It wasn’t in the plan for Teresa Spinelli to take over the family business even though she pretty much grew up in the Italian Centre Shop her father Frank started in Edmonton in 1959.

“I had a brother. So a very traditional Italian family. My brother was going to take over the business. That’s just the way it was because he was the boy,” says Spinelli. “He was very smart. Way smarter than me for sure. That’s just the way it was.

“I was supposed to get married, have a bunch of kids and live happily ever after kind of thing.”

But her brother Pietro died suddenly just before his 33rd birthday in 1996 and a few months later her father was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 2000.

“I worked at the store since I was 13 years old. A cashier. And when I graduated university, trying to find my way, trying to figure out what I was doing, I was working with my dad in the office in accounts receivable, accounts payable, all that kind of stuff,” she says.

“I never had another job.”

When Spinelli took over the family business in 2001, there was one Italian Centre Shop with $8 million in sales and 30 staff. Today, the chain has 672 people, five stores (three in Edmonton and one each in Sherwood Park and in Calgary) and $113 million in sales.

Spinelli was born and raised in Edmonton. She went to the University of Alberta and graduated with a degree in psychology.

“I wanted to be a social worker. When I did a lot of field placements, I wanted to take everybody home with me. To be an effective social worker, you want to take care of everybody. It was really, really hard. It was always depressing. I wanted to bring everybody home, I cried all the time. I knew it wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t do it. God bless those that can. It’s a hard job,” says Spinelli.

When she initially took over the running of the Italian Centre Shop, it was really tough.

“It was mostly males that worked at our store and most of them had been here longer than me. So they were long-time employees and very loyal to my dad and they thought of me as that little girl that used to play cashier,” says Spinelli. “So taking direction from me, they thought of me as a little kid, and a woman and it was really hard.

“But it was also really hard for me because I really admired them and respected them. There were some tough times.”

But Spinelli got through that initial tough time and put into practice all the things she had learned from her father while growing up in the store. 

“I think the most important thing I learned was that you have to put in your time. That nothing happens overnight and you have to create loyal relationships. It took a lot of time, a lot of effort. Building those relationships was very, very important to my dad as it is to me whether it was relationships with our customers, our vendors, our team. All of them are equally important,” she says.

“My dad did that very well and I think that I do that pretty well too. My dad was more concerned about what our customers wanted. My dad had a big sign that said customers are always right. I don’t believe that customers are always right. I don’t believe anybody is always right. We all make mistakes. I just want to make sure that we’re all very safe and that we’re all treated respectfully.

“My dad was very much the boss. It was his way or the highway. I’m pretty much bottom up where he was top bottom. He was the boss and what he said went. And I’m the very opposite.”

When asked what that first year of running the business was like, Spinelli describes it as “horrible.”

“I had just gotten married. We were trying to start a family. We couldn’t have any kids. My brother died. My father died. My mother was severely depressed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this job. It was not something that I thought I would ever do,” she says.

“It was very tough times. A lot of soul searching. Why am I doing this? Was I doing this for my dad? All those kinds of things. So lots of battles with my team. I’d always have to scream and yell a lot. Things weren’t going my way and every time I did make a decision I always had to back it up because everybody would say ‘oh my God your dad wouldn’t do that, what a stupid idea, oh my God that’s not going to work’.

“There were always those doubts. And of course self doubt becomes more self doubt. It was a very difficult time for sure. Very difficult.’

Spinelli had some very big shoes to fill because her father was an amazing human being. Nobody thought she could fill them, especially her. Her father was always around the store for hours each day. Meeting and greeting customers.

Today, Teresa Spinelli carries on that legacy, spending time with customers in the stores.

“I think it’s important because that’s where you hear what your customers are really looking for or your team,” she says. “Customers will tell me something whether good, bad or negative and I’m able to work on those things. And my team will tell me something that they probably wouldn’t pick up the phone to tell me.

“Life is very different from my office than it is at the floor level.”

Spinelli says being a business owner is a hard job and people who want to become entrepreneurs should think hard on whether they really want to do it. Why do they want to do it?

“I find a lot of people think they’re going to become millionaires overnight. It doesn’t work that way. So a lot of people start a business, they don’t become millionaires overnight and they throw in the towel,” she says. “It takes a long time. A long, long time. You have to put in the time. You have to build those relationships. You have to build the products. All those kinds of things. So it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices for sure. You have to be really clear that you’re willing to do that.

“I’ve been very fortunate because my father had a very good business. I already had a good business. I just got the opportunity to make it even better. But he did an amazing job. And so if you start off with nothing, it’s really hard.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to retire. I love my job. I really really love what I do.”

Spinelli is trying to finalize a second location in Calgary for the store and hopefully a third location in Calgary.

“We feel if Edmonton can do three stores, then Calgary can,” she says. “Calgary is a big challenge because it just doesn’t have as much retail space as Edmonton does. That’s the big struggle.

“We are now looking at a spot in Saskatoon. I’ve always wanted to go to Saskatoon. We think a good spot is coming up for us. And then we’ll see. I get lots of requests for stores in Victoria. I get lots of requests for stores in Grande Prairie.”

As Spinelli reflects back on her business career, she says being the child of an immigrant family was a big difference.

“When immigrants come to Canada with nothing, you watch them work hard every day of their life. You see the struggles that they put in. You see that they put family first. That makes a difference. Things I try to teach my son. Even though you have the money it doesn’t mean you have to spend it,” she says. “And it takes work to make money. Putting family first and putting health first. All those kinds of things are really really important.

“And enjoying life. My dad and mom worked really, really hard but they had good times. They had lots of family over. They went back to Italy. That’s really important that you remember to do that and I think immigrant families exemplify that the best. They come with nothing. They build houses, futures. They leave everything behind. It doesn’t matter if you’re Italian or from Uganda or from Ukraine.”