Alan Thompson knocks up 50 years in the hardware game

Given that most people change careers at least once in their lives and the average person is more likely to go through three to seven before they retire, it’s not often you’ll find someone like Alan Thompson, who this week marked 50 years in the hardware business and most of that time in the same hardware business.

“I left Orange High School and started work on the 26th of November 1973 in Glenroi Builders Supplies, which was over in Glenroi Avenue opposite the Ophir Tavern,” recalls Alan, who is now Trade Account Manager for Petrie’s Mitre 10 in McLachlan Street.

“I started work there for a fella named Ross Little and I worked there until 1980, when the owner built this place down here in McLachlan Street,” he continues.

“John Payne bought the business and I worked with John Payne right up until 2005. Then, still in the hardware industry, I opened my own hardware store in Bathurst with Dave Kent.”  When Petries bought the McLachlan Street store from John Payne in 2008, Alan says he was approached to come back.

“And I've been here ever since!” he says.

But it was not originally the plan and Alan would never have imagined on that first day at Glenroi Builders Supplies he would be in the job five decades later.

“No! My father had arranged an automotive mechanics apprenticeship for me but it couldn't start until February. In those days everybody started their apprenticeships on the first of February, but when it came time to go there, because I had this job at Glenroi Builders Supplies I didn't want to leave I was quite happy there,” he recalls.

Although, talking to Alan it seems there are some parts of the job best left in the “good old days”.

“Over Glenroi Avenue we used to buy our cement by the semi-trailer load and they came in 40 kg bags, still hot. You climbed up on the truck and you unloaded a semi-trailer load of cement, 40 kg bags, and we did that three times a week,” he recalls.

“But it's been a great time and very interesting…Hardware is a very interesting game and I think it should be a trade – builders hardware in particular because it's not as easy as you might think.

“You need to know what people are doing and how they are using the products because if you give them the wrong stuff, for a start it's expensive for them and then they could go elsewhere…

“So when they come to us, they want someone who can show them how to use the stuff, where to use it, the right size, the right gauge, what is and isn't legal to an extent…” 

While there have been many changes and innovations in hardware over the years, the biggest change Alan has seen is the sheer growth of Orange and the boom in building.

“When you drive around Orange it blows me away,” says Alan, whose own home in Phillip Street was not long ago considered to be on the outskirts of town.

“Now we are closer to the middle than the outskirts! Shiralee – all those places around there. Molong Road and all the places that have sprung up along Murphy's Lane, it's amazing!

“But it’s good for business, my word it is! Orange is a good place to do business!”