Ken Pack has a passion for breaking new ground.
From his early years at the head offices of Giant Tiger to owning and operating his own franchise, Pack has had to venture out into the unknown on many occasions and create order out of the surrounding chaos.
He was recognized for his dedication at the Pontiac Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Business Awards Gala in February, where he was named Business Person of the Year, after 21 years at the helm of the Shawville franchise.
While Pack’s business prowess may have been demonstrated by his decades in local retail, it was honed during his time at Giant Tiger’s corporate office in Ottawa, where he worked for over 15 years as a senior buyer for the company.
He explained that he had started out working for various grocery chains while he was in school and after he graduated, developing an understanding of the business from several perspectives. The experience proved to be invaluable since, at the time, Giant Tiger had yet to branch out into grocery sales.

Pack was eventually tasked with building the entire grocery division from the ground up, a job he took to with gusto.
As he sat in his back office last week, reminiscing about the early parts of his career, Pack talked about supply chains and profit margins like some people talk baseball or hockey stats.
Compared to the typical products offered by Giant Tiger’s other departments, grocery items are a nightmare, he explained. In addition to being perishable and possibly fragile, the products tend to have smaller profit margins. He recalled one situation from his time in corporate where they had a shipment of tuna stopped by Canadian border officials because of the mercury content.
“We have very strict regulations around fish,” he said, adding that a sale on the tuna was already being promoted in stores.
“What do you do?” he asked with a laugh.
As it turns out, Pack said the tuna was sold off to the U.S. Army, who seem to have more lax rules when it comes to seafood.
Giant Tiger also has an incredibly limited amount of shelf space compared to typical grocery stores, so products and brands must be selected with care.
The Shawville location is one of only a few pilot stores in the country currently offering fresh meat, a change that Pack has pushed for some time.
He explained that where a full-size grocery stores might stock four different brands, Giant Tiger will stock one, or less varieties of each.
“What we’re looking for is the best deal for customers,” he said.
In 1997, he decided to strike out on his own and opened the orignal store in Shawville, on the corner of Hwy. 148 and Sand Bay Road. The modern building where the store currently sits was opened in 2013.
In the Oct. 1, 1997 edition of The Equity, Pack is quoted as saying there were “a few sleepless nights” prior to the original opening. He explained that it was a huge learning curve moving to his own store and training his own staff.
One of the memories from those early days that stands out for Pack was the ice storm of 1998.
“We had a rookie staff, rookie everything and we’re trying to figure out what to do,” he said with a chuckle.
These days, Pack said he’s got a competent team that makes running the store much less stressful. Though the store is due for an expansion in the next few years, Pack said he is looking to step back from the reigns before that happens.
Despite all his accomplishments over the years, Pack said that the recognition from the local business community was incredibly powerful. He said that he returned to the Pontiac to give back to the region and his success wouldn’t be possible without his staff and customers.
“Out of all the awards, this one probably means the most,” he said.
In business, as well as many of life’s other pursuits, success comes from striding boldly into the unknown and prevailing through wits and determination.
While Pack might not be breaking ground for a bigger store in the near future, it’s because he’s already broken his fair share and is letting someone else take a turn with the shovel.