The company commenced trading on 01/07/1971 registered as L.Cantle Pty Ltd. The owner, Lyall Cantle, was previously employed at Hudson Timber & Hardware and leased premises at 299 Penshurst St, Willoughby, trading as The Timber Shop.
The original clientele was a mixture of approximately 40%/60% trade to retail business with a range of timber and hardware products reflecting this mix. Over the years this has changed with the primary focus now trade customers.
Thornleigh Timber and Hardware was purchased in 1975 with premises relocated to Chilvers Rd, Thornleigh. As most material was supplied to the upper North Shore the company was well located to service our customer base.
In 1978 a storage and milling yard was built at Higginbottom Rd, Ryde named Sawmillers Sales & Storage. Large amounts of re-sawing was done at this time with most timber sold being milled from imported oregon. The yard serviced both Willoughby and Thornleigh stores. In 1982 the company changed its name to North Shore Timber & Hardware as this most accurately described our service area.
In 1986 North Shore Timber & Hardware consolidated its Thornleigh and Ryde premises with a new warehouse being built at 17 Sefton Rd, Thornleigh. This was the first timber warehouse of its type in Sydney.
All products were stored under cover with vertical racking and electric forklifts used to store and pick timber. This allowed for maximum usage of floor space and quick access to a larger range of products. Having its timber stored away from the elements gave the company an advantage of its competitors as products were kept in better condition and the new racking system allowed orders to be produced more efficiently and hence more quickly than other timber yards.
The Thornleigh warehouse was nominated for the TAMBA (Timber & Building Materials Association) Store of the Year on completion. After many years when NS Timber was not a member of TABMA, the company rejoined again in 2000 and once agan the Thornleigh store was nominated for store of the year. To be nominated in the same category 14 years later, is an indication that the store is still seen as a highly efficient operation by the industry.
The Willoughby premises were sold in 1991 with a new warehouse constructed at 24 Smith St, Chatswood. As with the Thornleigh warehouse, all timber was stored undercover with vertical racking. The exposed rafters of the building were constructed from Hybeam, a new manufactured building product that North Shore Timber was the first to market in Sydney, and a product that is now widely used in construction. The change of location proved a success with easier access and a much larger range of products stocked on the premises, increasing sales significantly.
A third store was opened for trading in July, 1997, at premises leased at 21 Danks St, Waterloo. The store originated from a constant request for timber in the City, Eastern Suburbs and inner west. With builders requiring their material on site early in the day, having to transport materials south of the harbour from Thornleigh was becoming increasingly difficult. Opening a branch at Waterloo solved this problem and has increased company sales by allowing access to new areas.
Waterloo's warehouse was designed and fitted with the latest in racking design and forklift equipment making optimum use of available space. The store was immediately successful and with the continued high demand for materials in the above mentioned areas, the Waterloo store still remains a key despatch base for much of the company's deliveries.
The owner, Lyall Cantle, retired in 1997 and the business was purchased by Keith Wilkinson, who has been General Manager since the days of The Timber Shop. The new company was named NS Timber Pty Ltd as the title North Shore Timber, whilst still well respected in the building industry, no longer applied to much of the area that the company was now servicing.
In January, 2004, a new purpose built store with state of the art timber racking was opened at 1 Apollo St, Warriewood, allowing the company to service Sydney's Northern Beaches. The new store continues to show steady growth, confirming the need for an outlet for the company in this area of Sydney.
Over the last couple of years, the majority of warehouse racking at the Thornleigh store has been replaced with new Sipag metal racking as per the other branches.This has allowed for an estimated 40% increase in storage and picking racks.In addition, the extremely busy Chatswood store was revamped with new racking throughout both the timber and hardware sections. This has resulted in not only greatly increased stock levels and access to materials but greatly contributed to a substantial increase in sales for the store.
Further improvements are scheduled for Thornleigh's store and the company's increase in sales by both volume and geographical area has encouraged the management to continue seeking new sites for further expansion.
