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Holy Batman! Marvel At This!

Vince Joyall was nine years old when he purchased his first comic book. He still owns that publication and has collected many more since then. In fact, the Wonderland owner is the biggest comic book retailer in Canada.

“Frank Miller had taken over the Batman series and issue 405 had just come out,” Joyall recalls. “That comic is still in the same condition today as it was in 1987.”

This level of knowledge, care, passion and dedication to his industry is evident in Joyall’s success as an entrepreneur. In addition to his City Centre location, he also owns WonderHarbor Comics in Edmonton and Wonderland PG in Prince George.

Walking into Wonderland

Visitors to Wonderland will encounter a wide variety of merchandise, ranging from comic books to board and card games, as well as table top miniatures. What is noticeable is that no batteries are required for any inventory.

Joyall has moved away from the store’s previous focus on toys.

“This made more sense economically. The margins on toys decreased as the competition with big box stores increased,” explains Joyall.

Instead, Wonderland now concentrates on comic books as well as community-building games such as Magic: The Gathering, War Hammer, and Pokémon. Joyall has seen great success in carving out this niche market.

Originally from London, Ontario, Joyall began his career working at a hobby store in Montreal. There he embraced every possible training opportunity and that’s been invaluable in business. In 2006, Joyall and his family relocated to Grande Prairie. He worked in the oil patch for two years before launching his own medic company.

Although that venture prospered, Joyall jumped at the opportunity to buy into Wonderland shortly after his wife became pregnant and return to the work he most enjoyed.

Pursuing a Passion

“I’ve always dreamed of building my own store,” says Joyall.

Originally brought on board to develop the community side of games, he oversaw the renovation of the basement for customers to meet and play games. When Mastermind Toys opened in Grande Prairie, Joyall recognized the need to diversify the Wonderland experience and pitched the idea of food service within the store to the other owners.

He pursued sole ownership, confident in his ability operate an in-store eatery because of his previous restaurant experience.

Resilience Required

The road to success hasn’t always been easy.

Soon after significant investment was made in renovations, Grande Prairie was hit with a flash flood in August 2016.

“We lost everything – toys, games and comics,” Joyall laments.

The following summer, Phase 1 of the Downtown Revitalization Project began, limiting customer access to Wonderland. Continued construction over the next two years would create further challenge for businesses in the area.

“I’m really stubborn and do not give up easily,” Joyall chuckles.

Diversity Opens Doors

Joyall cites “not putting all his eggs in one basket” as being vital to success.

He also credits friendly, passionate, and knowledgeable teams at the three Wonderland locations for being instrumental in growth.

Joyall has capitalized on an e-commerce website, Instagram, and YouTube shows to diversify his brand and foster sustainability.

“We broadcast to a community of over 1,000 people. As a comic-book influencer, I’m also able to sell comics this way.”

In turn, the bricks and mortar stores also support the e-commerce side of the business.

“I remember crying as a child when my comic book store closed. The reality of this industry is that you need to diversify to survive,” he says.

Joyall recognizes Wonderland’s pathway to continued growth is setting itself apart from larger-chain retailers and traditional Ma & Pa shops.

Management training and support are top priorities. It’s also important to take care that customers encounter similar experiences at all Wonderland locations and through online service.

Expansion to Edmonton

Joyall took possession of Happy Harbor comics in Edmonton on Jan. 1, 2019 and renamed it WonderHarbour.

Just as when he assumed the Grande Prairie operation, Joyall determined an eatery would be a valuable addition, a heady step in the midst of a recession.

“The diner is seventy-five per cent complete. The location is doing well but we still have more plans,” he says.

Located at 10502-105 Ave., WonderHarbor has three times the space of the location of Happy Harbor Comics. The municipality purchased that building to accommodate future LRT plans.

Recent Recognition

 On Dec. 7, Joyall was cited by Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson as a type of Marvel superhero for swooping in and saving the struggling comic book store.

Joyall was honoured by Edmonton City Council along with Kyle Charles, an artist in residence at WonderHarbor, who illustrated the story of Dani Moonstar, a Cheyenne heroine, in Marvel’s Indigenous Voices comic.

Reflecting on his own family roots, Joyall recognizes the importance of telling Indigenous stories.

“Six months ago, Marvel announced their production of Indigenous Voices, a comic series featuring all Indigenous characters, writers, and other talent,” Joyall explains.

He contacted Marvel to advocate for an exclusive cover to be produced by Charles. Marvel agreed on the condition that Joyall order 3,000 copies of the comic to be sold exclusively in his three store.

“It was a huge financial risk,” he notes. “But we sold 2,700 copies in a week and a half. We made international news and have had orders from across Canada and around the world.”

Joyall found the recognition humbling. He was in the spotlight but the work fell on the shoulders of his team as well.

 Just the Beginning

 When Joyall bought that first comic book, he had no way of knowing he’d own a chain of stores one day. E-commerce was yet to be emerge.

But now that he has three, he’s targeting 100.

And while many companies are focused on selling toys with the latest gadgetry, Joyall is proud he’s found a niche with consumers and communities yearning for analog products featuring dice, paper, cardboard, and paint.

