The Gary Yeang Chronicles: Primer's Humble Beginnings

November 26, 2020

Gary Yeang- Nov17 a

Did you know?

Come this December, the store-in-store (SIS) in Landmark, Makati turns 30 years old.
It started selling Samsonite suitcases when Landmark re-opened its doors.
The stores of Makati was closed and shuttered during the 1989 failed coup d’état-
The last which unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the Cory Aquino government.

Samsonite 90s 1

Almost a year earlier, October 1988,
Board of Directors (BODs) met Samsonite Sales Director Marvin Stadler.
A discussion over coffee at the Westin (now Sofitel) Hotel coffee shop
was about a possible change in Samsonite distributorship.
Outside, dark clouds and blustery wind signaled an impending typhoon.

Birthed in 1985, Primer’s initial business was commodities trading,
but destiny switched BODs to become a brand distributor.
Samsonite Luggage was Primer’s very first global brand,
Landmark SIS was the very first retail door, manned by three sales assistants,
and Luggage Trading and Services, Inc. (LTS) was the the first strategic business unit.

Three decades have flown speedily by.
Not to be forgotten is Primer’s humble beginnings,
and how Destiny has transformed the lives of the five BODs.
Long live Primer!

xxxxx

ABOUT GARY

Gary Yeang is a graduate of the University of Western Australia with a BA Economics degree. In Australia, he started out his career as a journalist at the Perth Daily News.11358701_10153080327217961_1032225443_n

Coming back to his homeland, Malaysia, he worked as a salesman for multinational companies such as Esso and in Muller & Phipps where he learned the ropes on brand distribution.

In 1977, he joined Samsonite Corporation in its headquarters in Colorado, USA. After five years, he decided to start his own business and took the opportunity to handle Samsonite’s distribution in Singapore. Shortly thereafter, their distribution business also covered Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Gary now lives on the eastern side of Singapore with his two younger kids. He is a voracious reader who believes that “… reading is the best, fastest, proven way to improve one’s spoken and written English.”

He is regarded by the Primer Board of Directors as instrumental to the growth of the Primer Group. Gary will always be the BOD’s forever mentor.