Community and staff celebrate 25 years of local hardware store Summit Home Center celebrated 25 years of being in their current location as part of the Home Hardware frachise on September 7. The celebration included limited time sales, a bouncy castle, face painting, prizes and burgers served by the Blairmore Lions. Nick AlleN Pass Herald Reporter Nick Allen photo
Summit Home Centre celebrated 25 years of being in their current location as part of the Home Hardware franchise on September 7. The celebration included limited time sales, a bouncy castle, face painting, prizes and burgers served by the Blairmore Lions. The family business is run by Blair, Cathy and Joel Painter. They were all gathered in front of the store for remarks to the staff before they accepted a plaque for their anniversary from the Home Hardware head office. “You guys worked hard to help us pull this off and you don't know how much we appreciate that,” said Cathy Painter, “You guys are the front line here doing all the hard stuff, so thank you very much.” She said it has been an interesting 25 years in the building, a vision of the company since Cathy’s grandfather and father ran the business. “We hope to be here for a long, long time to come,” she added. Her son Joel commended the work of Summit Home Center staff, recognizing it can be a struggle sometimes even though they got through it. Over the last two years with COVID, Cathy said it was quite the change. She said it was a challenge daily
Summit Home Center employees and owners celebrating 25 years of being in their current location as part of Home Hardware on September 7.
to be able to gather with people, so this year has been a pleasant change. Also present for the celebrations was Livingstone-Macleod MLA Roger Reid, who offered his congratulations being a business owner himself for the past 12 years. “I want to thank you because you are job creators. You are life changers in in our rural communities and I know for us as small business people to have the opportunity to provide young adults with their first job and help them understand what it means to have a job and earn a paycheck. That's a very important role,” said Reid. After recognizing the struggles facing small businesses in the aftermath of the pandemic, he wished them 25 more years of success as they “hand the keys over” to the next generation in the family business. “Thank you so much for the invitation to meet with you and celebrate today,” he said. Sharmagne Ray, the Retail Sales and Operations Manager for Home Hardware in southern Alberta, was
there to present the store with an award for its years of service. “This is probably one of my favorite locations,” said Ray, “I've had a relationship with the Painter family for many, many years and they're like family.” She praised the store for taking care of its staff and the community during the past two years as many stores struggled. "When you're a Home Hardware dealer, you're so much more than just a business,” said Ray, “You're taking care of the community, you're taking care of young people coming up with jobs and you're taking care of families.” She talked about how the family has been in the hardware business for 87 years before they joined Home Hardware in 1977 and how important the store is to the area. “Home Hardware would like to give them this 25th anniversary shadowbox and congratulate them on a job well done,” she said.