\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4071471_web1_260410-Shortline-0004.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS
\nAlexander Hup\u00e9 (left), founder of Shortline Moving Solutions Inc., and co-owner Riley George oversee a company offering commercial relocations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe used to play all the time in Kelowna to unwind after practice,\u201d says Hup\u00e9, now 35. \u201cI had to win at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hup\u00e9 says he picked the name because it evokes different images for different people. It also fit because the company is involved with transporting goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a big Monopoly aficionado until I realized it\u2019s more luck than skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hup\u00e9 doesn\u2019t play the game very often anymore. Instead, he makes real-life decisions about purchases, what to build and where to allocate resources.<\/p>\n
As president at Shortline, he and co-owner Riley George oversee a company that does local, rural, long-distance and commercial relocations, primarily in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the company completed 7,000 jobs. The owners keep the company\u2019s total annual income close to the vest, but share that last year, Shortline\u2019s gross revenue grew by 42 per cent compared to 2024.<\/p>\n
This year is looking good, too. The company\u2019s first-quarter gross revenue jumped 70 per cent year-over-year, Hup\u00e9 says, thanks to a busy March that saw the company do a number of jobs in northern communities before winter ice roads closed.<\/p>\n
Shortline has a fleet of 50 vehicles, and one of the things that make Hup\u00e9 and George most proud is that the company employs around 100 people during peak season.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Being a mover has a reputation as a dead-end job, Hup\u00e9 says, but he and George don\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n \u201cMoving (employees) to higher and higher paying jobs \u2014 I find that really fulfilling,\u201d says George, 34. \u201cIf you come to Shortline with a work ethic, we\u2019ll take care of the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re people persons first and we\u2019re movers second,\u201d Hup\u00e9 adds. \u201cYou need that attitude if you\u2019re going to be successful here.\u201d<\/p>\n It was April 2013 when Hup\u00e9 got his start in the moving industry.<\/p>\n His junior football career had ended, he\u2019d started studying criminology at the University of Winnipeg, and he was making ends meet as a bouncer and pizza delivery driver.<\/p>\n When an acquaintance told Hup\u00e9 about a local moving company, Hup\u00e9 showed up at the business the following Monday to see if they were hiring. He started that day.<\/p>\n In February 2014, Hup\u00e9 purchased his first five-ton truck and became an owner-operator at the company. Eventually, he left and started Shortline.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The Red River M\u00e9tis citizen says the low barrier to entry attracted him to the industry. He didn\u2019t need to be a tradesperson or have a degree.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very much a people business,\u201d he says. \u201cI enjoy interacting and conversing with people from all different walks of life, and that\u2019s something I picked up on pretty quick. Every day was another chance to get to know someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Three years after opening Shortline, Hup\u00e9 had 15 employees, five trucks and annual revenue north of $1 million.<\/p>\n Unsure of how to keep growing the business, the entrepreneur turned to the Louis Riel Capital Corp., an affiliate of the Manitoba M\u00e9tis Federation that helps Red River M\u00e9tis citizens start, expand or acquire businesses.<\/p>\n Staff at the corporation helped Hup\u00e9 put together a business plan, and he received a loan from the organization that allowed him to purchase the capital assets he needed to keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cIt couldn\u2019t have come at a more crucial time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n By then, Hup\u00e9 had formed a friendship with George, a University of Manitoba business school graduate he met at the gym. The two talked about Shortline in between sets and kicked around the idea of George buying into the company.<\/p>\n George was working at a tech firm at the time. When COVID-19 reached the province, he began thinking more seriously about joining Shortline.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u201cWe basically had a socially distanced conversation in a backyard (about whether) it\u2019s time to finally take the plunge,\u201d George recalls. \u201cI just decided I would regret not ever seeing if our friendship could turn into a business partnership and what that could look like.\u201d<\/p>\n George\u2019s first day at Shortline was July 1, 2020. It was a busy time for the company, which was deemed an essential service during the pandemic. Interest rates were low, home sales were high and people needed help relocating.<\/p>\n By 2023, Shortline had outgrown its headquarters on Dufferin Avenue. The company moved into its current digs that May \u2014 a 50,000 sq. ft. space on Gomez Street. Six months later, the demand for Shortline\u2019s services \u201cstarted falling off a cliff,\u201d Hup\u00e9 says.<\/p>\n On top of that, the company had made capital investments at a time when interest rates were high. It was a challenging time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to make some cuts to the budget, and some months we didn\u2019t take a paycheque,\u201d Hup\u00e9 says. \u201cThe rate at which we were losing money, we really had to believe in what we were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n That belief and commitment started paying off last year, he says, and now the future looks bright.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Hup\u00e9 is quick to credit the people who have helped him keep Shortline moving \u2014 the company\u2019s first client, the landlord that offered the company a flexible lease agreement, his parents, the Louis Riel Capital Corp., and so many others.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u201cThose kinds of individual stories of assistance are a big part of why the company is where it is today,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The owners once contemplated moving Shortline to a larger market such as Calgary to expand the business, but ultimately decided to keep the company\u2019s roots planted in Manitoba.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very proud to be Winnipeg business owners,\u201d George says.<\/p>\n aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS
\nCrews load and unload trucks at the Shortline warehouse. <\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS
\nFrom left: Taylor Erlendson, Operations Manager, Adnan Arshad, Logistic and Operations Supervisor, and Olivia Renaud, Customer Success Manager during a meeting in the Shortline boardroom.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS
\n>The Shortline warehouse full of client inventory.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS
\nJames, a mechanic at Shortline Moving Solutions Inc., works on one of the company vehicles.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n