Musab Balbale, Vitapath continue to monitor our stores and will continue to listen to our customer. If there are gaps within our assortment, that we can’t fill from within Canada, we’ll find brands and products in the U.S. to help strengthen that assortment. But, we’re really proud of the fact that Vitapath is a Canadian business. One that supports other Canadian businesses.” And the decision to partner primarily with Canadian manufacturers was also made easier due to the fact that the company already had great relationships with Canadian vendors from their work in the U.S. “We’ve had some really great relationships with Canadian brands even before we entered the market. They actually helped us in understanding their view of the market and have been incredibly helpful to us in providing market insight and advice. And quite honestly, working so closely together has helped strengthen our relationship with them and it continues to pro- vide already strong Canadian brands with opportunities in our stores in the United States. We really look to our suppliers and vendors as business partners and work together to make both of our businesses better.” Vitapath opened its first stores in Canada, both in the Greater Toronto Area, in January of this year. And, though it may be too early to tell exactly how the company`s being received by its Canadian consumer, Balbale is extremely optimistic concerning the progress of the stores. “We’re here for the long-run. We plan to open additional stores later in 2013 and 2014 and are looking at real estate actively. Vancouver certainly is an exciting market for us to go to next. It has a particular focus on health and wellness which in some ways looks a lot like the West Coast in the United States. But right now we’re focused on building out Toronto and building enough scale to support our brand and the infrastructure in Canada.” HANDLING YOUR NEW POLYMER NOTES LEARN MORE: BANKOFCANADA.CA/BANKNOTES www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer | spring 2013 | canadian retailer | 43http://www.BANKOFCANADA.CA/BANKNOTES http://www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer