Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre in new premises, named finalist for award
Friday, Oct 3, 2008
Friday, Oct 3, 2008
Goody Niosi Writer
CAMPBELL RIVER - In 2002 Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre made a big move and a major expansion – an expansion that should have answered all its customer’s needs.
However, it seems that owners, Gary, Glen and Dean Thulin didn’t anticipate how very successful they were going to be. Now, in 2008, only six years later, they have made an even bigger move – to the old Save-On Foods building across the street.
That move increases their retail space from 8,900 to 34,000 square feet. It also adds 14,000 square feet to their outdoor service and storage facilities. All this is in addition to the enormous amount of space they already occupy because they are not giving that up – that’s how busy Pioneer Home Hardware Building Supply is.
Gary Thulin notes that Campbell River has always been good to the Thulin family – and the Thulin family has been in the city almost from the day it was founded.
His great-grandparents owned the Willows Hotel in the early 1900s and his grandparents founded the hardware store in 1937. It has been constant growth since then, Thulin says.
“The philosophy was handed down from our grandparents to our parents to ourselves to always stay ahead. You’ve always got to be progressive and stay ahead or you’re going to fall behind. Even when I was a kid working for my dad, we were always doing that. There was always constant expansion, constant improvement and constant change. You do it because that’s how you keep people interested.”
Pioneer Home Hardware has been keeping people interested for a very long time. In the early 1930s the grandparents opened the Beehive Cafe right beside the old wharf where the steamships docked.
Because people often asked them for hardware, they opened a hardware store next door. Gary Thulin estimates it probably occupied less than 200 square feet but it sold the tools and nails and screws people needed.
In 1945 Thulin’s grandparents decided they liked the hardware business better than serving food and coffee. They sold the cafe and moved the hardware store across the street to larger premises. The business grew almost organically and with the years, whenever there was an opportunity, they enlarged the building and expanded their stock.
In 1988 the family built a new location next door encompassing 15,000 square feet of retail space. The next big move began in 2001 when the Revelstoke building and yard came up for sale.
“We could see the potential,” Thulin says. “We saw the opportunity to buy the building and moved in, in early 2002.”
The new location offered a smaller retail area but it had the advantage of a lumber yard and building supply centre – an area that was new to the Thulins.
“We knew absolutely nothing about it,” Thulin says. “We were the first ones to admit it and we made sure that we hired on all the old staff that was still here when they were winding down – they had the knowledge.”
Pioneer doubled its staff overnight and plunged into building supplies. But the acquisition wasn’t the end of the expansion. Pioneer immediately grew into property next door that had not been used. In 2004 it expanded the yard into property across the road while at the same time adding offices to the building for the contractors. When the store still managed to keep bursting at the seams, they rented an outside warehouse for additional storage space.
In 2006, they said “Enough!”
“We were cramped,” Thulin says. “We had narrow aisles that were tough for our customers and staff. In 2002 when we moved into this location our customers said, ‘It’s great – you‘ve got a big parking lot and there’s lots of room for us to park.’ The biggest complaint we had in 2005 was, ‘Your parking lot’s not big enough – we can never find a spot.”
The obvious answer to the dilemma was to purchase the Save-On Foods building when that store moved location. Home Hardware agreed to the purchase and extensive renovations began early this year. Those renovations were finally completed in late September and the big move took place the weekend of September 27 and 28.
The grand opening takes place October 2,3 and 4 with the 4th being the biggest day of celebration with an official plank cutting, giveaways, door prizes and amazing deals and sales on many, many items in the store.
“I think we’ve got some great potential,” Thulin says. “We’ve been able to hire on some fabulous staff. Our human resources person has been fascinated by the amount of people who have wanted to come and work for us – that’s a good feeling for us. We’re always just trying to do our thing and not toot our horn too much but it’s been good that they’ve been coming to us.”
The fact is that Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre has a reputation not only as a great place to work but also as an excellent place to do business. Thulin attributes its excellent reputation to his staff.
“Our staff takes great pride in customer service,” he says. “It’s something we really instil in them. They know the regulars by name and if there are new people, they talk to them and do everything they can to help them.”
This year Pioneer Home Hardware was nominated for Large Business of the Year at the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce Awards. The company was also runner-up in the Building Supplies Industry Association awards in the under 10,000 square feet category.
Thulin says, “We now want to better that and win the large store category. This last one was a true testament to our staff at the time we were tested we had many new staff and we had staff busy setting up our new location.”
Because the store is part of the Home Hardware chain its prices are highly competitive as well, Thulin says, and in almost all cases his prices are better than anyone else’s. Home Hardware is 1,000 stores strong across the country and that gives it immense buying power.
Inside the store, the new layout allows them to showcase a vast majority of the 70,000 items Home Hardware stocks in their warehouses. The new store features housewares, high end home giftware, paints and colour matching services, a huge lighting section, a bath and kitchen cabinetry department, an oversized tool section, plumbing, electrical, mouldings and a contractor room professionals will genuinely appreciate.
The outdoor storage area, with almost everything under cover, is also immensely enlarged and improved.
“It’s exciting,” Thulin says. “You get some of the suppliers coming in and they take one look and say, ‘Wow! This is fabulous! You guys have done great!’ And that’s really exciting.”
Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre is at 1270 Dogwood Street in Campbell River.
www.homehardware.ca
CAMPBELL RIVER - In 2002 Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre made a big move and a major expansion – an expansion that should have answered all its customer’s needs.
However, it seems that owners, Gary, Glen and Dean Thulin didn’t anticipate how very successful they were going to be. Now, in 2008, only six years later, they have made an even bigger move – to the old Save-On Foods building across the street.
That move increases their retail space from 8,900 to 34,000 square feet. It also adds 14,000 square feet to their outdoor service and storage facilities. All this is in addition to the enormous amount of space they already occupy because they are not giving that up – that’s how busy Pioneer Home Hardware Building Supply is.
Gary Thulin notes that Campbell River has always been good to the Thulin family – and the Thulin family has been in the city almost from the day it was founded.
His great-grandparents owned the Willows Hotel in the early 1900s and his grandparents founded the hardware store in 1937. It has been constant growth since then, Thulin says.
“The philosophy was handed down from our grandparents to our parents to ourselves to always stay ahead. You’ve always got to be progressive and stay ahead or you’re going to fall behind. Even when I was a kid working for my dad, we were always doing that. There was always constant expansion, constant improvement and constant change. You do it because that’s how you keep people interested.”
Pioneer Home Hardware has been keeping people interested for a very long time. In the early 1930s the grandparents opened the Beehive Cafe right beside the old wharf where the steamships docked.
Because people often asked them for hardware, they opened a hardware store next door. Gary Thulin estimates it probably occupied less than 200 square feet but it sold the tools and nails and screws people needed.
In 1945 Thulin’s grandparents decided they liked the hardware business better than serving food and coffee. They sold the cafe and moved the hardware store across the street to larger premises. The business grew almost organically and with the years, whenever there was an opportunity, they enlarged the building and expanded their stock.
In 1988 the family built a new location next door encompassing 15,000 square feet of retail space. The next big move began in 2001 when the Revelstoke building and yard came up for sale.
“We could see the potential,” Thulin says. “We saw the opportunity to buy the building and moved in, in early 2002.”
The new location offered a smaller retail area but it had the advantage of a lumber yard and building supply centre – an area that was new to the Thulins.
“We knew absolutely nothing about it,” Thulin says. “We were the first ones to admit it and we made sure that we hired on all the old staff that was still here when they were winding down – they had the knowledge.”
Pioneer doubled its staff overnight and plunged into building supplies. But the acquisition wasn’t the end of the expansion. Pioneer immediately grew into property next door that had not been used. In 2004 it expanded the yard into property across the road while at the same time adding offices to the building for the contractors. When the store still managed to keep bursting at the seams, they rented an outside warehouse for additional storage space.
In 2006, they said “Enough!”
“We were cramped,” Thulin says. “We had narrow aisles that were tough for our customers and staff. In 2002 when we moved into this location our customers said, ‘It’s great – you‘ve got a big parking lot and there’s lots of room for us to park.’ The biggest complaint we had in 2005 was, ‘Your parking lot’s not big enough – we can never find a spot.”
The obvious answer to the dilemma was to purchase the Save-On Foods building when that store moved location. Home Hardware agreed to the purchase and extensive renovations began early this year. Those renovations were finally completed in late September and the big move took place the weekend of September 27 and 28.
The grand opening takes place October 2,3 and 4 with the 4th being the biggest day of celebration with an official plank cutting, giveaways, door prizes and amazing deals and sales on many, many items in the store.
“I think we’ve got some great potential,” Thulin says. “We’ve been able to hire on some fabulous staff. Our human resources person has been fascinated by the amount of people who have wanted to come and work for us – that’s a good feeling for us. We’re always just trying to do our thing and not toot our horn too much but it’s been good that they’ve been coming to us.”
The fact is that Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre has a reputation not only as a great place to work but also as an excellent place to do business. Thulin attributes its excellent reputation to his staff.
“Our staff takes great pride in customer service,” he says. “It’s something we really instil in them. They know the regulars by name and if there are new people, they talk to them and do everything they can to help them.”
This year Pioneer Home Hardware was nominated for Large Business of the Year at the Campbell River Chamber of Commerce Awards. The company was also runner-up in the Building Supplies Industry Association awards in the under 10,000 square feet category.
Thulin says, “We now want to better that and win the large store category. This last one was a true testament to our staff at the time we were tested we had many new staff and we had staff busy setting up our new location.”
Because the store is part of the Home Hardware chain its prices are highly competitive as well, Thulin says, and in almost all cases his prices are better than anyone else’s. Home Hardware is 1,000 stores strong across the country and that gives it immense buying power.
Inside the store, the new layout allows them to showcase a vast majority of the 70,000 items Home Hardware stocks in their warehouses. The new store features housewares, high end home giftware, paints and colour matching services, a huge lighting section, a bath and kitchen cabinetry department, an oversized tool section, plumbing, electrical, mouldings and a contractor room professionals will genuinely appreciate.
The outdoor storage area, with almost everything under cover, is also immensely enlarged and improved.
“It’s exciting,” Thulin says. “You get some of the suppliers coming in and they take one look and say, ‘Wow! This is fabulous! You guys have done great!’ And that’s really exciting.”
Pioneer Home Hardware Building Centre is at 1270 Dogwood Street in Campbell River.
www.homehardware.ca
