Hamilton luggage and leather goods store Harbourmaster yesterday notched up 40 years in the business.

But owner Sheilagh Robertson, a former science teacher at the Berkeley Institute, admitted she had no business experience before taking the plunge into the world of commerce.

Ms Robertson said: “Starting a business is always risky and the odds are usually against succeeding.

“I think I’ve been lucky to be in business during a time there was a lot of growth in Bermuda.”

Ms Robertson opened her doors in 1975 in the same building, the Washington Mall, as the store occupies today, although after a year she moved from an upper floor to the Washington Lane side.

The name was picked because husband Gerald called her Harbourmaster because of her interest in the ships coming and going from Hamilton Harbour.

But — like the bacteriology and immunology graduate she was — she did her research before leaving teaching.

Ms Robertson, who graduated from the University of Western Ontario in the province’s London, was familiar with a luggage and leather goods store called The Traveller in the city, owned by Roger Beaufoy, to ask for advice.

Mr Beaufoy agreed to help and shared his experience with her, as well as inviting her to work in his shop for a month.

She said: “I liked that kind of store and there was nothing like it here.

“He gave me access to anything I wanted to know, including names of suppliers. But the most important thing was the retail budgeting of buying — how much you need to sell to make a profit and how much you need to buy to do that.”

She added that she bought a briefcase from Mr Beaufoy, who died several years ago, and asked for her initials to be embossed on the front.

When she got it, he had added “Harbourmaster” inside the flap.

Ms Robertson said: “I have the briefcase somewhere in one of my cupboards. It was a vote of confidence based on a conversation of maybe an hour. He said he believed I could do this.

“That was an inspiration for me. Put the name of the store in words and I felt I had to do it.”

Ms Robertson backed up her hands-on experience later with business and accounting courses through the University of Maryland at the former US Naval Air Station before opening Harbourmaster.

Ms Robertson, now 65, said: “It’s hard work and long hours and a lot of work is done at home. Anyone who wants to go into business has to be prepared to work very hard.”

And she warned aspiring entrepreneurs: “If you want to open a business, don’t try and duplicate something that’s already here ten times over.”

The store, which expanded in the late 1970s into premises next door, now employs four full-time staff, as well part-timers at weekends and holiday periods.