Home Hardware Stores Limited has announced the recipients of the annual Proud of My Home Achievement Awards at the recent 2025 Homecoming event in Toronto. The highest honour of the evening, the Walter J. Hachborn Store of the Year Award, was presented to Essex Home Hardware Building Centre in Essex, Ontario.
The Store of the Year Award recognizes the Home store that best upholds the values on which Home Hardware was co-founded by Walter J. Hachborn 60 years ago—value, service, and dependability. The Essex team was also recognized as Best Home Hardware Building Centre – Central Region. To accept the award on behalf of the store were Dealer-Owners Brent Seguin, Kimberly Seguin-Gauthier, and their father, Larry Seguin.
“This honour is the highlight of an unforgettable year for our family and our stores as we celebrated 60 years of serving our communities,” said Kimberly Seguin-Gauthier, Dealer-Owner, Essex Home Hardware Building Centre. “No matter how much we’ve grown, our heart is still in that small-town, spirit that connects us to our community.”
The Seguin family’s roots in retail stretch back four generations. Larry’s grandmother first ran a feed store in the region, providing the foundation for his father, Arthur, to partner with Home Hardware’s Walter J. Hachborn in 1965. Larry expanded the business in the 1980s, later welcoming Brent and Kimberly into the fold, who now proudly carry on the family tradition, said the retailer.
“The Seguin family exemplifies what it means to be part of the Home Hardware family,” said John Pierce, Chief Retail Operations Officer, Home Hardware Stores Limited. “Their leadership, dedication to their team, and commitment to their community represent the very best of our brand. We are thrilled to recognize them with this year’s Store of the Year Award.”
The Walter J. Hachborn Store of the Year Award is one of 18 awards presented at Homecoming 2025.
PROUD OF MY HOME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
All Proud of My Home Achievement Award recipients demonstrate strong staff performance, superior customer service, excellence in interior and exterior store presentation and active participation within their communities, said the company.
Paul Straus Public Relations Award: Coutts Home Hardware – Forestburg, Alberta
Best Home Furniture: Beck’s Home Furniture and Appliances – Montague, P.E.I.
Best Home Hardware:
Fennell & Gage Home Hardware – Hamilton, Ont. (Central)
Kinlock Home Hardware – Stratford, P.E.I. (Eastern)
Nowco Home Hardware – Lacombe, Alta. (Western)
Quincaillerie Home Hardware – Aylmer – Gatineau, Que. (Québec)
Best Home Building Centre:
Home Building Centre – Lindsay – Lindsay, Ont. (Central)
Blackville Home Building Centre – Blackville, N.B. (Eastern)
Winnipeg Beach Home Building Centre – Winnipeg Beach, Man. (Western)
Nadeau Materiaux de Construction Inc. – Cap-d’Espoir, Que. (Québec)
Best Home Hardware Building Centre:
Essex Home Hardware Building Centre – Essex, Ont. (Central)
Bennett’s Home Hardware Building Centre – Goulds, Nfld. (Eastern)
Meadow Lake Home Hardware Building Centre – Meadow Lake, Sask. (Western)
Renomax Roberval – Roberval, Que. (Québec)
Best Young Retailer:
Wellesley Home Centre, Jamie Kuepfer – Wellesley, Ont. (Central)
Richibucto Home Hardware Building Centre, Julien Richard – Richibucto, N.B. (Eastern)
Carlyle Home Hardware, Katie Gavelin – Carlyle, Sask. (Western)
Jean Denis, Limitee, Felix Antoine Moisan – Saint-Raymond, Que. (Québec)
Founded over 60 years ago in St. Jacobs, Ontario, Home Hardware Stores Limited is Canadian and the country’s largest Dealer-owned and operated home improvement retailer with more than 1,000 stores operating under the Home Hardware, Home Building Centre, Home Hardware Building Centre and Home Furniture banners.
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