Dallas/Fort Worth businessman Rene Bertrand survives Hurricane Katrina, making immeasurable career strides

MAKING HEADLINE NEWS WELCOMES RENE BERTRAND

DALLAS — Rene Bertrand didn’t merely relocate to the Dallas/Fort Worth area by choice some 13 years ago.

He moved here by force which, much to his delight, wasn’t such a bad thing as it turned out.

“My first impression (of Dallas/Fort Worth) was that it was big and spacious and that there are great opportunities here,” Bertrand told Making Headline News during a weekend interview. “There are more opportunities here in Dallas than back home.”

For Bertrand and his wife, Alice, back home is mighty New Orleans, the place that was forever transformed amid the national disaster that is Hurricane Katrina.

An extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 tropical storm that struck the United States’ Gulf Coast in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage from central Florida to eastern Texas.

Subsequent flooding, in fact, was caused largely as a result of fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system around the city of New Orleans, which precipitated most of the loss of lives.

According to various media reports, the storm was the third major hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the third most intense tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in the U. S. only to the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Camille in 1969.

For the Bertrands, while they had become two of thousands of evacuees in the aftermath of Katrina, amongst the things they had ultimately discovered is that there was a silver-lining, of sorts, to what undoubtedly had become a life-changing situation.

Seeking diligently to adopt a new lease on life, Rene, accomplished businessman who boasts more than two decades in retails sales, has worked his way to up being the face of the newly-established GQ Menswear clothing store that is located in soon-to-be refurbished Redbird Mall in the historic Oak Cliff district of Dallas.

QG Menswear’s official grand opening is September 1, an event that is open to the public and is expected to draw a number city officials. Also, the grand opening will include food, games, and prizes. 

For Rene, his latest managerial position comes amid years of sacrifice and hard work, not to mention his keen commitment to demonstrating solid customer service.

In 2009, Rene joined the staff at Brands Suit and Shoe Outlet in Town East, during which he was a regular customer at the time.

“The (store manager) said he needed someone, a salesperson,” Rene explained. “(My wife and I) went in on a Saturday, and I started working on (that following) Tuesday at Brands.”

He’s been nothing short of impressive ever since.

A little more than one month removed from having moved from nearby Suit and Shoe Outlet to a new establishment in Redbird Mall — on the lower level, directly below the mall’s food court area — Rene has been appropriately dubbed the face of QG Menswears.

Which, much to his delight, is far cry from his turbulent, downtrodden days of having been uprooted from the Big Easy due to Katrina.

“(One of the owners) asked if I liked it, and I said, ‘It’s different, but I like it,’” said Rene, referring to new name of the men’s fashion store he manages.

While the name of the store is new, Rene’s customer first mentality isn’t.

That’s because upon servicing customers, he’s routinely seen not handing their goods and services across the counter. Rather, he emerges from behind the counter and hand delivers the products to his customers as a way to build lasting friendships with them.

“I can’t stand handing someone a package over the counter,” Rene said. “I’ve been doing that for 20 years. It’s unique. It’s second nature.”

Now that he’s given the awesome responsibility of managing one of Oak Cliff’s finest and credible men’s fashion stores, Rene doesn’t shy away from the notion that his best and brightest days are well ahead of him.

Both in the “spacious” Dallas/Fort Worth area and in sales, a craft he initially embraced back in the mid-1980s when he assumed a position at Zale’s.

“They trained me on the spot,” Rene said of his first job in sales. “I’ve seen people appreciate the quality of customer service, because I was taught to treat people the way you want to be treated. And they would remember you on a first name basis. I appreciate the training my boss gave me years ago…and my mother. God, bless her soul. She helped me out a lot.”

Something from which Dallas/Fort Worth is now benefiting.

For more information about Dallas/Fort Worth-area Businessman Rene Bertrand, or to inquire about QG Menswear, call 972.803.5222. Also, send email to: [email protected].

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