Beaver Lumber (Castor Bricoleur in Quebec) was a Canadian building supply chain owned by Molson. It was once Canada's fourth largest building supply chain with 138 stores. In 2000 it was purchased by

Home Hardware Home Hardware Stores Ltd. is a privately held Canadian home improvement, construction materials, and furniture retailer. Co-founded in 1964 by Walter Hachborn and headquartered in St. Jacobs, Ontario, the chain is co-operatively owned by ove ...

, a cooperative of over 1000 independent Canadian hardware stores. Beaver Lumber stores were rebranded as Home Building Centres.

History

Beaver Lumber, once

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's leading supplier of lumber, building materials and related products and services, began in 1883 as the Banbury Bros. Lumber Company in

Wolseley, Saskatchewan Wolseley ( Canada 2011 Census population 864) is a town in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada, approximately 100 km east of Regina on the Trans-Canada Highway. History Wolseley's Provincial Court House building was constructed in 1893, and is ...

. Banbury Bros. Lumber Company bought its local rival, Gibson Lumber, in 1904 and two years later joined with the Regina Lumber and Supply Co., creating a business with twelve lumber yards. A thirst for expansion resulted in the Banbury brothers striking a deal with some Winnipeg lumber yards. A new name was needed that was in some way connected to wood, so when Edwin Banbury suggested "

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

", the company identity was created in 1906 and would become an institution in parts of Canada for another 90 years. Beaver Lumber was a community-based business and focused on building relationships with its customers. The company eventually operated 130 stores across the country.

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Can ...

, the Montreal-based brewing giant, bought Beaver Lumber for $40 million in 1972. In 1987,

Groupe Val Royal A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches ...

entered into a strategic agreement with the Molson Companies to acquire the Castor Bricoleur locations in Québec and integrated them to its Brico Centre chain, a hardware retailer that was already operating three stores at the time. After Val-Royal launched the

Réno-Dépôt Réno-Dépôt (known as Reno-Depot outside of Quebec) is a Canadian chain of home supply stores owned by Lowe's. Primarily operating in Quebec, Réno-Dépôt is a warehouse-styled format with a focus on discounted renovation and household hardware ...

chain in 1993 with its warehouse format, the eight Brico Centre stores were deemed too small to continue in the new economy and were progressively phased out from Quebec's retailing landscape. Molson sold the rest of retail chain to

for $68 million in 1999.

Legacy

The first store opened by Edwin and his brother, Robert, was sold to the Wolseley Museum Association in 1980, who subsequently closed it and sold it to local entrepreneur, Jacquie Jacobs-Marshall. It stands on Blanchard Street and has been proposed as a future site of the Wolseley Heritage Foundation Archive. Beaver Lumber's last Head Office at 7303 Warden Avenue in Markham is now home to Lyreco, Brookfield Properties and TTI.

References

Defunct retail companies of Canada Companies based in Markham, Ontario Retail companies established in 1883 Hardware stores of Canada 1883 establishments in the Northwest Territories Retail companies disestablished in 2000 2000 disestablishments in Ontario {{woodworking-stub