Friesen cruises into a bright future.

When Shawn Friesen was seeking a new challenge in life, the leap from managing a 24-hour-a-day drug store to selling cruise ship packages was not the most obvious. It was, however, the best decision he could’ve made.

“I decided on the travel industry, as it’s very nice and the clientele is wonderful to work with,” Friesen explains.

“Building your travel clientele is just like building a prescription clientele. It is very relationship-based. Whether it’s prescriptions or travel, when you leave your customer feeling well taken care of they come back and buy from you again and again.”

A franchise partner with Expedia CruiseShipCenters, Friesen now has five locations. He started in Thunder Bay and has expanded to Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Woodstock and Windsor.

After 20 years as a front-store manager with Shoppers Drug Mart, Friesen fortuitously fell into travel. He had no grand plans about where his next steps would take him.

“When I was looking to make a move, I bought the Canadian Franchise Association booklet. Inside there was a travel section, and I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool, to run a travel agency!’ ,” he recalls.

It was a wise move.

More than 180 vacation consultants work at the five outlets he and his wife and business partner Tammy operate. Friesen credits them with building the company’s success.

“My team is so varied,” he says. “We have part-timers, full-timers, brand new moms, retirees and professionals.

“They bring family, friends, and friends of friends, to the agency,” he adds. “As our team grows, our client list grows because our consultants talk to people.”

He believes his consultants are the most knowledgeable cruise ship travel team in the areas that they serve.

“We have likely cruised on every cruise line, been on every ship, and been to almost every destination,” he says. “They know what their clients are looking for and they want to make their trip better.”