PROFILES

PROFILE: Bloos Wood Products, Kitchener, Ont. If you are old enough to have had Bauer skates with a wood skate guard, that guard came from Kitchener, Ont.,-based Bloos Wood Products. Ed Bloos, the current proprietor, remembers back to…

If there’s a defining characteristic of Yuill McGregor, it’s that he won’t do as he’s told. Not even from the start. Take, for example, McGregor’s entrée into his North on Sixty business along Highway 60 near Algonquin Park in…

Cabinet company uses lean lessons to satisfy customers “THEY SAY THE KITCHEN IS THE HEART OF THE HOME,” the slogan goes, “we give it personality.” Glenwood Kitchen in Shediac, N.B., takes its slogan further to say it provides…

Hands-on approach with attention to detail The door side of the business for Maritime Door & Window in Moncton, N.B., is decidedly an interior affair. Founded in 1972 to serve the interior market, the company’s primary focus…

Multi-unit, residential and commercial diversification, under one mandate Wildwood Cabinets quality has been recognized repeatedly over the years, both by customers and by peers. The Atlantic region of the Architectural Woodwork…

Finishing quality, business savvy keeps production rolling Social networking doesn’t always lead to a successful business partnership, but it never hurts. For Mike Hayes and Cameron Oldershaw, their meeting through mutual friends over…

Flexibility for customers, design challenge for owners, opportunity for special-skills employees, all at Ferndale Custom machinery can provide a wood shop the ability to respond to market needs when there’s no one else around with the…

Kitchen cabinet company sets the table Many a company has origins in a residential garage, and some are content to stay there. Not GCW Kitchens & Cabinetry of St. Thomas, Ont., which had its humble beginnings constructing one kitchen…

Cuphead to Kijiji: Know-how helps custom wood shop thrive in inner city Exposure to different environments and conversations can take you anywhere. The origin story for this shop profile began at animation artist presentation for the…

The weather may be warm now, but in that autumn snowstorm on a dark, early morning, an iffy GPS has led to me into the wrong driveway, but luckily my destination is just next door. The sign for F.C. WoodWorks is visible through the…

When architects want to wow a high-end budget client, giant windows and craftsman doors can make a satisfying statement about status, taste and function. Loewen Windows and Doors of Steinbach, Man., has been working with wood for over a…

Quality hums at custom cabinet shop Nestled in a leafy family neighbourhood in Winnipeg, Man., custom cabinet shop Mosiac Millwork has been serving the local high-end residential market for 13 years. Co-owners Randy Gunnink and Dan…

The land in southern Manitoba may be flat as a billiard table, but the ambition here is a mountainous as the Rockies. Over generations, Germans and other immigrants have exercised their wood craft skills to create scores of successful…

Wooden antiques are not always hidden away in upscale shops and grandparents’ homes. Sometimes they hide in plain sight, littering rural roads across Canada and the U.S., those once-functional buildings that helped settlers put down stakes…

When Fernand Belanger opened his Montreal, Que., business in 1965, he was a countertop pioneer working with particle board and laminate. Fifty-plus years later, cabinet doors have been added to the mix at this thriving shop in Boucherville,…