Acadia U: A Cajun's Flashback

For the tens of thousands of students that have walked by or shopped at Cajun’s over the last 20 years, it must certainly seem like it’s just part of the background. Indeed, that it has become a deeply engrained part of the Acadia campus, for so long now, is something in which I, and many others who were involved in its inception, take considerable pride. But perhaps few today know that Cajun’s was conceived by Acadia students, is student owned and operated, has created jobs for hundreds of Acadia students, and has brought in millions of dollars in revenue to help fund the services delivered by the ASU for students.

The Year 3BC (Before Cajun’s)

After having worked fulltime in a sporting goods store in Montreal for 2 years before resuming my education at Acadia, I was determined to figure out an easy way to pay, not only my tuition, books and living costs, but to support a fairly active social life as well. So, in July, I phoned the registrar to find out what the school colours were. After learning they were red and blue, I ordered 72 rugby shirts and 36 lined, nylon jackets with red & white ACADIA across the back, and shipped them down for my arrival. On the first day of Frosh Week, one of the first people I met played on the rugby team and told me that the company they ordered their jerseys from couldn’t deliver. Before I knew it, I had outfitted both the men’s and women’s rugby teams, sold all the jackets and was counting my profits. I quickly ordered more gear, and began promoting myself around to the campus clubs, residences and sports teams. It got so that I was making several runs a week to Nowlan’s Canteen to pick up shipments that had arrived via Acadian Lines. I ended up selling over $40,000 worth of clothing each of my first three years at Acadia (which was real money in those days when tuition was under $4,000), more than covering my social life!

The Year 1BC

During my third year, I lived on Prospect St. with the ASU President, Keith Publicover, who encouraged me to get involved with the ASU. I was still putting myself through school selling clothes out of my room, but began to appreciate the extent to which the ASU was a business with the mandate to provide services to the student body. Outside of the membership dues paid by each student, the only other major source of revenue for the ASU in those days was the AXE. Certainly a lot of my profits ended up there! However, there were rumblings at the time of possibly raising the drinking age in the province, which would have had a huge impact on the ability of the ASU to provide services. And thus began the discussion about how the ASU could diversify its revenue base. I suggested to Keith that if I, as a student working out of an apartment on Prospect, could do tens of thousands of dollars a year in sales, imagine what a store in the SUB could bring in. He agreed, and we took that initial seed to Jeff Redden, then the GM of the ASU.

With a commitment that they would at least consider a business proposal, I began to write the initial Business Plan, with ulterior motives in mind. As I saw it, the ASU would need to have someone work full-time in the summer leading up to the store opening, as well as to manage the store during the year. But as I began to run the numbers, and with no idea what level of revenue was realistic with a storefront, it was difficult to project a profit with a full-time store manager’s salary built-in. So, wanting to get approval for the project, I cut out the manager’s salary during the year, making it an Honorarium position as are the other ASU executive jobs, which cinched it for the ASU. We got the green light in the spring of 1987, I had a summer job, and Cajun’s was about to be born.

Pre-Opening

At this stage, we still lacked a name for the store, but had been given a location, on the upper level of the SUB overlooking its present location. We had about 550 sq ft, not huge, but enough for a real store. We began by laying out the store using masking tape on the floor – the changing rooms here, the counter here, and so on. Then, one night, several of us, including the newly elected ASU President, Heather Sanford, were sitting around (maybe with Keiths in hand)  trying to come up with a name for the store. There was no shortage of ideas, just a shortage of good ideas, when I had a flash and came up with the name “Cajun’s”, which I thought was an excellent tie-in to Acadia and the history of the region. And so, Cajun’s it was.

The lines of clothing were relatively easy to select, as I had relationships with most of the suppliers anyways; Barbarian rugby shirts, Trimark jackets. We selected a local supplier for fleece, Nova Scotia Textiles in Windsor, who made great, high cotton, heavyweight fleece. In fact, they were the main supplier for Roots sweatshirts in the mid-80’s, but were badly hurt by the Free Trade Agreement signed around the same time. We planned to open the doors with about $20,000 worth of inventory on the shelves, with follow-on orders in place for many of the longer lead time articles.

