Village Squire, 1977-12, Page 20Raintree
It's been a long battle
but Tim St. Louis has had his
instincts proven right
Four years ago Tim St. Louis sat in his tiny little shop in
Clinton and talked about his dream of someday having Raintree
into one of the large old homes in Clinton where he could have
the room to really do the things he likes. Now on a snowy
November afternoon he sits in the quiet atmosphere of the new
Raintree, situated in a solid old brick home with more space than
he could have dreamed of at one time.
If there is a sense of satisfaction at obtaining his dream it's a
quiet one. Rather than look back, Tim St. Louis seems more
concerned with looking at the future. He still bubbles with the
same enthusiasms he had four years ago a year after he had
opened the tiny shop with little over 100 square feet of space. He
has a right to feel proud of his accomplishments. He was one of
the pioneers in opening small town specialty shops and he was
even more of a pioneer in the kind of merchandise he offered.
Most of the small shops opened with local crafts, antiques and
the rustic look that was more acceptable to the local way of
thinking. Raintree, on the other hand, started out offering
polished, more expensive quality merchandise, the kind of
glittery objects one often sees in Yorkville's chique Boutiques in
Toronto. Back in 1974 he was still not sure how well that kind of
thing would be accepted. "The more I look at it, the more I look
at this as a long term sort of thing if you're going to make it
work," he said then. "Even though people read the London Free
Press every day they just aren't exposed to the kind of
merchandise we sell and you have to make your clientele aware
of buying qualtiy. You have to find people who are willing to pay
more for quality goods."
But even then he foresaw a change coming with farm homes
having all the modern conveniences, he foresaw the day when
18, VILLAGE SQUIRE/DECEMBER 1977.
farm wives would want nice things to decorate their homes too.
That vision was good. It has enabled him to increase his
business at a steady rate until today he has his new shop and can
afford to spend full-time on his business. In those early days he
had to work nights to get enough money to pay the rent and the
gas bill, let alone eat.
Not everyone, of course, has been delighted. People have said
to him "don't change, just stay small like you are." That's fine.
for them, he says with a laugh, ;ut the one who has to pay
the bills and his tiny shop didn't ma,.e that an easy proposition.
There was only so much room to display things and he jokes,
there was a flow pattern that meant people had to go round and
round until they ended up naturally at the sales desk.
Still he says, looking back it was remarkable how much
business was done for the amount of space available.
The store also provided the kind of image that has stuck with
Raintree. Tim lavished all his attention on it, frequently
redecorating the store, trying out new ideas, new decors. People
got in the habit of stopping to look at his elegant window displays
when they were out for walks. The store also got a reputation for
being expensive, one that both hurt and helped. The price tag on
many of the items gave them a prestige that made giving a gift
with the Raintree box something special, but at the same time it
scared people off, Tim says, when there are items in the store
that are not that expensive, expecially when comparing quality
with other similar items.
Recalling the first days of the old store Tim recalls how empty
it really was. He just didn't have the money to put in a big stock.
Then the stock grew until there seemed little room to move in the
tiny shop and so the new shop must have seemed huge at first.
But, he says, it's amazing how fast it began shrinking as he set