Just 14 months after opening his first Happy Harry's Used Building Materials outlet in Winnipeg, Harry Bohna is expanding across the country. He opened a second outlet in Calgary in March and has plans to open a third store in Hamilton in the near future.

"The idea is to create a network," he says. "Once I open in Hamilton, I will have enough stock to be able to send trailer loads back and forth across the country. What is popular in one region may not be popular in another."

Bohna has been in the contracting business in western Canada for 20 years. He used to buy houses and renovate them for resale. About five years ago, he saw a used building materials store in New Zealand.

"I liked the concept and decided to open my own one day," he says. When the recession cast a pall over the home renovation market, Bohna decided to pursue the idea. He already had a warehouse stocked with used building materials for his own renovations as a base to start from.

In his new endeavour, he is catering to other contractors, as well as landlords and home-owners. His 7,000-plus-square-foot Winnipeg location carries hardware and building materials such as plywood, flashing, and used shingles. He reports he has a number of U.S. customers too, and has established a sourcing network with American used building material stores and antique dealers.

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