Friday, 5 October 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
A great photo by Bryan Scott, Winnipeg Love Hate
This is what Main Street should be: low- or medium-density business, inviting storefronts, and human-scaled architecture.
It's such a small, seemingly insignificant thing, but I can't tell you how happy I was to see this neon sign." -Bryan Scott
Follow the link below to check out more awesome Winnipeg photos by Bryan Scott, Winnipeg Love Hate.
http://www.winnipeglovehate.com/2012/02/pollock-hardware.html
Friday, 15 June 2012
Social Enterprise Centre's Grand Opening
What a turn out! A big thank you to all who came out to our Social Enterprise Centre's grand opening!!
Below I have posted several pictures of the grand opening, please take a look!
The first set of pictures is of the speeches and the big thank you's that took place that day. There are also a few photos that I took while doing a walk through on the 2nd floor. You will notice many familiar faces and see the great crowd of people who came in support of this event! Thank's again to you all for coming out and celebrating with us! There are also a few photos that I took while doing a walk through on the 2nd floor. Unfortunately the photos didn't all turn out that well so I am missing a few that I would have loved to have shared with you all, but I will make up for that in another post on another day.
The next set of photos are of many pieces of art created that day. There was an art table set up with many blank canvases made from scrap cuttings from various BUILD jobs. Through out the day guests, visitors and workers of the social enterprise centre took a moment to create there own piece of art! All of these little pieces will be put together to create one great mosaic!! Great idea guys! I can't wait to see the end result!
The last set of photos are of the Pollocks Hardware Co-op warehouse and its great progress! My favourite one is the one I like to call 'around the water cooler' its the one where everyone is standing around the new water saving toilet display chatting. :)
Enjoy!
Click 'view all images' to view all the photo's and more (one by one or all together) through our photobucket.
The North End Times: Area hardware store keeps hammering away
The North End Times: Area hardware store keeps hammering away
Here is a great article on our new warehouse at 765 Main!
In the photo is Mike Wolchock, William Wolchock, and Iain Brynjolson, our hard working staff at 765 Main.
You will also find John Latham at our new location! What a great crew we have here!
Come say hi, see all that they have accomplished and what we now have in stock.
Open Monday- Friday 7:30- 4:30
(Click on image to enlarge to read)
Compost Bins
Compost Bins are now here at Pollock's Hardware Co-op and there are allot! Only $30.00 (plus tax), come at get yours today!
Available at both our 1407 Main St. location and at the 765 Main Street Location. (please note that we do not accept cash at the warehouse. Cheque, debit or credit card only.)
Visit http://www.earthmachine.com/ or http://winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/recycle/composting.stm for more info on composting.
Recycle You'r Paint Here!
We are now accepting old paint to be recycled at Pollock's Hardware Co-op.
Drop off you'r old paint cans (full or empty) any time during business hours. Its free of charge!
"This program is operated by Product Care Association on behalf of paint manufacturers and retailers in Manitoba in response to the provincial Household Hazardous Material and Prescribed Material Stewardship Regulation.
Phase One of the Manitoba Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) program launched on May 1 , 2012 with household paint (and paint aerosols) and fluorescent lights accepted for recycling across the province. The full Manitoba HHW program will expand later in 2012 (Phase Two) with more household hazardous waste materials accepted for recycling.
Thank you for doing your part to protect the environment!" -http://www.productcare.org/Manitoba
(Residential-use paint only please)
Follow this link for more info on accepted products for recycling: http://www.productcare.org/manitoba-accepted-products
Thank you for doing you'r part to keep our environment clean!
Recycle You'r CFL's and Tubes Here!
We are now accepting Compact Fluorescent Lights and Tubes to be recycled at Pollock's Hardware Co-op.
Drop off you'r CFL's and/or tubes any time during business hours. Its free of charge!
Maximum limit for return at one time is 16 CFLs or fluorescent tubes or a combination of types.
