Labor Day took on a special meaning for Phil Fortino. It marked
his 25th year in business, which has been a labor of love for the
Hollister native.
After graduating from San Benito High School, Fortino bounced
between stints at Gavilan Community College before deciding to
attend Fresno Technical College, where he gained vocational
training in the commercial refrigeration and the air-conditioning
business.
Labor Day took on a special meaning for Phil Fortino. It marked his 25th year in business, which has been a labor of love for the Hollister native.
After graduating from San Benito High School, Fortino bounced between stints at Gavilan Community College before deciding to attend Fresno Technical College, where he gained vocational training in the commercial refrigeration and the air-conditioning business.
After graduation, Fortino began working as a technician, but soon discovered he was meant to be his own boss. When he heard local business owner Ted Royal of Royalty Appliances was looking to step down, he stepped in.
At the tender age of 24, after being married a little more than a year and with his first child on the way, he decided to open an appliance store.
“I jumped in with both feet,” he said, “and found out in very short order I didn’t know anything about running a business.”
To supplement his vocational training he began attending business management seminars – intense all-day training sessions on how to be in the independent business of appliances and furniture, he said.
For the first 19 years Fortino dealt only in appliances, but while looking for a larger location, he decided to expand the product mix by buying out Hollister Furniture.
The move, both location-wise and business-wise, proved successful for Fortino. However, with the larger-scale business came larger-scale problems. Employee theft.
A group of seven employees organized a theft ring that lasted for almost a year, Fortino said. Employees in the office, delivery sector and the warehouse worked in conjunction to steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from Fortino, not to mention his trust.
“The hardest thing was knowing the people I trusted were not trustworthy,” he said. “Plus, we looked like idiots to the customers because we didn’t have an explanation at that time as to why the merchandise they had ordered and paid for was missing.”
After finally catching on to what was happening, Fortino contacted the police, but without any evidence of the thefts taking place, the police were powerless to arrest anyone.
“I could have fired them, but it doesn’t do anything. You have to be able to prove it,” he said.
So, Fortino took matters into his own hands and hired a private investigator who compiled enough evidence to help arrest the seven employees and send some to jail, but very little of the stolen property was ever recovered.
“That period of time was hard,” he said. “To work with these people every day and know they’re stealing from you was rough. It was the first time in 20 years I felt like I was going to go out of business.”
The fervent work ethic he’d been born with, combined with the savvy yet conservative business sense he’d acquired over the years, held his place as a furniture and appliance giant in Hollister, even through the bad times.
“I’m very conservative. I was taught early on not to overextend yourself,” he said. “Luck has a lot to do with everything, too.”
Fortino attributes his success to outstanding long-term employees, excellent customer service and established relationships with customers.
“I did a lot of the work myself, which was why we were able to make it in the early years, but if it wasn’t for the customers we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “The same thing goes for the quality employees.”
The long hours in the beginning – waxing the floors, placing orders, cleaning the parking lot and washing his first trucks – has paid off for Fortino. The secret to his success is the desire to learn more, and the propensity to really live the business, he said.
“You have to really love it,” he said.
With any long-term investment, mistakes were made along the way, and more are bound to occur in the future, he conceded. However, his only regret is the time he lost giving his all to the business.
“My only real regret is that I spent so much time here, I didn’t have time to spend with my family.”
The upside to that is that he can have a legacy to pass on to his son or daughter when he feels it’s finally time to step down. That time, however, isn’t going to be soon.
“I’ve got a lot of years left,” he said, “I’m not ready to go anywhere.”
