Brothers Karem and Jeff Halaby were each following their own career paths when a detour led to them running Lacombe Park Spirits together.
Karem had worked at TELUS for 23 years and was offered an exit package due to downsizing. “Karem and I looked around,” Jeff says. “We found this store that had opened in 1999 and decided to buy into it together. I continued in the real estate industry, but soon grew tired of the amount of travel, so I began working at the store full time.”
Neither of the brothers were very interested in alcohol before buying the store. But like all professional business owners, they began to learn about the products in order to be more informed for the customers. “We hear the term ‘customer service’ so much that it’s become a cliché,” Jeff says. “But we really mean it: if we can make it happen for a customer, it’ll happen.”