"This program is operated by Product Care Association on behalf of paint manufacturers and retailers in Manitoba in response to the provincial Household Hazardous Material and Prescribed Material Stewardship Regulation.
Phase One of the Manitoba Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) program launched on May 1 , 2012 with household paint (and paint aerosols) and fluorescent lights accepted for recycling across the province. The full Manitoba HHW program will expand later in 2012 (Phase Two) with more household hazardous waste materials accepted for recycling.
Thank you for doing your part to protect the environment!" -http://www.productcare.org/Manitoba
(Residential-use only please)
Please follow the link for more info on recycling you'r CFL's: http://www.productcare.org/manitoba-accepted-products-lights
Thank you for doing you'r part to keep our environment clean!
Thursday, 17 May 2012
The Globe and Mail on Co-operatives
Press – Pollock's Hardware Co-op (Link to website)
Here is a series of articles featured in The Globe and Mail on Co-operatives from May 15th 2012Check it out!
If you read far enough you may even find something on Pollock's Hardware Co-op!
Click HERE to View.
Social Enterprise Centre Grand Opening!
765 Main – Pollock's Hardware Co-op (link to website)
Please come join us at 765 Main Street to celebrate the Grand Opening of our Social Enterprise Centre! May 24th 2012 10:30 to 2:00.
Till then here is a sneak peak of our new warehouse! Hope to see you there!
Friday, 27 April 2012
Did you Know that 2012 is the International Year of the Co-op!
Co-op – Pollock's Hardware Co-op
Did you Know that 2012 is the International Year of the Co-op!
Why a Co-op?
The owners of Pollock Hardware planned to retire so they put the business up for sale. After quite a while on the market there was no serious interest in buying and operating this North End institution. A number of customers believed that a community ownership strategy might be a viable option to individual private ownership and the hardware co-op idea was born.
The Co-op model has a long history of working hard for social and economic development in both rural and urban Manitoba. With the backing of the community through memberships, investment and volunteerism, Pollock’s Hardware Co-op hopes to:
- Meet the community’s needs as a successful hardware business
- Promote local ownership and control
- Develop and provide community leadership
- Build a stronger community
Pollock’s Hardware Co-op serves our community and beyond. Unlike some models where only members are able to shop in their facility, Pollock’s Hardware Co-op is open to all, so come on up to 1407 north Main Street and bring a friend. Hope to see you there!
Scheme aided in store's rescue
Scheme aided in store's rescue
Tax credit plan is little-known
Mike Wolchock manages Pollock Hardware, a North End institution which reopened by taking advantage of the Community Enterprise Development Tax Credit program. (BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)
When Pollock's Hardware was threatened with closing a couple of years ago, supportive area residents and patrons pulled off an amazing bit of community organizing to keep the place open.
Part of the process was to turn the business into a co-operative and sell memberships. It's at 1,400 members and counting.
Those members were also given the opportunity to buy shares in the business, a special feature made possible through a little-used provincial program called the Community Enterprise Development Tax Credit.
Mike Wolchock, longtime owner of the Neon Factory and now also manager of Pollock's, said the process of selling membership and raising equity -- most of it at about $100 at a time -- meant that they were able to come up with two-thirds of the capital needed to renovate and reopen the store, making securing a loan for the rest much more doable.
Wolchock has an almost missionary zeal when talking about community revitalization in the North End. He loves to talk about the benefits of local purchasing and keeping money in the community.
He said that his mandate at Pollock's is not necessarily to make loads of money but to provide a service. At the same time, he said, he can't not make a profit.
"There is no bailout money out there," he said.
So far, so good in that regard. He said the business is generating revenue at a pace of about 25 per cent ahead of projections for the year.
His investors might also be more interested in the rewards of owning a piece of a solid business that benefits the community than the expectations of massive returns.
Up until this week the most a company could raise and still be eligible under the CEDTC program was $500,000.
