In January of 2005, Nancy and Gillis Matthewson acquired Carlyle's Home Hardware store from Boyd Cochrane.
The couple decided to purchase the business as an investment in their future as Gillis is currently in construction, but will one day retire from this and the hardware store is something they can continue with together.
"[W]e kind of bought the hardware store thinking it was something he would go into eventually and it just worked out that I ended up coming in," Nancy explained.
Originally located on Main Street, they found the location to be too small which made the store seem cluttered. They decided to construct a new building and in April 2011 moved into their current location, which is substantially larger.
"This is about triple the size of that store, in the other store we had lots of stuff, it was just up to the rafters, it was everywhere" Nancy said.
"It's just much easier in this store because our warehouse is way bigger, we have a fork lift so we can unload stuff on pallets yesterday we got 20 pallets of soil in which in the old store there was no way we could do that, so it's just a lot more room and a lot easier to do a lot of things."
It was the tight quarters in the old building which actually influenced much of their current location as the aisles are wider than the recommended three and a half feet Home Hardware suggests.
"We didn't want to feel crowded, we wanted people to feel like they could go down [the aisles] with a shopping cart" Nancy stated.
This open, bright layout of their current location has helped Nancy and Gillis along with their dedicated staff to achieve a gold rating in the "Proud of my Home" competition Home Hardware holds each year.
Gold, which they have won for 2012 and 2013, means their store is in the top 10 percent of all Home Hardware stores in Saskatchewan.
The competition is based on the looks of the store itself, both outside and inside, but focuses heavily on the staff's interactions with customers as well as how well the store is merchandised.
Currently the store employs 14 staff with eight full time employees, three part-time, and three students.
"It's been good, a really good move for us, and I'm really proud of the staff, that they've kept the store up because it's easy when your store's brand new but, we just have a good system for cleaning and I think [the store is] well merchandized," Nancy explained.
It is because of their efforts mainly which allows for the Carlyle Home Hardware to score highly within the "Proud of my Home" competition.
"The exciting part is for the staff because they work hard, so it's like 'Hey, we won again!' because it's not an individual thing, everybody is excited about it," Nancy said, explaining her staff is exceptional.
"We're proud of it, that's for sure."
