Profile Meloche Windows - In Business Magazine, October 2007

Story by Daniella Girgenti
Photography by John Liviero

The modern 30,000 square foot structure in LaSalle that houses the retail side of Meloche Windows and Doors belies the business’ 50 year history that began as a basement business catering to the friends of founder Bob Meloche. The company’s smooth transition from a small venture initially supplying only storm doors and windows into a vastly functioning business that has products, manufacturing manpower, installation services and customer service is a progression that manager Rod Mahler attributes to changes built upon the foundation put in place by Meloche in 1957. Builders, contractors, dealers, architects, and designers are now also customers of the operation, adding to the owner friends that made up the business’ first patrons.

“One of the most important changes is that we’ve kept adding more and more products over the years,” Mahler says. Vinyl windows, fibreglass, steel and wood doors, and high quality hardware lines are just some of those added products. The addition of more products was also a way for Meloche Windows and Doors to differentiate itself from their competitors. “What we did was not only continue to provide windows and doors to our market, but we also have a couple of specialty products that nobody else carries here down in Southwestern Ontario,” Mahler points out. The Harring line of doors, the high-end Rocky Mountain Hardware line and Baldwin hardware are some of the lines that Meloche Windows and Doors have a monopoly on in the area. Not only that, but in the 1980s when the vinyl window and door market was booming, Meloche Windows and Doors took it upon themselves to remember the quality that wood products possessed and added the versatile wood window line called Weathershield. They are still the sole distributor of the Weathershield line in the southwestern Ontario area to this day.

During the 1980s, the business also focused exclusively on the manufacturing of their products. Pro-Fit Manufacturing, the manufacturing arm of the Meloche enterprise, sits directly beside their retail store which opened in 2001 with a sizeable showroom and display samples of the many product lines that the company provides. Forever changing and being updated by designers Tim and Stephanie O’Neil, the showroom is a place where clientele can browse the products in an attractive setting. But it’s at Pro-Fit Manufacturing where founder Meloche still keeps his hand in the business. Going on 80 years old, Meloche is still active in the daily happenings of his 50-year-old enterprise. “He’s here everyday. He comes to work at seven in the morning and is here till whatever time at night,” says Mahler. With Mahler as manager and his daughter, Elise Clark, as president, Meloche keeps his hand in things by working in production on specialty product projects. Mahler believes it’s those special inclusions such as specialty products that make the business stand out and succeed. “We’re also a one-stop shop to our customer base,” he explains. “Initially, we provide the sales, then we manufacture, install, and we later provide the after-market customer service in case there are any warranty or service issues. Our customer base knows that we’re local and they can just come in and talk to us here in town. They’re not dealing with an absent products manufacturer in Toronto or London or something.”

From a one-man operation into a staff of 35 in order to cover all the services that Meloche Windows and Doors provides is another major change to note. Some of the members of the installation crew, which is recognized for their retro-fit window and door abilities, have been with the company for 15 or 20 years, says Mahler. The longevity of some of the employees mirrors the loyalty of the business’ customer base. “We have a huge repeat business,” he says. “Customers come back time and time again and refer people to us.” Mahler also considers part of the business’ success is due to Meloche Windows and Doors being a family enterprise — an attractive point to a local customer base. The reputation that has been cultivated by the Meloche family has also made the name recognizable throughout the city. However, he points that over five decades new generations have added and even replaced the original customer base and require a different type of treatment. “Up until four or five years ago this company did not do any marketing or advertising whatsoever,” says Mahler. “It was all word-of-mouth and that’s how the business grew.”

Although word-of-mouth still works for the business, a recently overhauled website gives a new group of clientele the chance to get to know Meloche Windows and Doors. The site explains a brief history, illustrates the product lines, details the services and where the company is located. “Now there’s a younger generation who require us to educate them on who we are,” Mahler explains. “We need to use different tools like a website so that they know what the Meloche name stands for.” The move into modernity can also be found in how the business celebrated its 50th birthday at the end of September. In order to invite the community to the 200-plus person gala event, a video invitation created with compressed still shots was sent out. The video illustrates the average customer’s experience with Meloche Windows and Doors, following the characters in the video from their entry into the retail store, through the showroom, the manufacturing and finally the installation. But as for the next 50 years, Mahler maintains that the business will simply continue doing what it always has done. “What we want to continue is providing a high-quality product with excellent customer service. No big changes except some different product lines,” he says. “We can’t be all things to all people, but we do want to keep doing what we do…and well.”