Facing racism, Louie family built business through hard work

In the Burnaby headquarters of H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, hanging in a corridor used by employees, are three hand-written letters in Chinese, an English translation and photos of the Louie family.

“You have to read the letters to understand where this all began,” said Brandt Louie, chair and CEO of H.Y. Louie and its subsidiary London Drugs Limited, and the third-generation helmsman of the 121-year-old family business.

The letters were written by Louie’s grandfather Hok Yat Louie to his son in 1934 in the last year of Hok Yat’s life—when he returned to his hometown in southern China after being away for 40 years. The letters outlined his personal philosophy and the principles he followed as a merchant.

“The core values and traditions that our family have maintained all revolve around the fact that my grandfather, his children and his grandchildren to some extent believe in the mandate, that you have to be just, you have to be compassionate, you have to do what is the right thing to do, and with that comes success,” said Brandt.

Guided by what he says is the “mandate of heaven,” the Louie family business has grown from a small single general store in Vancouver Chinatown into the third-largest private firm in B.C. with an estimated US$4.2 billion in annual revenue. Louie has an estimated net wealth of US$1.4 billion, according to Forbes.

H.Y. Louie employs more than 8,000 employees across its 81 London Drugs stores in Western Canada and through Georgia Main Food Group Limited, which operates 22 IGA stores, seven Fresh St. Market stores and a new Asian grocery store in B.C. called Meiga Supermarket.

The family’s significant influence has gone beyond business. Their continued commitment to philanthropic work and advocacy on diversity and anti-racism has made them one of the most respected and recognizable families in Canada.

Brandt was made a member of the Order of British Columbia in 2009, was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame three years later and is a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal of Queen Elizabeth II.

“I don’t think anybody ever thought that in 100 years we would have made it,” Brandt said with a smile.

Building a business empire in a new country

If opening and running a business was difficult, it was especially hard for those who came to Canada facing racism, with limited opportunities to pursue education and without being recognized as citizens of the country.

Brandt said one of the biggest lessons his family has taught him is that there will always be people who are racist but to not let racism define him and stop him from being successful.

“My father used to have a saying, ‘I may forgive you, but I don’t forget,’ and he doesn’t let the past influence his ability to move forward. That’s one of the great beliefs that we have is you fund the future, and you don’t allow anything to stand in your way,” recalled Brandt.

This mindset was with Hok Yat when he landed in Vancouver in 1900 to look for ways to make a living and support his family at home, like many other Chinese people did at the time.

After working as a farmer, Hok Yat, who “was born carrying the entrepreneurial gene,” started a vegetable business. He then taught himself English and opened a wholesale and retail business in 1903 selling grocery and farm supplies. This was the predecessor of H.Y. Louie, according to the biography of Brandt’s father Tong Louie, The Story of Tong Louie, Vancouver’s Quiet Titan.

As a Chinese person, Hot Yak was placed behind his competitors on wholesalers’ priority lists, and no banks were willing to grant him loans or extend him credit. Often, he was required to pay wholesalers in advance. At the same time, many farmer customers couldn’t pay him until after their harvests, which left Hot Yak juggling his finances.

“We are thankful that he was entrepreneurial enough that he didn’t want to continue to have to work for other people, that he was willing to come and try on his own not really knowing whether he was going to succeed,” said Brandt.

The business grew amid challenges. After Tong assumed control of the company, he focused on high-speed growth, expanding into the retail territory and gaining a greater foothold in the mainstream market.

In 1955, an opportunity arose to be the franchiser for the U.S.-based supermarket chain Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) in B.C. and H.Y Louie took it. In 1968, the company acquired Dominion Stores’ nine supermarkets as it pulled out of the province.

Later, Tong made one of his most important business decisions: Venturing into the pharmacy business with the acquisition of London Drugs in 1976.

Brandt, who became the company’s president in 1987, further expanded the chain and grew it into one of the largest businesses in the province. He also ventured into the charter airline business with London Air Services in 1999 and bought Sonora Resort on B.C.’s Sonora Island in 2002.

“This was not an easy time, but nevertheless, the Louie family demonstrated that intergenerational resilience to continue and ultimately succeed, and contribute to society and community,” said Grace Wong, board chair of the Chinese Canadian Museum. “I think people gain a lot by learning about those stories.”

Now under the leadership of the family’s fourth generation, with Gregory Louie and Stuart Louie overseeing day-to-day operations, the company continues to expand retail, and has opened the Fresh Street Supermarket chain—which specializes in quality, locally sourced goods—and its first Asian grocery store.

“It’s hard to say how [to be successful] because you’re just busy trying to make ends meet and keep everything afloat, and you do things that you think are necessary to keep you afloat,” said Brandt.

“It may be that not everything we do in life will be successful but if you’re not willing to take certain risks, you’re never going to know how good you are.”

Practising a mandate in the modern era

“Young people should always be earnest in your work. Treat your customers with trust and loyalty.… When pursuing prosperity you mush follow the laws of heaven. Don’t be afraid to be kind and charitable. Ill deeds should be avoided,” wrote Hok Yat in one of his letters to his son.

