Andrew Lutfy swept floors as a teenager — now at 61, he's worth $5.3 billion. Here's the one deal he made that changed everything

Here’s how Lutfy went from sweeping stockroom floors to earning billions.

The deal that changed everything

While he worked in Garage’s first store which was owned by his then-girlfriend’s family, he earned a sweat-equity stake of 25%. That early stake got his foot in the door, but the real turning point came in 2003, when Lutfy bought out the remaining shares and took full control of the business. He brought the clothing design and manufacturing in-house, according to Bloomberg (1).

Getting in on the ground floor was certainly a good start for Lutfy, but as time went on, things changed. The company was impacted by the emergence of online shopping in the 2010s, as well as the pandemic in 2020. Both situations made for a steep decline in mall foot traffic.

Data published in January 2020 by REIS Moody’s Analytics found that more shopping mall units were empty across the U.S. at the end of 2019 than any time during the past two recessions (2).

Amidst these changes in the retail sphere, Lutfy managed to keep Garage afloat by filing for creditor protection in September 2020 and emerging with a lower lease bill (3). Negotiating this lower rent price allowed Lutfy to save some money and helped the company make it through the financial tribulations of the pandemic. Since then, the company has focused on closing stores in lower-tier malls and increasing them in higher-end shopping centers.

By remaining nimble amidst changing consumer and economic environments, Lutfy has been able to keep Garage afloat.

Gen Z’s impact

As of right now, Garage has 176 stores in Canada, 131 in the U.S. and plans to add about 40 more by the end of fiscal 2028 (1).