Careers

Wises is always looking for bright and motivated professionals to join their team. If you have an interest and passion for trademark or business law, we would invite you to send us your resume along with an essay in response to the following case study:

Trinkology

Rex and Jani met in university where Rex was a science major and Jani studied business. Rex has always been fascinated by trinkets, and has a talent for designing and building them in his wood shop. When they got married, their first house did not have room for Rex's trinket collection. That's when the hatched the idea of starting a
trinket shop.

Rex and Jani have operated Trinkology in leased space in Toronto for 8 years. Growth has been strong. Rex can barely keep up with production to meet demand. They have customers who drive from Windsor, London, Ottawa and Kingston just to see Rex's latest creations. Last year they started selling online through trinkology.com and were surprised to see they could generate so many orders from the U.S. and (of all places) Iceland! But customers still like to come to the store. They like to touch and see the trinkets before buying them. More than one customer has asked if they would consider opening a store outside of Toronto, but Jani's financial models say it would be too expensive for them to finance personally, and of course they would need someone to manage a second store.

Rex works at the shop full time. Jani works during the day at the Bank of Upper Canada where she is a branch manager. She works on Trinkology business at night. The business is operated as a partnership. With their success, they have been able to withdraw funds at a rate higher than they expected or need.

Their 10-year lease is up soon. They have an option to renew for 5 years, but the terms are not the best. Rex and Jani would need to exercise their renewal right 9 months in advance of the termination date. They know there is significant goodwill associated with the location, but they also know they have no right to renew beyond the next
5 years.

Jani took a call from Buffalo last week. The caller mistook Trinkology for a New York business by the same name. Jani Googled the other business and found them operating at Trinkology.shop. Rex had never heard of the domain extension .shop! They were both surprised to see on the website that the Buffalo store had operated for 4 years.

Yesterday, Rex received an email from a customer attaching a picture of a baby playing with a Trinkology trinket. The customer thought it was cute, but it got Rex thinking about whether the baby might actually be able to fit the trinket in her mouth.

Both Jani and Rex know they are at a crossroads. They love the business, but they need a plan for how to move Trinkology forward in the next 10 years.

Jani cold-called you yesterday to introduce herself. You don't have any conflicts, and you know you are qualified to help them. A meeting has been arranged for tomorrow with you, Jani, Rex and their accountant to brainstorm ideas. What issues would you want to discuss with them? What services or solutions could you offer? Provide any details about process, communication or other details that might be relevant to your workflow or the client experience.