Sunbirds store manager Mark Harris, left, and Bert Greene of Georgia Boot, right, award a $3,000 donation check to Lewis County Food Bank Coalition President Jim Fagerness in October.
Gus Salloum, left, and Ron Sturza, co-owners of Sunbird, stand in the apparel area of the store in Chehalis.
Ron Sturza, co-owner of Sunbird Shopping Center, helps a customer.
Gus Salloum, co-owner of Sunbird Shopping Center, helps a customer.
Ron Sturza, left, shows the high-water mark where the 2007 flood damaged their building as co-owner Gus Salloum looks on at Sunbird Shopping Center.
Catering to customer needs and diversifying its inventory are two reasons the co-owners of Sunbird Shopping Center in Chehalis credit for remaining successful for the past four decades.
Co-owners Ron Sturza and Gus Salloum said the store originally started as a sporting goods business, and throughout the years has expanded to include several departments, such as clothing and canning supplies.
“We are a diversified store,” Salloum said. “We have a lot of areas where we shine and do the job.”
Located on property Yard Birds Mall once called home, the building was purchased in 1976.
Throughout the years, both men have climbed the ladder at the store, working their way from the bottom.
Sturza said when the store first opened, he was 23 years old and making $2.50 an hour.
As for Salloum, who is originally from Syria, he came to Lewis County in 1968 to attend Centralia College. While at the college, he began working at Yard Birds, switching over to the Sunbird Shopping Center in 1978.
The duo became co-owners in 1996 after they purchased the building from Sturza’s father and uncle.
Both see the retail market as their niche, something that has helped them continue to run the local business. Keeping the same philosophy as the prior owners, they emphasize a strong commitment to the local community.
“We are local and we love our community,” Salloum said. “We treat them well and they treat us well.”
A major part of providing the quality customer service is the employees at their locations.
With little turnover, many employees have more than 10 years of experience clocked at the Chehalis location.
By providing continual feedback on what customers want in the store, the business has been able to cater their merchandise to the needs in the area.
“We really have a very good crew,” Salloum said. “You can go to the box stores and be there for half an hour and nobody would say anything to you and I would bet you any money you won’t walk here more than 20 feet without somebody asking you if you need help.”
Although the store has some stiff competition with the larger retail stores, Sturza said what sets them apart is their focus on what the bigger businesses don’t offer.
“I don’t think you can be satisfied with today, you know what, you can always do better tomorrow in every category, you can do better,” Sturza said. “If you become complacent that’s when things start looking like the big guys.”
The business has been committed to helping the local community through the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, and by participating in numerous events. Every September the business raises money for local food banks at both of its locations.
For the co-owners, giving back is a large part of what they do.
“We tend to be a little bit quiet about it and sometimes it’s not the big profile entities out there that we help,” Sturza said. “We help the littler guys because we are the little guy.”
Throughout the years, the business has seen some challenges, particularly that of the 2007 flood when the building was inundated with water reaching about 8 feet high.
“When I get people asking me ‘Isn’t business tough,’ a lot of people don’t know what tough really is until you experience something like that,” Sturza said.
Other challenges include staying ahead of the changing trends in the retail sector, a task the business partners have stayed committed to.
They plan to continue the business as long as the community supports it.
“You can’t teach old dogs new tricks,” Sturza said with a laugh. “All we try to do at this point is kind of refine what we do and you’ve got to stay ahead of the ever-changing retail curve.”
