By ANDREW WAREING
Parent Door Systems is a company that started from a minute idea and is hoping for a move into a bigger market.
Owner Paul Parent started the window and door manufacturing business 26 years ago after losing a job at another company.
“I always had this little idea in my mind about manufacturing doors myself. I said to my wife that was the best time to do it.”
The company started in a modest, rented facility in North Bay.
He says growing the business, which manufactures wood and PVC windows and doors for several retail customers in North Bay, “took a while,” but already having a good reputation helped.
The business soon graduated to construction of its own 10,000-square-foot facility. Since then, the
company has grown to employ 28 people in its own 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Seymour Crescent in North Bay. But the business is still a family business.
Parent will be participating in the Team Northern Ontario trade mission to Michigan from June 7 to 11.
“I found out about it through the media and contacted the chamber of commerce to let them know I was interested in becoming involved with it,” he says. “The main objective it has is to look for dealers and distribution. This is potentially a very good market.”
He says the population size of Michigan and the rest of the United States makes it a good market to aim for. Parent added that Canadian products are already considered much better than similar products made south of the border.
“They already have to be half-decent because of the extremes of weather that we have that they don’t have down there,” says Parent.
