Cook And Bay Street Locations Are Popular With Home Builders And Renovators
The Cook Street location of Castle Building Centre
VICTORIA – A home is often referred to as a castle, and in Greater Victoria, Castle Building Centre is a preferred choice to build and renovate them.
Frank and Vicki Hagel own and operate two locations, Cook Street and Bay Street, and came out of a challenging pandemic year by being voted Best of the City as the number one home improvement store.
“While the company’s growth had been steady…the pandemic took the company to new heights,” says Vicki, noting that as an essential business, they were able to stay open. “We saw so many new faces, as a generation of people learned to build, paint, grow and cook. We were able to showcase our expertise and help people with their projects.”
Castle Building Centre owners Vicki and Frank Hagel
The Hagels have been serving Victoria for almost 40 years, as Frank began working at Cubbon Home-all in 1982 then became manager. Vicki was managing a retail clothing store, and shortly after Frank and Vicki were married, they purchased shares in what was then known as Cook Street Home Hardware in 1987. They later rebranded it as Cook Street Do-It Centre and joined the Castle buying group in 1993, rebranding the store as Castle in 2009.
“Castle is a group of approximately 300 independent building supply retailers from across Canada who pool their buying power to negotiate competitive pricing from vendors,” states Vicki, adding she has served on Castle’s Board for seven years, including Chair during Castle’s 50th Anniversary in 2013.
“Our independence allows us to make timely decisions, source local product and react to current conditions,” she adds. “We don’t have a head office making choices for us. . .we are head office.”
The Hagel’s purchased the remaining shares of the business in 2012, and acquired the former Rona outlet at 220 Bay Street in 2015 for their second location.
Customers can drive in to the Bay Street location to pick up their supplies
“This larger location allowed us to continue servicing the Victoria market, taking some of the pressure off the Cook location as our growth was continuing,” Vicki notes. “The Cook Street location is surrounded by apartment buildings and their caretakers needed volume purchases. They were having to go to multiple stores to get the quantities they required.
“We started stocking larger quantities of their basics and became a reliable destination for them. Today they are an important customer base for both locations. Do-it-yourself customers and contractors/renovator completes our customer profile.”
Both yards carry a complete selection of building supplies, lumber, plywood, insulation, concrete products, moldings, metal goods (gutter, wire fencing) and drywall. Inside the stores they carry, tools, hardware, plumbing and electrical supplies, garden products, paint and housewares.
“We have a fabrication shop in lower Hillside that produces cedar panels, lattice, trellis and planters,” Vicki says, adding they began wholesaling their products to local garden centres this year. “This shop also produces our pine furniture category, as we make fully assembled solid pine bookcases in assorted sizes and take custom orders too.”
Castle Building Centre also has a strong door division, where they amalgamated the door business for both stores in one location at Bay Street.
The Bay Street location of Castle Building Centre
“We have fantastic staff in both shops that pride themselves on the quality workmanship they produce,” Vicki adds.
Staff in both locations have been a major contributor to our success.
“We have many long-term employees and are grateful for their service,” Vicki notes. “Our General Manager, Brent Cowling, has been with us for well over 20 years and has led the company through many of its achievements. Anita Stewart manages our accounting and been with us for 20 years…we have outstanding assistant managers, sales people, cashiers and yard staff. All are dedicated and committed to our success.”
This content was sponsored by:
BRONZE: Cinnabar Valley Farms
GOLD: Aquila Cedar Products, Minwax, Para
PLATINUM: Castle Building Centres
