A new feature to uncluttered white spaces is the new profiles section where we profile prominent, influential market leaders in brand, design, creative, retail and strategy. Due to the continued influx of readers, we thought it only fitting to write about the inspirational people behind the brands. We start off with entrepreneur and CEO of Shades Dennis Karis.
Name: Dennis Karis
Brand: Shades (11 retail outlets in SA, Vic, QLD)
Meet Dennis Karis. A confident, successful and incredibly passionate entrepreneur from Adelaide. I first met Dennis in 2005. Working with him as a part of the Luxittica group. Me as Lux and Dennis as Shades. What I found was a hard to crack, passionate and incredibly successful business man who had created a brand, from scracth that has yet to be matched in Australia.
The Shades brand was created by Dennis back in late 1984 with his wife and the business today employs over 40 Australians throughout South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Dennis Karis is a genuine Retailer more so than a business man. He knows however that the 2 go hand in hand and what is evident is his passion in what he sells and more importantly how they sell. “Our offering and service is a big element to our business”.
Dennis has a background in Art and Design but never completed Art School, in his words “I found it all a bit of a wank”. However the clean lines and innovative designs of the Shades stores reflect his earlier years background in design. At 19 he worked as a salesperson selling European wines direct to the consumer “which taught me how to sell the hard way, direct to the consumer on commission”! He worked the shows such as the Royal Easter Show around Australia and learnt quickly that a “good location and traffic flow was extremely important” to a successful retail business. Dennis is passionate. He often reminds me of the need to be passionate to be successful and most importantly, to get pleasure and enjoyment out of it. He challenges himself to improve and heading back to the wine role at 19, it wasn’t long before he became the best sales person in the Company. That standard still exists and he raises the bar daily to ensure they are the best in the eyes of the consumer and the media.
Here is the story of how Shades came to be in Dennis’s own words. “I came across a sunglass kiosk in Sydney and bought 2 pairs of Sunglasses for myself. My wife loved them. I have always had a thing for sunglasses. In October 1984 we opened our first sunglass store in Adelaide. Shades opened a week before Xmas and it just pumped from day one and that was almost 25 years ago. But we only bought what we liked and to the market we targeted”!
Back then you could do a cheap creative Fitout and get away with it [$we only had $3,500]!
Fast forward to now we are still very Passionate in what we do. We still choose all the stock ourselves and I work very closely on store designs and layouts with our Designer. We predominantly work on themes to give the stores that something extra for the consumer and ourselves. Retail is like theatre, the consumers need to connect with the environment. Shades is all about a shopping experience that is visual in all aspect from product to store design to the music we play. Naturally great product and service goes without saying it’s what gives you the edge over your competitors. For us it’s all about making it a great shop with great product which brings in the success and longevity. It is also very important to continually reassess and reinvent the business and ensuring the relevance to an ever changing market. That’s what good retailing is all about, knowing your customers and what they want combined with strong presentation.
At present we have ten stores, six in Adelaide including one Optical [Opt Shop], an accessory Shop [Atomic], two in Chadstone Vic and two in Queensland Brisbane City and Noosa. To maintain our quality and improve our business we are in the process of consolidating and even downsizing ensuring quality stores not quantity. For example later in the year we will be combining both stores at Chadstone into one large store unlike any other Eyewear store in Australia including Optical. We do like to challenge ourselves
I see myself as a quiet achiever with a very hands on approach to business. Most importantly I like my stores and Shades to have a wow factor to it. I try to see my stores through the consumers eye and keep tweaking it to suit. I work closely with my staff and business teams.
Dennis is married with 2 children, (son just turned 21 and daughter 15) “Both my children have their own passions and I don’t see them following in our footsteps….I think that is very important in their own development”
Notable high: The early retail years were amazing. Especially the late 80’ and 90’s because you learnt so much. Naturally the birth of our children!
Notable low: There are no notable lows. I take things and deal with them as they come. I don’t like dwelling on the past, especially lows. In Retail however the individuality has gone with large multinationals taking over. Making it tough for the small retailers to survive.
Do they both relate: Of course you learn from your mistakes and you can’t be successful in life unless you do experience some failures. It is all about learning how to survive.
My Quote: Be passionate in what you do and do it better than anyone else. Success is not always measured in money.
My Mission: To be the best in our Industry and have better cash flow!
I am Proudest of: When people compliment me on our stores for the products we carry and the service we offer. It is very self rewarding.
Tomorrow I will: Back at work looking at product for the coming season and working on my business to make it better
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