How Vince’s Market’s Giancarlo Trimarchi Takes The Lead
'Tis the season when grocers roll out festive décor and foods. But Vince’s Market, an independent grocer north of Toronto with stores in Sharon, Newmarket, Uxbridge and Tottenham, has also been helping customers get into the holiday spirit with various workshops, including on DIY watercolour greeting cards, centrepieces and cookie decorating.
But recent get-togethers haven’t all been about holiday prep. In late November, Swifties came together for a Vince’s Market-hosted “Eras Party” in celebration of Taylor Swift’s Toronto concert stop. The party included bracelet making and trading, a sing-along to Swift’s chart-toppers and freshly made pizza to enjoy.
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Vince’s Market has been bringing customers together at its stores for years now. At its flagship supermarket in Sharon, Ont., the newly designed community room can also be rented out for up to 35 guests. It is an important part of the grocer’s business, as fostering and cultivating community connection is what gives Vince’s Market relevance and purpose, says Giancarlo Trimarchi, the retailer’s president since 2020. He runs the business with his father Carmen, who bought Vince’s in 1986, turning what was then a single roadside open-air fruit and vegetable stand into four thriving stores today.
A former chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, Trimarchi was recently honoured with CFIG’s 2024 Life Member Award in the independent grocery category.
A thoughtful leader, Trimarchi only moves forward on decisions he’s researched and concluded to be in the best interest of both the business and customers. For instance, years after many retailers did, Vince’s Market will introduce its first loyalty program in April 2025 following a trial with the Air Miles Reward Program. Called Vince’s Advantage Rewards, it’ll be custom and offer members special pricing as opposed to being rewards or points based. (Air Miles, though, might continue to be a partner with Vince’s Market in some capacity.)
“People might say I sat on a loyalty offering for too long, but until recently, the ROI and options available to us just didn’t feel right,” he says. “I try not to lead by shooting from the hip, but with understanding of what we’re getting into and with intention.”
What he also leads with intention: Vince’s Market as both grocery store and community hub. “We’ve hosted birthday parties, a wedding and even recently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” says Trimarchi. Here, he shares how his leadership sets up others for success.
Why is hosting events—and also inviting the community to host their own events at the store—important to Vince’s Market?
It's easy as an independent to think you're being lost in the shuffle of options that a customer has to purchase their groceries. You can feel unsure of how you fit into the greater grocery industry. I spend a lot of time every year, when we’re doing our strategic planning, thinking about how to maintain and show the community the relevance of our business—it’s about showing residents we make sense in their lives. And while some of the activities we engage customers in are product or feature-focused, some of the events we host are non-revenue generating and a cost to us. But they keep us topical and top of mind with customers. It helps convey to them that we continue to be an independent family-owned business that cares about the communities we serve. We’re not just about selling more stuff.
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How do you help lead these initiatives?
We’ve built rooms within our stores that serve as a community hub. I've got an empowered events coordinator and a team of people whose job it is to activate the room. I’ve told them, “It’s your job to get as many people in the door as possible. And I don't care if you make money or not, it’s about bringing people together and providing a good experience.” They’re constantly coming up with ideas that appeal to different customer groups. I let employees do what they believe is best within the framework I’ve given them.
That framework sounds reasonably broad. Is that a conscious decision on your part?
It’s funny because I used to be the kind of leader that would over-communicate. I would think through an idea and figure out in my mind the best way to accomplish a particular goal and then hand it over to someone else with all those constraints. In recent years, however, I’ve gotten better at simplifying the ask. You can’t be a leader and not set attainable expectations and so I still do that. But on the flip side, I empower people to do the work, giving them the freedom and trust to execute how they see best. Control can be hard to relinquish as an entrepreneur, but it’s led to achievements and outcomes that we never would have realized had I directed the activity myself. Employees check in, and I coach or redirect as needed, but I don’t micro-manage. It’s about giving them ownership, a principle that aligns with other aspects of our business. For instance, employees at all four of our locations share in our profits. We’ve been profit-sharing with them for 10 years now.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at your Sharon store of the two-month holiday pause of HST/GST on select goods. Vince’s Market ended up getting some customer complaints that you hosted Trudeau and you responded with a detailed Instagram post. Can you talk a bit about how your response? It was very well-articulated.
The prime minister’s a polarizing figure for a lot of people right now and we knew that. But we only responded when people started questioning our intentions—like, we must be liberals, getting kickbacks or money for having hosted him. None of that is true. One thing about my leadership style is when I feel something needs to be addressed, I do so quickly rather than allowing it to linger and fester. And I address issues with explanation. In fact, my dad jokes that I turn what could be a one-sentence reply into four paragraphs. It’s because I believe people need context. And so, I could have responded, “We welcomed the prime minister into our store and I apologize if you didn’t like it, but this was the decision we made. Thank you.” Instead, I conveyed the business has no political leanings one way or another, and that the opportunity to have the prime minister of our country in our store, where messages can be conveyed to him face-to-face rather than to his staff, is very rare. Some people asked me, “Did you hire a PR company to write the social media post?” And I didn’t. I wrote it in my office on a Sunday morning and re-read it a few times, making sure I provided context for our customers. And the reaction I got from the post was overwhelmingly positive and the cycle of negativity quickly stopped.
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What role do you have outside of work that makes you a better leader at work?
I take a lot of pride in being a dad. I have three young daughters and am a very involved girl dad. I do the dance drop offs, watch their dance competitions and volunteer at their schools. The girls are young and I am growing with them. Being a present parent teaches you patience—and humility. I can come home from knocking a sales quarter out of the park and my five-year-old doesn’t care. She’ll let me know when she’s unhappy about something no matter what’s gone on that day. Also, parenthood is really a parable for business. A business starts young and matures and how you support it has to change over the course of its growth. Also, if you can build and nurture relationships with family, you can do the same at work, cultivating a family both at home and one at work.
What other leadership mottos do you follow?
“Never ask somebody to do a job that you wouldn’t do yourself.” I learned that by watching my dad and hearing this from him. And so, if I’m going to ask someone to sweep the floor, I better be wiling to grab the broom and dustpan myself. And you know what? In the time it takes to ask someone to do it, you could have already finished the task 99% of the time.
Canadian Grocer's How I Take The Lead series speaks to people from across the industry about how they take the lead on a specific project, initiative or aspect of their job. You’ll hear from grocery leaders about their passions, how they tackle challenges, what they’ve learned and what keeps them motivated. Have a pitch? Send it to digital editor Jillian Morgan.
