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Kim Melanson (BEng’99) wasn’t sure the world of retail was where she wanted to be. Thanks to her Dal degree, she’s not just excelling, she’s loving it.

What’s a Dalhousie Engineering alum like Kim Melanson (BEng’99) doing in the realm of retail? Thanks to her degree, she’s doing well, she says.

Melanson has owned three Canadian Tire stores—two in Ontario and one in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia—that are benefiting from her industrial engineering expertise. “Whether it is financial, human resources, or information technology challenges, these things fall on you at the end of the day as the owner,” she says. “The skills I learned help me solve issues and remove barriers so that I can lead, and my team can succeed.”

Open to possibilities

Melanson’s foray into the world of retail was a journey of discovery, not a goal. Growing up in Cape Breton, she was determined to explore every possible career opportunity to find the right fit, which led her to study engineering.  

“It was one of those degrees that when you started it, you weren’t closing any doors; you were opening them,” she explains. “That made it the best choice because I could go into any stream without having to repeat any courses.”

Melanson chose the Technical University of Nova Scotia, which merged with Dalhousie during her studies, because of its reputation for excellence and it was close to home. She gravitated to industrial engineering because it combined computer science, business, and traditional engineering. “It was very broad, very interesting, and it could take me places that hadn’t occurred to me,” she says.

Thanks to the university’s co-op program, Melanson explored those opportunities as she built skills. A placement with NS Power led her into the field of energy management, but she realized it wasn’t for her while working with a small engineering firm in Cambridge, Ontario.

“We were helping residential and commercial building owners reduce their energy use,” Melanson explains. “I enjoyed the theory behind that, but I didn’t like climbing on rooftops or behind furnaces.”

More in store

By 2001, Melanson was looking for new career opportunities when she heard that Canadian Tire Corporation was hiring Dal industrial engineering alumni to help overhaul its supply chain. Although skeptical about working in the retail sector, Melanson applied.

“The business was transforming its processes and systems to be more efficient and deliver better customer service,” she says. “That excited me.”

Melanson became a senior supply chain analyst and progressed to associate vice president, but she became intrigued by the changes she could make if she owned her own Canadian Tire store. She left the corporate office to be general manager of a Greater Toronto Area franchise in 2014, then entered the company’s franchisee training program in 2015.

“Canadian Tire dealer selection can be an arduous process,” she explains. “Canadian Tire [EC1] is seeking leaders to protect and grow the brand across Canadian communities. Once you are accepted into the program and complete training, you can be awarded a store anywhere in Canada. It’s an exciting process if you’re up for adventure”[EC2]

Melanson was offered her first store in Hamilton in 2016 and her second one in Port Hawkesbury in 2019, which brought her back to Nova Scotia during COVID. “My mom and dad are there so we got to spend time with them, which was good for them and their grandchildren,” she says.

In 2021, Melanson and her family returned to Ontario to take on their third store in Whitby. More recently, she accepted an offer for two more stores—a Canadian Tire in Brampton and a Party City in Orangeville. As always, she is drawing on her Dal training to keep everything running smoothly and maintaining her connection to the university by hiring co-op students and mentoring when she can. It’s a lot on her plate, but she says she is keeping the door open for whatever comes next.  

“We approach each new store and opportunity like it's going to be our last one,” Melanson says. “But the world of Canadian Tire offers so many possibilities that I couldn't tell you what the next one will be or when we will decide, ‘Wow, let’s do that.’”