Joachim Stroink (BA'99)

Community Trail Blazing

Joachim Stronk keeps sustainability front and centre in his business decisions as he operates The Trail Shop, an outdoor goods retailer.

Invest in your community or invest in business? If you choose community, it may be the best business investment you ever make.

“If every business took their advertising budget and put that advertising budget in the community, we create a better community to live in,” said Trail Shop owner Joachim Stroink (BA ‘99).

“Yes, you work twice as hard because you’re not depending on a billboard, you’re depending on physically being out there . . . but the reward and returns are greater than any ad you could ever do.”

Stroink, owner of the outdoor goods retailer in Halifax for the past six years, ranks his business third on his list of priorities. Number one is family and number two is community.

He said the store’s connection to community and environment sustainability is its most powerful form of branding in the marketplace – certainly more powerful newspapers or billboards. Powerful because it appeals to a society that is increasingly conscious of what they buy, where they buy and who they buy from.

Stroink’s business philosophy is simple. “I have to nurture and respect my community, and my community will nurture and respect me.”

The philosophy seems to be working.

Last year The Trail Shop, which employs 23 people, had its best year ever, increasing revenues by 18 per cent. This year it opened a new store in Wolfville as well as one online.

Recent examples of the store’s community and environmental outreach include organizing The Great Canadian Backyard Campout on Citadel Hill in Halifax and a running race called “Not Since Moses” across the Bay of Fundy at low tide. By encouraging people to run on the mud flats or camp in their backyards, Stroink said they learn to appreciate our environment.

“Everybody’s talking about green – green power, green this, green that – well, if people don’t understand what we have to lose, then they’re not going to be green,” he said.

Day to day, the Trail Shop makes sure it does its part by recycling, being as paperless as possible, offering Canadian-made products, and taking the time to find items – even from lesser-known brands – made with environmentally sustainable materials such as organically grown cotton or merino wool.

“It’s not just about helping my business,” said Stroink, “it’s about helping our country and our community.”

And if any member of the staff wants to undertake community or environmental initiatives of their own, Stroink said the store is behind them 100 per cent.

When a staff member, for example, recently wanted to help an orphanage in Kenya, the store contacted suppliers, asked if they had any seconds or surplus goods, and arranged for the items to be sent to the orphanage.

 “We’ll help any of our staff. If they are going to better their community, we’ll help them do it,” said Stroink.

Stroink is the past president of the Learning Disabilities Association of Nova Scotia, serves and the board of directors of The Dandelion Community Investment Cooperative Limited (backing loans for young entrepreneurs) and is a founding partner of Camp Brigadoon (a camp for sick kids), to name just a few of his interests.

After graduating from Saint Mary’s in 2000, Stroink planned to be a mountain guide, but later decided he wanted to do more with his life.

“I remember sitting up there above the clouds looking at a little Cessna flying below me, and I said, ‘You know what? This isn’t the life for me … I need to do more than this.”

He hopes other business people will realize the same thing.