With Joyall’s tenacity, it won’t be a wonder when he hits his goal.

Caroline Connelly and her staff at Marlin Travel don’t wear capes. However, they were superheroes for hundreds of clients scattered around the globe when COVID-19 hit and Canadian vacationers in other countries were ordered home in mid-March.

Marlin Travel has served Grande Prairie travellers for 40 years and Caroline has worked at the City Centre firm virtually that entire time. She co-owns the firm with Karen Cloutier.

“We are here for our customers 100 per cent,” Connelly says, noting that although the office was closed to foot traffic once the pandemic struck, her team was busy working phones and emails to get their clients home.

Staff arrived at the office early and worked late into the evenings for several weeks because they were on hold with airlines, cruise and tour agents and insurance companies for hours at a time. They also had to reach customers in numerous time zones.

“At the beginning, when the Government said that all Canadians must come home, we had lots of clients in all kinds of places – Mexico, Peru, the USA – all over the world,” says Connelly. “We have full knowledge of where our customers are, what they are doing and when they should be coming home, so we facilitated in getting all of them back.”

That wasn’t always an easy proposition.

“We had to be assertive with some of them. We had to say you have to come home and, no, you are not coming home next Wednesday or the week after, you are coming home in the next couple of days.”

When the customers did get home, they were grateful. Connelly notes some people underestimated the severity of the situation and didn’t realize they may have had the last two seats on an available flight.

“They were like, ‘Wow, we had no idea.’ When you’re sitting on the beach in Mexico, you’re not watching CBC News, or news of any sort. All you’re thinking about is the beach and having fun with your family and living it up a bit.

“Once the government says you must come home, your medical insurance doesn’t cover you any longer. If someone had have stayed longer and there was an incident, they would have been hooped,” Connelly says.

That’s the benefit of booking through a local travel agent, she says.

“You have person-to-person, face-to-face contact. They can call us, we can call them. We know each other. We’ve built up a personal relationship with them.”

Connelly says she’s had repeat customers for more than 30 years and they’ve had children and grandchildren over that time.

“Grande Prairie is a relatively small city. People know people. Everybody knows everybody. It’s not like we are in Edmonton. Calgary or Toronto. We see our customers in Safeway and on the street. We take a lot of pride in what we do and we want to be able to be not just a travel agent to them, but a friendly, helping hand. They are really appreciative of that.”

Once home, some customers asked staff if they could help stranded friends who had not booked through an agent. They were able to provide advice.

A long-standing reputation goes a long way, Travel Consultant Stephanie Gaw says. “This is one of the reasons a lot of people book with us. They know that we will have their back and that we will take care of them in any way we can.”

Some destinations were more challenging than others. One customer called in from Peru even ahead of the Prime Minister ordering Canadians home. The client was in a remote area and had to borrow a satellite phone to get through.

“I’m on the phone with him and he was like, ‘What do I do?’ I said, just get to the airport and we will fix it. We will make sure you get home,” says Gaw.

In cases like this, it was all hands on deck.

“Between the two of us, we were on the phone and talking to each other through the client and the airline, trying to make it all work out and get him home,” says Travel Consultant Lindsey Smilley. “There were a lot of things like that – team work and trying to do the best thing for our clients to get them home in a tricky situation.”

Gaw notes there some unique trips that had to be postponed, including an excursion of men heading to the U.S. on a NASCAR-themed vacation.

It wasn’t just ensuring travellers returned to Grande Prairie safely that made for stressful times at Marlin Travel. There have been challenges getting refunds from airlines and cruise companies and issues with insurance companies – sometimes made even more complicated when customers purchased their own policies.

Some insurance companies are responding that if a customer received a voucher for future travel, it can’t be considered a loss. In the meantime, Marlin had clients who found they could use the refund because they’ve been laid off or another extenuating circumstance has cropped up.

“We can only do a certain amount, so if the airline or cruise company are not giving a refund or the tour company is not providing a reimbursement on their packages, we have to adhere to those policies,” says Connelly.

Companies also have rules that are subject to change so Marlin staff continue to keep files open to request a better outcome for customers. They’ve been successful in a few cases. Several insurance cases are still being appealed.

That means Marlin staff still have a significant focus on trying to recoup refunds or deal with insurance issues on claims rather than what is the bulk of their usual work – helping customers plan for vacations and happy occasions.

Even Connelly has had to put a long-planned trip to India on hold and it’s uncertain when she’ll be able to reschedule that vacation.

She’s put everything in perspective, though. “You can’t take hope to the bank but we do have hope in this business because we’re not closing and once things get under control with COVID, we’re going to be busier than ever. We may even have to hire more staff.”

Smilley spoke up, “And we’re going to get raises?” She and her colleagues laughed.

There are already hopeful signs.

“In the calls we’re getting for new bookings, people do seem quite excited that they can possibly go in the spring or even in December or later in the winter,” she says. “There’s been a few bookings for the fall to the Caribbean and Mexico. A few are re-bookings. We are doing our best to inform everyone of all the current policies and what could happen. Or, they could be sitting on the beach with no worries.”

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