Brandt said the “mandate of heaven” has been critical in guiding the company’s decisions and operations.

“We try and play the game fairly, we try and treat people in a way that we would want to be treated, we have certain moral and ethical standards that we believe and follow, and we believe that there should be a reasonably level playing field to compete with,” said Brandt.

“Of course, having the mandate doesn’t always guarantee your success, but what it does do is it gives you a basis from which to move forward on. And it also requires a good deal of hard work on your part and you have to continually educate and improve yourself.”

He admitted that it is not always easy to stick to these principles in the challenging, changing and competitive world of business. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted operations, and the current business environment remains very tough, he added.

“But we have not had the situation where we decided we were going to lay off hundreds of people because business has been a little slow. We have been willing to bite the bullet, and try and make do to keep people around,” said Brandt.

“Yes it’s going to be a little bit tougher, but in the process, we also gain the loyalty of people who work for us because to be successful in business, it’s not just going out and hiring a body, you need a body that knows what they’re doing, who’s smart and who’s been willing to work hard for you.”

This work ethic may have “impeded” the company’s ability to be successful faster, said Brandt, but it has over the long-term established London Drugs and H.Y. Louie as trustworthy companies with strong reputations.

“I worked in eight provinces [including those where] London Drugs doesn’t have a presence, but from my personal experience, everyone would say, ‘London Drugs, what a great company and they do good business in the community,’” said Martin Thibodeau, B.C. regional president of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). The Louie family has served on RBC’s board of directors for decades beginning in 1979.

Tong and Brandt also carried on Hok Yat’s principle to “not be afraid of being kind and charitable.” In addition to various in-store charitable initiatives, the Tong and Geraldine Louie Family Foundation and London Drugs Foundation donate millions of dollars to 50 to 75 charities every year, and focus on education, health care and arts.

When asked what advice he has for other businesspeople, Brandt, 80, said he believed it’s important to practice authentic leadership and diverse thinking, and to be willing to take risks and speak up.

“Authentic leadership is something that’s practised by individuals, not just when people are looking at you where the spotlight is on you. You’re doing it quietly even when nobody’s looking; you’re not trying to impress anybody,” he said.

“And you have to open up the breadth of your scope of thinking and take in a lot of diverse thinking, even if you don’t necessarily agree with it. You still have to make your own decision, but you at least have all of the data, even things that you don’t necessarily believe.”

At the end of the day, be an “informed optimist,” he said—hope for the best, and that one has the knowledge to make the best a reality.

Embracing Canadian values and respecting Chinese roots

Many immigrants to Canada embraced Canadian culture, or sought out their own culture in new communities. The Louie family did both.

When Tong and his wife Geraldine married in 1941, they bought a house in Kerrisdale and sent their children to the local school. They were one of the first Chinese families to move out of Chinatown and were not welcomed by everyone in their new neighbourhood, as Brandt recalled.

“You have to make a start somewhere, you have to be willing to assimilate and show these people that you’re as good as they are,” he said. “[My parents] said the way to get forward, to be better, is to show that we belong and be part of the community. Our ancestry is Chinese, but we are Canadians.”

Brandt and his family never shied away from their Chinese heritage. He wears Chinese traditional robes to attend important occasions, learns about Chinese history and literature, and let his sons learn Chinese and study in Asia. A regret Brandt said he has is not living in China for a while when he was young, something that was prevented by the Second World War and the ensuing political environment in China.

The Louie family has also been very vocal about anti-racism and promoting diversity. Brandt was elected to RBC’s board in 2001 and two years later, the bank introduced its five core values, one of which was “diversity”—something that was rarely talked about in business back then.

“I’m pretty sure he had an impact on it.… We’re very grateful for his contribution, not just for that he is an astute businessman, but also the diversity aspect of his culture, his community,” said Thibodeau.

Thibodeau described Brandt as “a reserved person but he is not shy.”

“He is one of the most thoughtful persons; when he speaks, it’s always very profound and inspirational in his approach to what he thinks about the business or the community.… You can rest assured he did ask those tough questions,” he said.

When anti-Asian sentiment rose during the pandemic, Brandt took it upon himself to condemn the issue at several influential forums and in articles. More recently, he spoke at the national remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Ottawa, and has written about or voiced support for the Chinese Canadian Museum and Chinatown Storytelling Centre.

“The great success that they’ve had, they carry also this sense of responsibility,” said Wong. “That was a very clear example of how they use their position for that greater social good.”

Brandt said he believes “silence is not action.” When people hear and see things that are not right, they must be willing to stand and speak up. That is part of the family’s belief to fund the future through education.

“[Racism] only goes away because people are more educated.… Once you learn the differences and learn that being diversified and being different is not exactly a foible; it’s something good, it gives you that greater breadth of understanding.”

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This article is part of a BIV series that profiles some of B.C.’s biggest multi-generational family business empires. The first profiles: Aquilinis, Gaglardis, Bosas, Segals, Beedies and Domans.