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Historic glass business passing to the third generation

It needs to adapt to a new way of doing business while keeping traditions
Island Glass & Mirror
This picture taken 10 years ago shows two generations of the Greig family, including brothers (from left) Brent, Kevin and Michael, with their late father George. Now they are handing over the reins to the following generation. File photo

A 52-year-old family-run glass and mirror business in Richmond is now passing the torch on to the third generation.

Island Glass & Mirror Ltd in Ironwood has been owned and run by the Greig family since 1966; the second generation took it over in1989.

As two of the three owners have recently retired, a third generation of the family is now taking over the reins of the company.

“We’re very pleased to welcome the next generation of our family into the operation, and are thrilled that our employees will continue to have a home here,” said sales manager Brent Greig.

“They have brought fresh ideas and energy to the company and... our family can now look forward to that continuing for decades to come.”   

The new generatino consists of Brent, his son Brody Greig and his son-in-law, Dave Shaw.

Shaw told the Richmond News that it’s essential for his family business to stay in Richmond, although many other local glass businesses have fled to the Fraser Valley in the past decade.

“Most of the glass companies in Richmond have moved to the Valley in the past 10 to 15 years. It’s a slow migration. The property prices go up, and people are looking to pay less rent,” said Shaw.

“But it’s very important for our brand to stay in Richmond, even though it means we have to pay higher rent. We have been in Richmond for so long and I couldn’t imagine going elsewhere,” he said.

Shaw added the high housing prices have also driven employees away.

“If there are more employees in the Valley who are able to work, then a shop out there will have a better chance of attracting them, because there may be a shorter commute,” he said.

The company, according to Shaw, is working hard to make itself attractive to workers by providing benefits and profit-sharing opportunities, all the while treating workers with respect.

“We want to make sure that they feel valued...because they have the ability to go wherever they want,” said Shaw.

“We have a lot of guys who actually have to drive through the tunnel every day. We make sure that they really want to come here, or, they will go somewhere else.”

As long-time companies like Island Glass & Mirror Ltd. move forward, they need to adapt to a new way of doing business while keeping traditions, according to Shaw.

“If we were starting a company from scratch, we would think about all the stuff that uses modern techniques and modern processes,” he said.

“But there are a lot of old processes we have carried on for decades. For example, we didn’t start using credit cards until two years ago…so we have to see new ways of doing things.”

The company started a social media initiative this year and updated its website, hoping to reach out to more younger, potential customers.

Meanwhile, some erstwhile traditions have been kept.

“We have used the same suppliers for a really long time,” said Shaw.

“We don’t want to change too much because if someone called us to redo the shower for them from 10 years ago, we want to make sure that we still get the same replacement for that customer.”

Shaw said he likes to see people walking into the store, sometimes just to look for a piece of glass for a picture frame.

“It is nice to know that there is a shop in Richmond you can come to get a piece of glass cut for you,” said Shaw.