Miller’s Home Hardware Building Centre started in 1973 when Russ Miller applied for a job at a lumber yard in Collingwood, ON. Russ was hired as a Labourer/Delivery Driver and never looked back.
Three months later, Russ was promoted to the inside of the store working the Sales Desk and ordering stock. Nine months after that, he was promoted to Assistant Store Manager.
The next few years had Russ on the move frequently, working for the Head Office of Beaver Lumber, being assigned to help different stores. Russ bounced from Head Office to Hamilton/Burlington, to Warden Avenue as assistant manager, the biggest store in Canada at the time, to help right the ship.
After that, Russ managed his own corporate store for the first time, in Vaughn. That lasted two years until he was transferred to Sault Ste Marie for another two years, before he was finally transferred to Owen Sound to be the Store Manager.
Russ partnered with Bob Downey in the spring of 1983 to form R&B Lumber and Building Supplies Ltd. and became a franchisee of Beaver Lumber in Owen Sound. Russ and Bob expanded their business by purchasing the Port Elgin Beaver Lumber in 1985. They further expanded again by building the Sauble Beach store.
Sometime during all the moving and working at different Lumber and Building stores around Ontario, Russ managed to meet and fall in love with Chris, get married, and have 3 children, Jason, Steve and Wendy.
During their time as owner’s of Beaver Lumber, Russ and Bob expanded over and over, building new locations or additions on Owen Sound store, Port Elgin store and also the Sauble Beach store. Russ & Bob purchased the Lamont Do It Centre in 1994 and moved the Beaver Lumber store into its location beside the beer store at 702 Main St, Sauble Beach. In 1998 Beaver Lumber sold all of its stores and locations to the Home Hardware buying group and so began the conversion of the stores from Beaver Lumbers to the Home Hardware Building Centres they still operate as today.
2004 brought some major changes to the R & B Lumber and Building Supplies structure. Russ sold the Port Elgin business, and then in 2006 sold the Owen Sound store, and took over the entirety of the Sauble Beach location. This is when sons Jason and Steven bought into the business. The new Miller’s Home Hardware team built an addition on the existing store and a new warehouse.
2011 was the beginning of what we all recognize now as Miller’s Home Hardware Building Centre. The new warehouse was built and construction was underway of the new store at 900 Main Street. It opened in 2012, and has continued to expand and improve ever since.
2015 and 2016 brought more significant changes, when Russ sold his remaining shares of the business to his boys, Jason and Steven. Steven has since taken over as the sole owner of the Miller’s Home Hardware Building Centre, while Jason explores other endeavours and Russ (slowly) transitions into retirement.
Of course the Miller’s name couldn’t be what it is without hard work and dedication, and surrounding themselves with great people over the years. Russ’s wife Chris worked at the store for many years running payroll and HR Departments. One of the key ingredients to the store's success has been attracting and keeping some long term and dedicated employees. At staff events it wasn’t uncommon to hand out service awards for 15 to 20 years of service and some employees earning 30-35 year service awards. Those are the friendly faces that greeted you when you shopped at the store and provided insight into your projects and repairs are what made and still makes Miller’s Home Hardware Building Centre a destination for customer service today.