|
WALTER HACHBORN was not quite ready to be interviewed.
He needed another hour or so on his riding mower, to finish cutting his
half-acre lawn in St. Jacob’s, Ontario, near Waterloo.
At 87, he says he is grateful “to the good
Lord” for a healthy constitution. He is at the Home Hardware office
promptly every morning.
And he shows few signs of disconnecting from the
vision which has shaped his life since he was a 16 year old stockboy at
Hollinger Hardware in St. Jacob’s.
As he reflects on what has happened to him since he
first donned his trademark working bowtie 70 years ago, he talks about a
key principle behind his approach to business.
“One of our foundations is ethics. We try to
practice them as a company. Making money is only part of it.”
Hachborn’s Christian faith and its associated
values are important ingredients in how he lives life.
A few years ago, he told Marketplace that in the retail trade, the right
‘Christian’ decision is usually also the right business
decision.
Then he added “if you have faith, you have to
find a way to practice that faith – not just on Sundays, but all week
long.”
Hachborn, a lifelong Lutheran, has served on boards at
St. James Lutheran Church and Wilfrid Laurier University.
He has often volunteered on Habitat for Humanity house
‘builds.’
He once worked side-by-side for a week, in Kentucky,
with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.
A Christian-rooted organization, Habitat is a natural
link for Hachborn, with his company’s home building and equipping
expertise.
But all this faith and community service would not
have happened, if not for his persistence in leading with his vision.
Continue article >>
|
In 1938 he started as a stockboy in St. Jacob’s
Hollinger Hardware. Ten years later, he and two partners bought the store
after Gordon Hollinger passed away.
During World War II, his experience as a warehouse
manager in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps laid some unintended
groundwork for what he would do later.
In the 1960s, retail giants like Woolco, Zellers and
K-Mart began to make independent hardware stores an endangered species.
“We wanted to help the independent businesses
survive; so we researched the types of systems in Europe and the United
States,” Hachborn told Faith &
Friends in 2003.
“We seemed to be encouraged towards the
dealer-owned cooperative system, which eliminated wholesale profit.”
Home Hardware began with 108 outlets. Today, there are
well more than 1,000 across Canada.
Known as a people person, Hachborn was described in
the company’s history book, Home of the
Handyman, as “always available to his
staff, day or night. Should trouble or sickness or accident befall a staff
member, Walter is usually one of the first to respond to the distress and
lend his support.”
While he remains living in the traditionally Lutheran
and Mennonite St. Jacob’s, the cooperative he shaped is pretty
diverse, ethnically and culturally.
“In B.C., many are South Asians, Indian
background. In Toronto, many are Italians, Portuguese and Chinese.
“Our owners, no matter their background, have in
common that they are good and ethical business people.”
Hachborn wears modestly the many honours accrued to
him, among them the Order of Canada in 2000 and, before that, the Hardware
Retailer of the Century (1999) and an honorary doctorate from Wilfrid
Laurier University.
He married Jean in 1947, and they have three children:
Susan, Elizabeth and William.
Summer/Fall 2008
|
