From Susan Ward,
Your Guide to Small Business: Canada.
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This month's featured small business success story is Take-A-Boo Emporium, an eclectic antique store in Toronto, Ontario, owned and operated by Martin and Andrea Swinton, a husband and wife team.

Martin and Andrea have successfully operated their antique store for four and a half years now, and are justly proud that they're not only still in business, but growing. As Andrea says, "Retail is a tough business. Several retailers have come and gone in our neighbourhood within the time that we've been open".

One of the reasons for the success of Take-A-Boo Emporium is Martin and Andrea's solid partnership. As anyone who's ever been a part of one knows, a partnership is one of the most difficult business relationships to maintain. Andrea and Martin's partnership is so successful because their expertise complements each other perfectly.

"Martin and I have different strengths and we take advantage of it," Andrea says. "Martin is the sales person, the antiques expert, and the 'guy up front'. I'm the business side of it. He sticks to what he does best and so do I."

A life-long lover of antiques, Martin has traveled extensively through Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Archeology and Anthropology (specializing in Chinese art and pre-Columbian art). His personal areas of collection include Asian art, European furniture, and the Arts & Crafts movement. He collects old phonographs and replicas of antique cars. Before opening Take-A-Boo Emporium, Martin worked as an antiques appraiser at an auction house.

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University. She brings experience in marketing, communications, and public relations to the company.

As fits their backgrounds, each partner has clearly defined responsibilities and spheres of action. Martin is responsible for the day-to-day operations, such as buying inventory, doing furniture restoration (a skill he learned as a teenager!), and selling. Andrea is responsible for the business management aspects of both Takeaboo.com and Take-A-Boo Emporium, and handles the marketing, publicity, Web site, and finances.

While things are going well now, Take-A-Boo Emporium, like any small business, had to get through the start up phase first. Continue on to the next page to learn what the most difficult part of starting their antiques store was and how Andrea and Martin overcame that difficulty...