That low total might partially explain the program's fairly modest takeup -- about 10 companies have used the program since 2003, raising about $1.8 million.
Pollock's raised about $55,000 through the CEDTC program.
This week the province doubled the amount approved enterprises can raise up to $1 million. (Individuals can invest a maximum of $30,000 and receive a provincial tax credit equal to 30 per cent of their investment.)
Officials say the increase came about because of demand from companies looking to raise larger amounts.
But with access to capital so hard to come by regardless of the amount, it is surprising that there has not been greater takeup so far. There might be a couple of reasons for that.
For one thing, the CEDTC is administered by the Rural Economic Development Initiative, but urban enterprises are also eligible.
Each company needs to be approved for eligibility and Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiative Minister Rosann Wowchuk said innovation, skills development and job creation are important considerations, but specific targets do not have to be met.
"We're hoping by increasing the maximums that it will stimulate more demand," she said.
The other problem with the program is that it is most likely confused with the more recent Community Enterprise Investment Tax Credit, a similar program designed for sophisticated investors with a minimum investment of $20,000 which also comes with a 30 per cent provincial tax credit.
Each program also has limits on the size of the company eligible -- $15 million in assets and no more than 200 employees for the CEDTC and $25 million in capital, no more than 50 employees or gross revenue of less than $15 million for the CEITC.
In its 2009 budget the province also doubled the size of the CEITC program so that up to $17 million can be raised under that tax credit scheme.
Whereas the latter program was fully subscribed during its first two years of availability, information is not yet available on how it's tracking this year.
Savvy promoters are quick to get their names in the queue, but the soft marketing of both programs probably keeps them off the radar screens of many businesses that might be worthy of a little investor interest.
The expanded programs are not likely to change the economic dynamics of the province, but they might provide some underpinning for more widespread growth -- if only more businesses knew about them.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 3, 2009 B5
'Little hardware store that could' closer to reopening
'Little hardware store that could' closer to reopening
After a year without their neighbourhood landmark, a group of former customers are on the verge of reopening an 85-year-old hardware store in Winnipeg's North End.
Since Pollock Hardware closed last year, residents and customers have been trying to raise enough money to buy the store and operate it as a co-op.
At least one of their purchase offers was rejected — but now, a tentative deal is on the table, and the group thinks the store could reopen by spring.
Tom Simms, volunteer with the interim board of directors for the Pollock Hardware Store Co-op said the group is pushing for a five-year lease-to-purchase agreement.
The group, he said, is using a combination of equity capital from contributing members and loan capital from a credit union. The co-op is also in partnership with the provincial government's Community Development Tax Credit Program, which will give investors a 30 per cent tax credit.
He said the agreement gives the co-op time to gain its footing and get "the little hardware store that could" off the ground.
"Once we feel we're solid, we can look at entertaining an offer to purchase again," Simms said. "This approach allows us to get everything off the ground right away."
'Niche' market
Co-operation and the community's involvement in the decision is integral to their approach, said Simms.
"We're working on a way that we're always going back to the community on how this proceeds.… We'll bring the tentative agreement before our members and once they ratify the deal, we're off and running," he said.
Co-op members will vote on the plan at a meeting on Saturday.
Competition from big-box stores like Rona and Home Depot doesn't dissuade Simms and the co-op members.
"There is a very strong local interest of customers and residents that want to keep the local hardware store open," said Simms.
The store on north Main Street closed last year when its owners retired after 15 years of owning the business, which has called the neighbourhood home since the 1920s.
"They had a little niche there that was working and we think we can expand on that niche," said Simms. "No doubt it's not going to be easy, but I think if we stay within that little niche that they've demonstrated at Pollock's then, it's viable."
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: BUILD / Warm Up Winnipeg
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: BUILD / Warm Up Winnipeg: Warm Up Winnipeg : 'via Blog this'
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: Blue Sky Opportunities Inc.
