Sharing Their Story
Three Generations of Women Built a Thriving Business & a Mindful Legacy.
Even for a relentlessly positive person like Jo-Ann Fisher it was a daring move – opening a women’s clothing store with no formal business education after spending most of her adult life as a full-time mom to three daughters. Ask her why she did it, and the answer comes from the heart:
“It was just that I love fashion; let’s just open a store.”
It was 1985. Jo-Ann had sold Mary Kay cosmetics and was inspired by the story of the founder who built a business from nothing. She attended Mary Kay company conferences, where she learned essential lessons about customer care.
With little money and just an idea about how to streamline dressing for busy women, she partnered with friend Pat Cooper and took the leap. Forty years later her store, Hangar9, is thriving as a fixture in downtown London, Ontario, with a sister store in Toronto, along with an online version.
As with any small business, there were complications in the early days. Her friend Pat had to pull out after a couple of years. Then came big life changes.
“Three years after starting my business, I was surprised to find out I was expecting,” said Jo-Ann, speaking in the back room of her bustling Toronto store in the heart of the financial district. It had been 14 years since the arrival of her previous child.
“This was a surprise,” she said, gesturing toward her daughter Rachael Doak, who was busily serving a customer in the store.
A couple of years after Rachael’s birth, Jo-Ann split up with her husband, meaning she was now not only a small-business person, but a single mother caring for a little one.
She recalled with a laugh how toddler Rachael knocked over the Christmas tree, a misadventure that coincided with the busiest time of the year for retailers. “I looked at it and thought, ‘Oh, I can’t cope with this right now. Not gonna happen.’ I think the tree lay there for three days. It was just like, now is not the time to deal with it; don’t stress yourself.”
Eldest daughter Denise MacDonald nodded as she listened to the story, observing that the incident speaks to her mom’s attitude toward dealing with life’s challenges.
“If there’s anything bad, she’s always able to turn it around and tell me what I should be looking forward to versus what I should be dreading,” said Denise, the CFO of the family enterprise. She begins every day with a call to her mother.
Her perspective is her best mentorship to me. Her positive mindset on life has helped me as a person.
Denise had not planned to work with her mother. She got an MBA and spent several years in the Bay Street corporate world before Jo-Ann asked her to jump aboard for some short-term help with the management.
It meant a substantial pay cut, but with three small children at home and the opportunity for a shorter work week, Denise agreed. It was supposed to be for a few months. That was more than 20 years ago.
“I didn’t think I was going to work with Mom, but I sort of feel that I work with her because it was God’s way of making me more positive,” said Denise.
“I mean, it’s a crazy business from a financial metrics standpoint. However, I have an opportunity to work with my family. I speak to all of them every day, and we’re building something here, and we’re very proud.”
Having finished with her client, Rachael joined the conversation. She came into the business right out of college and has the title Chief Operations Officer, Lead Stylist, and Buyer.
“I feel like one of the greatest gifts Mom has given me is this idea that there’s no point in getting worked up and upset and unwell over something that is outside of your control. You just have to roll with the punches,” she said, noting that she is also raising three children under ten.
“It’s not easy, but what’s important is that everybody’s healthy, happy, alive, and well. You know, we aren’t performing brain surgery!” said Rachael.
The second-oldest daughter, Lisa Fisher-Ferguson, has been part of the business from the beginning and now oversees the London store, assisted by her daughter Emily, currently on maternity leave after recently given birth to Jo-Ann’s first great-grandchild, a boy named George. (The fourth daughter, Jodi, is not directly part of the Hangar9 team, but is peripherally involved as a wholesaler.)
THERE ARE INEVITABLE CHALLENGES IN BEING BOTH BUSINESS PARTNERS AND CLOSE FAMILY MEMBERS. LISA SAID THAT THEY HAVE ARGUMENTS ALL THE TIME BUT HAVE DEVELOPED EFFECTIVE COPING MECHANISMS.
“We’re very vocal people. We don’t hold things in. We also have the ability to have stern meetings where not everybody agrees but can go for dinner afterwards. It’s a talent I’m sure Mom ingrained in us,” she said in a phone interview from the London store.
“When we started the business together, we said the moment we can’t spend Christmas together the business will be dissolved. Family first.”
Not only do they remain partners, but the Fishers recently took a memorable, multigeneration trip to Greece together.
From the outset, Jo-Ann’s business plan was to provide an individualized service for busy professionals who might have limited time for shopping. The Hangar9 name refers to the concept of a “capsule wardrobe,” a formula in which nine carefully chosen clothing items can be combined to create 36 different looks.
“We really like to cater to a woman who loves the clothes, loves the idea of looking well and feeling confident, but who is busy and doesn’t necessarily have much time – a woman who is looking for that kind of personalized individual service,” said Jo-Ann.
INVOLVEMENT IN THE MISSION OF WOMEN’S BRAIN HEALTH INITIATIVE (WBHI) WAS A NATURAL OUTGROWTH FOR A STORE THAT CATERS TO WOMEN.
The formula has been a smashing success, with a high retention rate of clients who have been coming back for decades. As they talk about clothes, they also discuss health – stress, menopause, and, yes, dementia. They are hungry for the kind of brain health information and advice disseminated by WBHI and Mind Over Matter®, Jo-Ann said.
“I mean, I’m so involved with women and all their problems, and then all of a sudden, these people are talking about all the problems women have, which is really important. Women want it.”
Long before she learned anything about brain health, Jo-Ann instinctively adopted a lifestyle geared toward cognitive vitality. She has always exercised and been socially active. Even though she has now handed over control of the business to her daughters and is well past so-called retirement age, she is in the store most days.
She is part of a book club and a dinner club that sees her regularly meeting friends at restaurants around London. It is a model that her daughters all follow, while she in turn learns lessons from them.
“Now I’m into smoothies and protein shakes because I have a millennial daughter!”
Hangar9 has sponsored a fashion show and luncheon for WBHI, with hopes to do much more. Becoming active in the cause of brain health has a personal resonance for Jo-Ann. Pat Cooper, her friend with whom she launched her business, is now coping with dementia.
“It’s really heartbreaking. I think about her all the time,” she said.
“That’s why it’s so important for us to know about all the things that can help us.”
Source: Mind Over Matter V20