By Sue Tiffin

Published Aug. 24 2017

Dan and Emily Moulton have been busy over the past few years.

In 2012 just 24 years old they purchased their first Home Hardware Building Centre in Hanover. In 2015 they purchased the Alliston Home Hardware Building Centre. And this year alone they took on the Bowmanville Home Building Centre in May and will be the new owners of Minden’s Home Hardware store as of Sept. 1.
Add to that a growing family – the couple have two young kids and a third on the way – and it’s clear the Moultons have a lot going on.

But they’ve been managing their stores so well they’re also adding awards to their list of accomplishments. In 2016 Dan was named a Young Retailer of the Year the only Canadian chosen from a group of retailers 35 years of age and younger across Canada and the United States by the North American Retail Hardware Association. This year the couple were honoured with the prestigious Walter J. Hachborn 2016 Store of the Year award named for the co-founder of Home Hardware for their Hanover store. The award honours value service and dependability which are traits Dan speaks naturally about when he talks about how their stores have worked hard to ensure customers are satisfied and looked after.

“[Home Hardware] is an unbelievable company to be a part of” he said. “We’re honoured to be a part of it. It’s just a Canadian success story being 100 per cent Canadian owned with local dealers. It’s been a fun ride and we’ve really enjoyed it.”

Dan said he and Emily are excited to be part of the Minden community after they purchased the Home Hardware on Bobcaygeon Road from Jodi Patterson and David Staley who have owned the store for more than a decade.
“There’s an excellent team in place today at the [Minden Home Hardware] and I feel like the store has a lot of opportunity” he said. “We’ve chosen our stores based on location and the strength of the store and the strength of the community. We think it will be an awesome place to do business for a long time so we’re very excited.”

Dan appreciates what Patterson and Staley have done at the store in their time managing it and numerous times called out the quality of the staff in place who he recently came to meet.
“It’s a great store with a great group of people” he said. “The way we run our stores you only have a great store if you have great people. I think the previous owners did a great job and we’re looking to build on what they’ve already done there.”

Dan said there will be plans to expand the product offering at the store ensure it’s a one-stop shop and that customers are cared for in their house renovations and project needs. He said he was excited for the opportunity to fully service contractors with a strong lumber yard and also to expand their offering in home decor and giftware lines with the help of Emily’s buying prowess.
“What [having multiple stores] does is gives our business some synergies” he said. “We can run a bit better. We can really utilize people’s skills in a different way than when you only have one store because if someone has a very specific skill-set it’s useful in more than just one place and it gives us greater buying power which will in turn enable us to give better pricing and be more competitive.”
Dan said the multiple locations ensure that if one store is out of product another store likely has it.

“We have transfer trucks travelling back and forth to make sure our customers have what they need when they need it” he said. “That certainly allows us to deliver that next level of customer service.”
The Moulton-run stores are well-known for a strong social conscience and their generosity in giving back to the communities they’re located in. In the past they’ve supported organizations that assist kids seniors local community groups health causes hospice and hospitals. Dan noted their two children were born in the Hanover and Alliston hospitals and joked that baby No. 3 might make an appearance at the Minden hospital.

“We’ll see if the next one is born up Minden way” he laughed.

For now Dan and Emily are excited to grow their Home Hardware family further.
“We’re very fortunate and very blessed that this opportunity has come across our path” he said.