COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

With that magic number approaching, it was time to put the building up for sale. It was a decision made easier when their biggest tenant, Home Hardware, decided to move its operation to Rest Acres Road. Bill had already sold Tough's Home Hardware to new owners in 2017 and was enjoying a semi-retirement. The decision to list it was a big sell indeed- eight residential units on the upper floors and several commercial store fronts on ground level facing both Grand River Street North and Mechanic Street So, finding the right buyer was going to be a challenge. Bill and Sheila also had a big stipulation - the new owners had to agree to assume the tenants, some of whom have lived in the apartments for 25 years.

"It was totally different than selling a house. We didn't have just three pages of paperwork, we had almost an entire book," recalled Bill.

While finding a buyer was tricky, the hardest part of the process was the mental and physical work of clearing out the building. It took nearly 6 months of hard work that brought the Toughs on a trip down memory lane. It was a nostalgic process to say the least, but it was also a self-soothing and therapeutic closure to such a big chapter in their lives

While they sorted through the 19,000 square foot basement, packed with three generations of heirlooms, products, antiques, and some things they believed to be junk, they came to the realization that most of it could be repurposed giving the Tough generation a chance to live on in new ways. So, they pulled some of the heirlooms to the main level where the Hardware store operated for so many decades, and they set up a second-hand shop of sorts to sell off some of the valuables.

"We sold this fireplace mantle to a woman in Waterford," said Bill "She sent us pictures of it refurbished," and that was heartwarming to see because the mantle was once the centrepiece of his grandmother's home, which is just next door to his home in the flats of Paris.

"So much of it (the contents) had history. Bill would tell me so many stories as we sorted through things," said Sheila Maybe it was the nostalgia or the desire to not add to the landfill, but the Toughs made a great effort to ensure nothing went to waste Collectors, antique dealers and pickers rummaged through the basement and their makeshift shop. Some items, like a lot of old tools passed down through the generations, were just too precious to give up. Other items were donated with the hope that they could find new purpose.

During one day of clean up, they pulled out 19 doors from the basement and put them up for grabs behind the store. It didn't take long for the doors to disappear and to their surprise the Toughs received pictures from happy folks who couldn't help but share how they repurposed the doors

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There was an unbelievable amount of old tools and heirlooms stored in the basement of 30 Grand River St N. It took six months to clean everything out!

This fireplace mantle was once a centrepiece in Bill’s grandmother’s house on Walnut Street. The Toughs sold this to a woman in Waterford who repurposed it to give it new life.