To save money on fixtures, I went to the Zellers store in New Minas where I was able to buy a used cabinet and glass display case in burnt orange for under $100. With a little wood veneer mactac, it looked like a new display case! Added to that were some used, chrome displays, and our big spend was on a slotted wall on which you could hang different kinds of fixtures.

The First Year

We opened the doors on September 1, 1987, with the paint barely dry, but the shelves stocked, having pulled an all-nighter folding clothes, putting them on hangars and getting ready to go.

With only an ad in the Ath, a sign in the SUB, and some posters around campus, we managed to draw a big crowd on opening day. There’s a picture of me in the 1988 yearbook counting all of the cash from our opening day (with a gleam in my eye).

The first year, we had a part-time staff of between 8-10, including Jennifer Bentley, Donna Conrad, Vicki Hermann, Laura Lee MacLean, Rob McColman, Maura Ryan, Stephanie Suter (my sister) and Debbie Tracey (my girlfriend at the time, and my wife for the past 18+ years). It was a great team, and I’d like to think that a job at Cajun’s was fairly coveted as word got out.

While we never set out to be trendsetters, there ended up being an iconic fashion item just before Christmas – the famed “Acadia Crew” sweatshirt. I got the idea for the print after an ASU trip to Boston where I picked up a Harvard Crew sweatshirt. But what we did that was unique at the time, was to print on both sides of the shirt, so people could wear them inside out. Hey, it was the 80’s and people did stuff like that! I order two dozen on a whim, barely getting Craig Kennedy, the new ASU GM, to sign off on the PO. But they flew off the shelves within hours, so we re-stocked again, and again, and again. Who knows? With fashion being a cyclical thing, maybe the Acadia Crew is getting ready for a comeback.

The Business Plan called for a student manager to run the store, and while the first few may have thanked me for the summer jobs, they probably cursed the lack of remuneration during the school year. As my last year wound down at Acadia, I handpicked my successor from amongst my staff, and in April 1988, I officially passed the torch to Laura Lee MacLean. As I walked out of the store that day, I fully appreciated Shakespeare’s line about parting being such sweet sorrow.

Looking Back

It’s ironic to be involved in this celebration this year. One of the fears that I used to be quite open about was that someday; I would walk into Cajun’s anonymously and be asked the dreaded question: “Sir, can I help you find something?” And it happens pretty well every time I return now, but I’ve come to terms with it. And while I will claim to be the original founder of Cajun’s, there is truth in the saying that “Success has many fathers.” Certainly, in the case of Cajun’s, this is the absolutely true.

 So when you walk by the store next time, pause and think about the students who cared passionately about the school, the ASU and its future ability to serve the students. More than that, these students did something. They took that passion and created something of lasting value. Is it a legacy? That may be overstating it, but I know for a fact that there’s a little piece of a lot of great people in that store, and that each of them should be proud of their contributions. I know I am.

Martin Suter, BBA 1988
Original Founder of Cajun’s

Comments

[Martin Suter]

Heather - Glad I could help on the trip down memory lane! I was invited back to participate in the 20th anniversary a couple of years back...It was hard to believe that it's been so long. In fact, my oldest son is off to Acadia in September, and may be the first "second generation" Cajun's employee!

BTW, I think we all recycled our pay cheques thru the Axe/Cajun's combo...

Martin

[Heather Cook]

I remember the first year Cajun's opened well - and really enjoyed working there. Your story brought back a lot of fond memories for me ... I remember selling a lot of Acadia Crew sweatshirts (and buying a few as well - most/all of my paycheck went back into the Cajuns and Axe coffers :) ), and the Acadia bum sweats were pretty popular too!

Thinking back, I think I worked there there my second and third years (I remember having you as a manager and also having Laura Lee as a manager).

Glad to have found this - nice memories :)
Heather (Lawrence) Cook