New identity, but shared history, for century-old building

According to Rudniski, it was a hard, but worthwhile transformation.

“It used to be a roller rink and the history goes back to being a brewery, it was an ice house at one time, it was several different businesses [that] were out here. The meat market was upstairs at one time,” he explained.

“The renovations we did; we added a storage facility on the side here—3,500 square feet and we did a complete reno on the interior of the building.”

The history of the building hasn’t vanished though. Rudniski said they’ve kept a few items as reminders of the past.

“We have an old scale from the old meat market, we have a few signs from the old roller rink, there’s a bunch of pictures that we haven’t put up yet that I’m going to be putting up, so that everybody can see the different histories of the building,” he said.

Despite all the hard work and effort to transform the building, he said it is a perfect location for their business, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

“My dad started off in an 800 square foot building and then they expanded back in ’84 to, I believe, is roughly around 3,500 square feet,” he said.

The new location has a showroom and service area that expands more than 6,000 sq. ft.

To kick off the grand opening, Mayor Greg Dionne was there with chainsaw in hand. Instead of cutting a ribbon, Dionne sawed through a branch.

“What makes it more even touching for me is it’s a family business,” Dionne said, noting how the business has grown. “It’s just an incredible thing and a great plus for our city.”

“When you get two generations moving forward in our city it’s a proud day.”

Grand opening events will continue until Saturday with door prizes, factory representatives, special demonstrations, coffee and donuts.

sstone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

New identity, but shared history, for century-old building

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