A business that’s lasted 100 years and still going strong
Mikhial Mansour thinks he knows what would most surprise his ancestor Mike Mansour if he was able to see today the business he founded 100 years ago.
“Maybe that he couldn’t smoke inside. He was a big smoker, always with a cigar in his hand,” said Mikhial, the current president of Mansour’s Men’s Wear in Amherst. “The number of products, too, and the different items of clothing, I think he would be shocked by that.”
Mike Mansour was a Lebanese-born immigrant who worked as a peddler, carrying a pack on his back before graduating to a horse and buggy that traveled Cumberland County and parts of New Brunswick. He opened his clothing and dry goods store in 1924, and that store’s old-growth maple floors are still in place.
Mikhial’s father Robert was just 13 years old when he joined his uncle and father in the family business. That was 54 years ago, and Robert is still there. Mikhial, though, took a different path, earning
an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University, one of Canada’s top business schools.
“My dad and I have different types of personalities; I would say I’m generally more aggressive and he’s more passive, so we sort of balance each other out nicely,” he said.
Mikhial’s expertise led to the installation of a computerized inventory system, and a website that made online sales easy enough that Mansour’s went through pandemic lockdowns with no staff layoffs.
“I was drawn to the store from a young age, but I wanted to gain experience and I enjoyed studying, liked school when I was in university. Business is my passion,” Mikhial said. “Business is very competitive no matter what industry you’re in, really. I think my education helps me a lot and will continue to help me in whatever I choose to do.”
“(At Ivey), I learned lot about decision making, and not spending too long on small decisions. They said a bad decision is better than no decision, so I found that to be interesting and I think I definitely learned a lot about teamwork and you learn a lot about yourself. You see what other people are like compared to you.”
Robert and Mikhial both have the slender frame that clothes hang nicely on, and Mikhial likes to remember the day his dad was recognized in a New Brunswick restaurant because of his starring role in a social media series produced in-store called What’s Robert having for Lunch?
As a fourth-generation haberdasher, there’s an expectation that you’ll show up to work looking good. Mikhial’s current favourite wardrobe piece is a black pin-striped suit he started wearing last year.
“Generally, my favourite piece will be a new piece of clothing, not something I’ve had for a while. Sometimes I’ll get attached to something, I’ve got a suede coat in a camel colour I really like, nice and all broken in,” he said, admitting there’s a photo of him in a white dress shirt with a “crazy print” that he hates. “You sort of have to go with the trends of the time, and accept the pictures later. You can kind of help yourself by dressing trendy, but not over the top trendy.”
Mikhial said he’s grateful to all their customers, even those just buying underwear, one reason he’s springing for a horse and buggy to mark the hundredth anniversary on the 27th, to take customers for a ride and salute Mike Mansour. But his favourite customers are the ones that are as into clothes as he is.
“Some you get and it’s rapid-fire buying, almost everything you show them they’ll take, they come in and in 20 minutes they’ve spent a bunch of money, then they’ll come back a year later or six months later and do the same thing,” he said. That’s the best, that’s the most fun.”