SPECIAL REPORT — John C. Williams, founder of retail consulting firm J.C. Williams Group and a friend of Hardlines, died last weekend. He got his start in retail as a bag boy at a Vancouver Safeway store, later earning his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He founded J.C. Williams Group in 1974 and was inducted to the Retail Council of Canada’s Hall of Fame in 2013. He continued to mentor his agency’s team to the end of his life, despite retiring from day-to-day operations earlier this year.
