After more than 30 years of owning and operating Sanderman’s Home Hardware, Bruce and Janice Steinbring have handed over the keys to a new owner.
The Steinbrings have sold their business to Dave Sawatzky, who will be moving his family from Calgary to Barrhead and taking up residence in the community known wide and far for its friendly atmosphere.
“We’re looking forward to giving a new person to town the chance to make it a much better store than even we had,” Bruce Steinbring said. “We had been looking to sell for a number of years, and we were looking for the right owner, and we think we found him.”
Both Bruce and Janice said they feel great about the whole thing.
“It’s time for us to move on to something else, and to look forward to retirement,” Janice Steinbring said. “We know the store is in good hands with Dave.”
For now, the couple plans to spend more time with their family. Perhaps, there will be time for some volunteer work at some point, Janice said.
“Who knows, perhaps we might have to get jobs what with today’s economy,” she joked.
They both want thank their customers for their 30 years of service.
“We’re very thankful that we’ve had a great staff, and Barrhead has been very good to us,” Janice said.
Sawatzky and his family are from Calgary, but he said he is quite excited about moving back to a small town. Sawatzky and his wife both grew up in rural Alberta, and they have grown tired of the city life.
“Of all the towns and Home Hardware locations we looked at, Barrhead is what sold us,” he said. “We like the business atmosphere. This Home Hardware is extremely well run with an awesome staff.”
Sawatzky will bring with him his wife and two daughters, one going into Grade 12, the other going into Grade 9. They are all looking forward to joining the Barrhead community, he said.
He officially took over the store on June 28, and he said it has been unbelievable.
“The people I’ve met have been nothing but wonderful, so it’s been very good,” he said.
He credits Bruce and Janice for having done “such a wonderful job,” and he plans to just continue with what they’ve done. Sawatzky has a new sign coming for the fall that will give the store a new look. Home Hardware was just renovated in 2007, he added, so it doesn’t need major changes.
“We’ll put on some paint over the winter months when things slow down. We’ll take a look at some of the product to see where we can expand with what’s doing well, and with product that is weak, then maybe we’ll change it out.”
That would take place after consulting with the staff and getting their opinion, he said, because it’s the staff that knows best what works and what doesn’t work.
“(The staff) have the knowledge and the loyalty to continue to make Home Hardware successful.” He said. “With their feedback, we’ll start to make some decisions on what we want to do to tweak the store and take it to that next level.”
Sawatzky said he will keep the Sanderman name. It has been around for about 48 years now, he said, and there’s no reason to change it. He said he is planning a grand opening for the fall, and it all depends on timing, but he’s aiming for the end of September.
