Don Morin: Retail is a second wind

Sometimes it can be tougher working for yourself than for somebody else. Don Morin owns Winchester Liquors, located in the Crown Town Plaza in the Mason Square section of Springfield. It is not only a second for career for him, but a career he never would have anticipated almost ten years ago, when he was a front office marketer for one of the area's major manufacturers. "I was in manufacturing for 29 years," Morin said. "I started out on the floor as a factory person and worked my way up into management. When I left the company, I was responsible for marketing specialty products." Then the market changed. Survivng downsizing "Like all big companies, they hit a slump and downsized, and in 1999 my job went out the door, " he said. But Morin's fall was cushioned. "I had a severance package and the company had profit sharing," he said. "So, just to have something to do and make a couple of bucks, I started working part-time at a package store in East Springfield. That ownership co-owned [Winchester Liquors] and after six month they offered me the position of night manager here." A year and a half later, the managing partner wanted out and the business was up for sale. From employee to part-owner "I couldn't buy out the business, but I could buy out [the managing partner]," Morin said. "I had invested my profit sharing and used that to buy into this business." Morin had not worked in retail since he was in high school and moving from manufacturing into retail ownership was an "eye opener" he recalled. It was a transition moving from a front office to managing a retail setting with six employees. He found dealing with the public to be totally different, compared to dealing with a voice on the telephone, but he had help. "The former owner helped me a lot during the transition," he said. "And my other partner had done this before and he helped me out. And the salesmen for the distributors also helped a lot as I went along." When you're the boss . The store is open seven days a week, and Morin is there seven days a week. "Six days a week I work from 8:00 in the morning to 4:30 or 5:30 in the afternoon," Morin said. "Sundays I only work three or four hours. It's a lot of hours, but it's worth it because it's your own business." With almost a decade under his belt, Morin reflected on being the owner of his own small business. "Sometimes it can be tougher working for yourself than for somebody else," he said. "You're harder on yourself. If you're working in a factory, you're working eight-to-five. When you work for yourself and five o'clock comes, you look around and there are people waiting, you stay," "There may be jobs that haven't been done, you stay and do them," he continued. "That's the only way to succeed." Morin does all the hiring of employees and all his own bookkeeping, although he does have an accountant who does his taxes. Planning for the future Morin has no plans to expand because of the nature of the location, and moving is not realistic. This location has been grandfathered in regarding the zoning laws and its proximity to schools and churches. But he is planning for business succession. "My hope is that in another seven or eight years, my son, Mark, who currently works at the store part-time, will eventually take over the store. And we are working towards that," he said. When asked if he would go back to a manufacturing job if he could, Morin responded, "Probably not. Even though it would be tempting, once you get working for yourself, it's not the same as when you own your own business."