KELVIN'S PERK BRINGS U.S. FOOD & DRINK PRODUCTS TO DOWNTOWN
Owner makes frequent trips south to stock shelves with variety of in-demand goods
Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the Starphoenix talks to Kelvin Fellner, who opened Kelvin's Perk in downtown Saskatoon in February.
If you reach Fellner on the phone at any given time, he is liable to be anywhere from Saskatchewan to Montana or North Dakota, or possibly somewhere else in the northern U.S. Fellner, who makes regular semi-weekly trips to the U.S. with his Denali pickup truck and trailer, brings back American drinks and food products not available in Canada. There is usually an anxious group of people waiting at his new Saskatoon or three-year-old Watrous store, ready to pounce on his products whenever he arrives home. Show up a few hours later, and you will likely be greeted by a near empty Kelvin's Perk store.
Q How did Kelvin's Perk start? A I travelled down south to the U.S. all the time and would bring these goodies back for myself. I thought about what I could do to open up this process for others. It was a lot of paperwork, money and time to get started. You have to be inspected through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and CBSA and also the American Border Services. And you have to have proper licensing.
We started this just about three years ago in our location in Watrous. A ton of our customers were from Saskatoon. That's when we decided to come into Saskatoon. However our Watrous store is a very busy place, too, with a lot of local support. I have a bowling alley, bar and an ice cream parlour and coffee shop with our store in Watrous.
I've been a mechanic most of my life and I wanted to get out of that and I found this. I quit that and running this has been fabulous. It was time to expand once more, and that's what brought us up to the city.
Q Do you have American roots? A Customers always ask me — probably five to 10 times a day — if I'm an American. I'm not, but my grandparents were, down in Arkansas. As kids we spent a ton of time down in the southern U.S. with my grandparents. I do have American roots. That's where a lot of the American comes from on my end.
Q What types of products do you bring to Canada?
A Some of our big items are soda pop, baking goods like cake mixes, novelty treats, candy and potato chips. It's all food-related products. There are so many different products. Just how many different flavours of soda pop there is would blow your mind. Up here you've kind of got your basics. Down there you've got a little bit of everything.
It's strictly American goods. Everything that we bring is not available in Canada, but are things people really want to get their hands on. If it comes to Canada we do take it off our shelves but it's pretty rare that these products come to Canada.
Q Have you found certain U.S. items to be more popular in Canada?
A In three years of doing this, I don't think I could say what item sells faster than any other. Our turnaround rate is very strong. Everything we bring I would say is a popular item. There's nothing that I have brought that has sat on the shelf and passed an expiration date. I go through a lot of soda pop. I try to bring about 400 cases of pop between both locations.
Q What is your typical schedule like?
A I'm on the road lots. That's mostly what I'll be doing now. My staff will be running the operation and I will be on the road. I'm just coming back from my third run this week. I put a lot of miles on and a lot of hours in to make this a success. It depends where I go and what I do but a non-stop run takes me 27 hours to do a round trip. I usually do that one once a week and then on one of them I stay overnight. Today I left at 3 a.m. this morning and I won't be back till late tonight. I mostly go to North Dakota and Montana. Today I covered both states.
Q What stores do you shop at? A I do lots of Walmarts, and I've got a few wholesalers we deal with. Pretty much any store that looks kind of interesting to me I stop there, and you just don't know what you're going to find when you walk in.
Q How long do items last on your shelves?
A Every time that we open there's been at least 40 people in lineup. My Saskatoon store usually sells the majority of items out in one day. When we open our store with new products it's a mad rush. Sometimes when I have my staff working I just sit back and it damn near puts a tear in my eye thinking that all these people are here for me. It makes me really happy.
Q Where did the name Kelvin's Perk come from?
A Kelvin's Perk is a play on the sitcom Friends TV show's coffee shop Central Perk. I'm the biggest Friends fan you would ever meet. When you walk in my store it's got a bunch of Friends memorabilia all over. And with Friends, their theme song is “I'll be there for you.” And that's a theme at Kelvin's Perk, too.
Q Why do you pick up the items instead of having them shipped?
A I could get items shipped but then that case of pop is going to go up in price. By bringing products back, I'm cutting out the middle man and shipping is not cheap.
Q How can customers know when new products are available?
A Every time I return with new products I post pictures on Facebook. I do a lot of Facebook Live videos. My video last week I think had over 10,000 views.
Q Do you have Kelvin's Perk themed merchandise available?
A We've got a whole Kelvin's
Perk merchandise section. There are cups and tumblers and hats and hoodies with Kelvin's Perk on them. It's actually funny because I was in Minot in a Walmart recently and a guy I didn't know was wearing a Kelvin's Perk hat. Seeing my hat down in the U.S. was pretty cool.