Town of Collingwood

Collingwood Resident Purchases
Barber Glass Plant

Good News Story Developed Quickly

A home town Collingwood boy has come to the rescue of the former Barber Glass plant. Richard Wilson has purchased the plant and will re-open the operation as “Collingwood Glass.” The former Barber Glass plant had fallen into receivership and the future looked grim for the 50 or so plant employees. Now, thanks to Wilson and his investment partner, Gordon Tozer who resides in Caledon, the future is very bright.

Wilson said the deal to purchase the glass plant happened very quickly and went right down to the wire. “It came down to the very last day. We had a meeting at about 11 o’clock the night before where they kept pushing and as far as I was concerned it was a dead deal, but we made one last effort the next day and it all came together at the last moment. Fortunately we were able to keep the business in Collingwood.” Wilson worked with Tillie MacDonald and her team at the Centre for Business and Economic Development along with town councillor Joe Gardhouse to beat the deadlines that would have made the deal impossible to complete.

The Centre for Business set up an action group to deal with the receivership and sale of the former Barber Glass assets. Group members are Dr. Martin Oosterveld, Chair of the Board, Tillie MacDonald, General Manager, Mel Walker an industrialist, and Joe Gardhouse, council member Town of Collingwood. The group was able to attract an investor who competed for the original bid to the receiver but his plan to run the company was not accepted.

The action group was initially very discouraged when the receiver appointed Danbury Services to auction off the plant. Shortly after that announcement in February a partner in the auction, GMR Belgium came to Collingwood. The owner Johan Coenen was retained for his world recognized expertise in the glass business. Fortunately he recognized that the plant was worth more if it was kept intact and he set out to try to attract a buyer for the entire package.

Mr. Coenen described the plant as a ‘pearl’ and stated that a bankruptcy of this calibre only comes along once in a lifetime. The plant is capable of producing tempered, laminated and insulated glass to a maximum size of 130in.x240in. There is no other plant in North America that can match this jumbo glass capacity. Only two plants come close, one is located in the US and another in Mexico. All architects who design iconic buildings will want to use this product.

The comments by the expert for the sellers encouraged the action team to work as hard as possible to find investors willing to take the risk of buying the plant. Over a period of 2 months Mel Walker used his extensive network of contacts to find prospects. Johan Coenen made many contacts through his glass industry data base. Several times it appeared that an agreement was close, only to see hopes dashed at the last minute by some complication. Along the way there was huge and constant pressure from Danbury Services who wanted to see a sale completed as fast as possible.

"It was important to me to keep the business here because I grew up in Collingwood"
-- Richard Wilson

Appearing on Georgian Bay Today on 97.7 The Beach, Richard Wilson said that it was important to him to keep the business in Collingwood. “It’s important to me because I grew up in Collingwood. My father was a Presbyterian Minister in town and I’m a Collingwood boy, and I’m happy to have a business like this in Collingwood. This is a world-class business. We’re the largest maker of this type of glass in North America.”

The plant produces insulated glass units up to 10 by 20 feet in size and large structural architectural elements for large sky scrapers. Wilson, who was a customer of the former Barber Glass plant, hopes to employ up to fifty people within the first year of operation and has set his sights on seeing this number rise to one hundred and fifty employees within three years. He said some work is already lined up and he is hoping to have the plant up and running again within two months.

“This was our own money that we invested into it. We’re working with the FedDev (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario) right now to get additional financing to help us do other things with the plant, with hiring and everything else, and that’s our continuing process right now.” Wilson said that the new company has purchased the assets that they needed, and now it’s an ongoing process with the government to move forward.

Richard Wilson boasts over 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He has completed major projects in Toronto, Collingwood and Waterloo. Wilson specializes in the construction of quality custom homes and extensive renovation work. He said a couple of the former Barber Glass employees were instrumental in helping him move forward with the plant purchase. “We would be nothing without them. We might be able to run the company but without the employees we can’t do anything. It’s a team from the beginning.”

Wilson said Collingwood can once again boast having one of the best architectural glass companies in North America. He said the original owner had great vision but unfortunately was caught in a very tough economic time. “We’re hoping to continue on with his vision because he had great ideas.”

The Centre for Business congratulates the new owners and looks forward to working with them on developing the business. This will be the first time we have seen a plant go from death to a rebirth in the same business. We look forward to using this success for more ventures in the future.

The Centre for Business and Economic Development is a Community Futures Corporation supported by FED DEV Ontario. This year marks the 25th anniversary for the Centre. The Centre provides loans to business for start-up or expansion.

www.centreforbusiness.ca