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: Blue Sky Opportunities Inc.: Blue Sky Opportunities Inc. : 'via Blog this'
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: Pollock's Hardware Co-op's You Tube Playlist
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: Pollock's Hardware Co-op's You Tube Playlist: ('http://www.youtube.com/p/95F6A24A47026EA1?version=3&hl=en_US',)
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: About CCEDNet
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: About CCEDNet: http://www.ccednet-rcdec.ca/en/home/%3Fq%3Den/about
Pollock's Hardware Co-op: Pollock's Hardware has brass
Pollock's Hardware has brass
While the global economic crisis is creating significant uncertainty in the world -- national economies require bailouts, multinational companies are going bankrupt and unemployment is on the rise -- residents of the North End continue to strengthen our local economy by supporting Pollock's Hardware Co-op.
In 2007, Pollock's Hardware Store, which was established in 1922, was forced to close its doors. The longtime owners wanted to retire and could not find a buyer for the store. Neighbourhood residents rallied to save the store. In 2008, they organized a consumer co-operative and raised funds to purchase the business.
Everyone knew this would be a David and Goliath venture. All the little hardware stores had closed in Winnipeg. The only other independent hardware store that remains open is Corydon Hardware in Fort Rouge.
For decades, the multinational big box stores have been successful in squeezing out all the little guys in many sectors of our economy.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, Pollock's Hardware Co-op is holding its third annual general meeting. Board directors are proud to update co-op members and the community at large about this great community success story.
We continue to prove to be the little hardware store that could on North Main Street.
Since we reopened three years ago, sales have doubled, and we anticipate by the end of next year, sales will have tripled the 2008 volume. Our business plan projected about 500 members in our first four years of operation. After three years, we have almost 2,000 members.
Initially, we could only afford to rent the hardware store building from the previous owners. This year we were able to purchase the building, in large part because of the financial success of the enterprise.
In 2009, we sold investment shares to our members who wanted to make a personal financial commitment to support the co-operative.
This month, we announced a five per cent dividend on these investment shares. Shareholders can cash the cheques or bring them into the store and apply the dividend to store purchases at a 10 per cent discount.
Over this past summer, the Pollock's Hardware Co-op entered into a joint venture with two other social enterprises, Building Urban Industries for Local Development (BUILD), an organization that trains people coming out of jail to do home energy efficiency retrofits, and Manitoba Green Retrofit, a green community economic development enterprise, to buy a large warehouse on North Main and convert it into a social enterprise centre.
This initiative brings together a group of social enterprises, non-profit organizations as well as artists to share the space and facilities for our mutual benefit.
Some of the other non-profit organizations that will be moving in are the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Local Investment Toward Employment (L.I.T.E.) and the Manitoba Community Economic Development Network.
The Pollock's Hardware Co-op will use the warehouse space to expand capacity to supply social enterprises and contractors with a broader scale of building materials.
The additional warehouse space will enable Pollock's existing retail store location to bulk purchase inventory and be more competitive in providing building materials to the construction industry.
In the fall, the board of directors announced the Pollock's Hardware Co-op will be issuing additional investment shares.
These shares are issued in minimum lots of $100 each and are eligible for a 30 per cent community economic development tax credit sponsored by the provincial government.
Subscribers will receive a five per cent dividend on these shares. The new shares will be used for financing a larger inventory and assisting in the purchasing of equipment for the new Social Enterprise Centre warehouse.
All Winnipeggers are invited to invest in our unique community-based enterprise. We are particularly interested in connecting with successful North End alumni -- to keep this North End institution going by purchasing a stake in the co-operative with these newly issued investment shares.
North Enders have a proud tradition of grit and determination.
Visit our website at www.pollockshardwarecoop.com or store at 1407 Main St., where you can think globally and act locally with your investing and purchasing power. Together, we can make a difference in Winnipeg's North End.
Mike Wolchock is the general manager
of the Pollock's Hardware Co-op.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 2, 2011 A11
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