sons in decision-making. Referring to the past heads of the business, Brandt suggests that there is a natural limit to how long someone can remain in

charge at H.Y. Louie. “Each of the four family leaders had about a 30-year run at this,” he says.

H.Y. Louie might not have a board, but Brandt sat on the boards of a number of other organizations, including the World Economic Forum and formerly the Royal Bank of Canada. He is currently the Chairman of Grosvenor Americas — the North American arm of one of the UK’s oldest family businesses, the Grosvenor Group. He has also set up and is active in a number of charitable foundations and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s most generous philanthropists.

Looking to the future, Brandt is optimistic that H.Y. Louie will remain a family business. “I hope that future generations will recognize the advantages of maintaining the family culture,” he says. Whatever happens, with three generations of extraordinary role models to follow, and those very special letters, future generations of the family will not lack inspiration.

Brandt LouieChairman

Company name: H.Y. Louie Co. Limited

Generation(s): Third and fourth

Founded: 1903 in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Industries: Retail and wholesale distribution

Employees: Approx. 8,000

An IGA store in British Columbia.

Brandt’s father Tong in his office.

London Drugs stores sell consumer electronics, appliances, cosmetics and health products.