Inveray Home Hardware Moves to Brand New Building

Jeff Green | May 15, 2025

When brothers Matt and Will Trousdale took over management of the long standing Trousdale family business in Sydenham, the next phase of growth for the company seemed to be clear. Their father John still works full time at the Home Hardware store in Sydenham but is content to leave the big decisions to his sons at this point. John purchased a large lot on the southwest corner of the junction of Rutledge and Sydenham roads years about a kilometre outside of the village of Sydenham.

The long term plan was, and still is, to develop that land as a retail centre to house Trousdale Home Hardware and Sydenham Foodland, and other complementary stores. The current Trousdale stores are anchor stores in Sydenham, and the virtue of their location in the heart of the hamlet is also a limiting factor for growth, as the lot they are located on is hemmed in by Sydenham Lake, the Cataraqui Trail, and George Street.

That direction was altered a few years ago when Matt and Will learned that Rita and Roger Azulay were looking to sell Inverary Home Hardware and retire, after 30 years running the store. It was a natural fit for Matt and Will to buy the business. And they knew when they bought the business 4 years ago that it needed to be consolidated.

The store on Perth Road and Moreland-Dixon, just south of Inverary, was small by modern hardware store standards, and some of that room was taken up by the LCBO outlet that Roger and Reta had opened. It was also a leased property. Inverary Home Hardware also had another outlet north of Inverary, also on Perth Road, where the Azulay’s ran their Maple Syrup supplies business, in the spring.

The property was owned by the business, and one of the first things that the Trousdale brothers did when they bought the business, was to open a lumber yard at that location, to serve the Inverary, Sunbury, Perth Road and Battersea population base.
“We knew immediately that it would be better for everyone, ourselves as managers, our tremendous employees that we inherited from Reta and Roger, and our customers, if we could consolidate everything in one location,” said Will,
That is how building a new store in Inverary moved to the top of their priority list.

Even though the construction phase has been completed, incremental improvements to serve the Inverary clientele, as well as Sydenham clientele, are always top of mind.

“We have a full line here of construction materials; shingles; trim; doors and windows; spruce lumber; decking, and we can deliver using trucks from here or borrowing the truck from Sydenham,” said Matt, in an interview at the store last week.

“Similarly with large appliances. We have them here. We are waiting on some kitchen cabinetry, and we will have that as well,” said Will.

“We still are a CDL dealer for maple syrup, it was a very good season this year, and that is being re-located right in the store as well,” said Matt.

While we were talking, spring products were being stocked on the shelves, staff were meeting to discuss where things should go, and then fanning out to get everything in place.
“We are pleased to be able to get this store open for the spring season, and as you can see, we are getting close to having it completely set up. This size allows us to bring more product in, so we can have as much in stock as possible for customers. People tell us they are happy to avoid going into Kingston, and our goal is to help them decide to drive this way instead of driving south,” Will said.

The brothers are also bullish on the Home Hardware model, which they have grown up in.

“Home Hardware is jointly owned by all the dealers, it’s a different model that way. There is no outside company running the show for corporate stores and franchise owners. It can never be sold off, and turn into something else. And the website works for people. If it is set to our store, customers can see what we have in stock, and they can also order anything for pickup in the store, and it comes to us in the yellow truck pretty quickly just like all of our product does.”
Part of the thinking when they purchased Inverary Home Hardware was to keep it distinct from the Trousdale businesses in Sydenham.

We wanted to keep the identity local, and not have it look like an extension of our Sydenham business,” said Matt Trousdale, “while taking advantage of anything that one store can offer to the other.”
The new store is a prime example of that.

A grand opening of the new Inverary Home Hardware store is scheduled for the weekend of July 13. The store is fully open now. It opens at 8am, 7 days a week The store is fully open now. It opens at 8am, 7 days a week.