Owners say future growth planned for new store in Belleville

By Matthew Morgan

BELLEVILLE – The owner of a new supplement store in Belleville says he thinks the city will be good for his business.

Aaron Labarre Popeye’s Supplements, President/ Owner Photo via the Linkedin site.

Aaron Labarre is the president and owner of 21 Popeye’s Supplements stores across Canada. Nineteen of them are in Ontario.

“Belleville isn’t a great big place but I believe it has great exposure and the reason that I chose the location that I did was the fact that it was really close to gyms and had great parking,” he said.

Labarre says he decided to expand into Belleville last June.

Labarre says it cost around $300 hundred thousand to get up and running.

So far the new store has four employees. They are hoping to eventually double that number.

“We want someone who is passionate, enthusiastic and lives the life.”

He said that about 30 percent of their hiring is done through Indeed.com

He said that the new Belleville employees had to go through two months of training, most in which that was done at the Kingston location and was overseen by their Kingston manager.

The hourly rate of pay starts at minimum wage which has recently been increased to $14.00 per hour. An increase of 50 cents is given as an incentive if they pass their training.

Certain certifications will also allow their employee’s chances to advance their salaries. Those, however, are triggered by product knowledge Labarre said.

“Our focus is on helping our customer’s reach their goals,’ he said.

Jessica Stearns is the co-owner of the Belleville store. She also manages that location.

Jessica Stearns, owner/operator Popeye’s Supplements Belleville Photo by Matthew Morgan QNet News

“The products we offer our customers range from vegan friendly to your normal weight loss supplements,” she said.

Stearns said that the establishment was scheduled to open its doors originally on Feb. 1, but was given the green light to open the store a few days early.