[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by achiam

To add to this thread, one of my best friend's dads was the first Chinese kid to go to St. George's school back in the 50's; his roommates at the dorm back then were the Roger's kids (Roger's Sugar) and the Brown kids (Brown Brother's Ford).
His father came here from China as a dentist but wasn't allowed to practice and so worked as a stable boy at the PNE racetrack.
Their family eventually ran a large food wholesale business that still supplies many restaurants and businesses in Vancouver today.
He always tells us about how in those days, the West Side was exclusively old money white people, and when their family bought a home at Dunbar (which they still own today), Caucasians would yell at him "Chink what are ya doing here?"

He also tells repeatedly of how their family business and another Chinese grocer family (very well known today), pushed out other grocery businesses. He always told us at dinners how the farmers from the Valley and Okanogan would arrive early in the morning in Chinatown around 5AM, and that while the other western run grocers would show up around 7AM, the Chinese would get there at 4AM to ensure they could buy up the freshest produce available. Over 10 years, his family had a monopoly on the fresh produce delivery business servicing Shaughnessy and Dunbar.

Being another UBC alumni, he also jokes about how there were only 5 chinese people at UBC when he was there, and he could list them all as children from the other large grocery family or his own cousins!

Are you talking about the Louies?

http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/...7-dcea8d886439

H.Y. Louie

The multi-billion dollar H.Y. Louie Co. Ltd. had the humblest of beginnings in 1903 when an immigrant peasant named Hok Yat Louie opened a general store in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Today, 105 years later, the small store has not only thrived, it has flowered into an energetic family business - B.C.'s second largest after the Jim Pattison empire.

At the time Hok Yat Louie arrived in Canada in 1896, Vancouver was a hostile city for Asian immigrants. He initially worked as a farm labourer, saving money until he could fulfill his dream of opening a store. He endured his share of prejudice as he built a business that, in 1934, he left to his sons. He also left a series of letters advising them on how to conduct their affairs - from setting their goals on the business's profitability to following the laws of Heaven and being charitable.

The Louie brothers followed their patriarch's advice and today, grandson Brandt Louie, 64, heads a $4-billion empire, employing 8,000 people in four different businesses: food wholesaling, the IGA food chain, London Drugs and an import-export division.

Brandt Louie is the 39th wealthiest person in Canada with a personal net worth of $1.29 billion, according Canadian Business magazine. He is president, chief executive officer and a director of both H.Y. Louie and London Drugs as well as vice-chairman and a director of IGA Canada. He is also firmly rooted in the nation's establishment. In 2005, Simon Fraser University awarded him an honourary doctor of laws degree and named him chancellor. He is a director of the Royal Bank and governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

The business his grandfather founded 105 years ago still follows the principals Hok Yat Louie laid down to his sons: serve your customers, be fair in your business dealings, honour your parents.

Louie's sons, Tong and Tim, expanded the family business from a retail store into a food wholesale powerhouse in Western Canada, earning the family a place in Vancouver's business elite that their father could only dream of.

When Tong Louie died in 1998, 2,000 people filled a Vancouver church for his funeral to celebrate the life of the son of a pioneer, renowned for his business triumphs and charitable giving.

Under Tong Louie's direction, the company acquired the B.C. franchise of IGA grocery and the London Drugs chain. At London Drugs, Tong Louie pioneered marketing concepts such as selling cosmetics, computers and kitchenware under one roof.

Tong Louie's son Brandt Louie, a graduate of the UBC's commerce program, continues the philanthropy urged by his grandfather so many years ago. A Maclean's magazine article, in which Brandt Louie gave a rare interview, states the family and a corporate foundation give an estimated $700,000 annually to charities, in addition to initiatives at individual stores.

"It's always nice to give money away," Brandt Louie said in the interview.