Manitoba Chamber of Commerce
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/604128
26 MBiz | november 2015 deCor Cabinets - a proud member of the Morden & District Chamber of Commerce in the Pembina Valley Cabinet company gives back to global community By David Square Y outhful optimism and a lot of hard work helped transform a small cabinet-making shop into an international firm and a great global citizen — one that also happens to be Morden's largest employer. "Failure never occurred to us," recalls Larry Dyck, who founded the company with his brother Abe and their brother-in-law Abe Hildebrand in Portage la Prairie in 1977. "We were young and idealistic when we launched Decor Cabinets, first in a garage and later in a former Portage Coke- bottle factory. We set up a basic workshop in the back and created a tiny showroom in the front," he says. By 1990, they had 40 employees. When a 30,000-square-foot building became available in Morden's industrial park, they seized the opportunity to expand their work area and showroom. "We never regretted our decision to relocate. We've expanded our Morden location many, many times. Today, we have a work area of 165,000 square feet, state-of-the-art computer-operated equipment and 425 employees, representing 30 countries throughout the world," Dyck says. He credits the local Chamber of Commerce, Community Development Officer Cheryl Digby and others with having the vision to recruit skilled foreign labourers to fill positions in Morden, Winkler and other thriving towns. "Without this far-seeing recruitment policy, the growth of Decor Cabinets would not have been sustainable, because there are not enough home-grown skilled workers in the province to meet the needs of our manufacturing sectors," Dyck says. The company's growth was also fuelled by smart business strategies. One successful idea was to sell products through a network of independent dealers in locales from Alberta to Toronto and, starting in 1994, many parts of the U.S. Decor Cabinet Company, as it is now officially known, offers a full range of innovative storage options, as well as design services through its rebranded showroom, Two30Nine by Decor. The company is popular in the renovation sector because its custom cabinets may incorporate unique alterations to accommodate existing water pipes, drains and other problematic fixtures not encountered in new builds. "Our focus is on quality and so we are considered a slightly suCCess Sharing