Parker: Brian Sidorsky's enterprising success inspired early by Junior Achievement
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Do the math and it means he's been running his own business since he was 20 years old, yet he was working way before then.
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A Calgarian through and through, Sidorsky's grandfather left Lithuania to sail to Canada from Liverpool on the same day the Titanic left on her ill-fated voyage across the Atlantic.
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That meant Sidorsky had five exciting years in the Junior Achievement (JA) program that he says changed the course of his life.
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Sidorsky said he loved being involved in creating a business in each 16-week program, along with 15 or 20 other kids. He was named president of the JA company that had to come up with an idea, raise capital, manufacture a product, and market it.
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One was a clip for an ironing board cord that was sold door-to-door and at the Woodward's Trade Fair.
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At the time, furniture was his passion and using all of the skills he acquired with JA, Sidorsky opened his own 2,000-square-foot store in 1965 on 16 th Avenue N.W. across from Balmoral High School.
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Within three years he had outgrown the space and was lucky enough to be able to purchase a store on the corner of Centre Street and 16 th Avenue from a gentleman who was about to retire.
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With no capital, but credit from his good suppliers, Sidorsky loved selling and soon trained another 25 people who were eager to welcome a huge volume of customers attracted by his heavy volume of advertising.
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