Miller's Esso: Immigration at Work

Tingting Hu, her husband Yalin Hu, and son Xunliang Hu moved to PEI in January 2014.  Tingting and Yalin purchased Miller’s Esso in Murray River and have been proud entrepreneurs ever since.

They have been pleased with the company’s performance since they purchased it.  “Sometimes it’s easy to automatically think that you need to be in a larger market to have strong results,” said Yalin, who helps with the business’ daily operations.  “Although we are in small rural marketplace, we have very little competition, which is a big part of our success,” Yalin said.

Yaling and Tingting have worked to create a hospitable environment.  Being located on route 4, a busy road, in the heart of Murray River which is located close to other local businesses and attractions has contributed to the business’ success.

Since purchasing the store Yalin and Tingting recognized the need to adjust their product offering to appeal to the local customer so they removed less popular items from their shelves which allowed them to expand their selection of more popular convenience goods.  They also changed the brand of brewed coffee to a more popular brand to attract customers.

In the future they hope to renovate both the interior and exterior of the store to improve their business and the experience for their customers.  Yalin and Tingting expressed gratitude to the former owners, the Miller family, for their assistance following their purchase of the company.