HHIQ 2Q 2016

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REMEMBERING THE TITAN
BEHIND TIMBER MART
BY GEOFFREY McLARNEY
The industry lost one of its legends with the passing on January 13 of Barrie J. Sali, former TIMBER MART
president and CEO, while he was on holiday in Maui, Hawaii. He was 77 years old.
S
ali joined TIMBER MART, originally
named Tim-BR Marts Ltd., in 1970,
when a group of 18 dealers invited
him to take over as general manager. At the
time, their combined purchases came to a
total of $1 million, but it took Sali only a few
years to reach his goal of raising that figure to
$10 million. A famously tough negotiator, he
made TIMBER MART one of the country’s
largest buying groups by the time he retired
in late 2003.
Gino Allegro remembers the first time
he spoke to Sali over the phone. In his
final year as an undergraduate student in
commerce at the University of Manitoba,
he was required to present to his class on a
business segment to be drawn from a hat. “I
happened to get buying groups in Canada,”
he recalls. Tasked with phoning Sali,
who was then based at TIMBER MART’s
Winnipeg office, he didn’t know much
about his subject: “I knew he was a pretty
tough guy, but I didn’t know who he was.”
Allegro naively asked Sali for 20 minutes
of his time. “I’ll give you five minutes, and
five minutes only,” was the reply.
Five minutes turned into three and a
half hours, and by the time they finished,
Allegro had enough material to earn him
a solid grade on his presentation. When he
sent Sali a copy of his work, Sali told him,
“You owe me.” It was, Allegro says with a
chuckle, “typical Barrie.”
The assignment proved to be a foreshadowing.
Today, he is Canadian sales manager
for insulation maker Johns Manville. “By
coincidence,” Allegro observes, “I happened
Barrie Sali, former industry titan, is remembered
as a tough negotiator and an equally fierce friend.
to end up in the same industry. Barrie was a
pretty integral part of my life.” He counted
Sali as “not only a business partner, but a true
friend, who was very good-hearted under his
tough, barking exterior.”
Sali’s love for his dealers—and for the
West Coast—even trumped the chance
to head up Canada’s largest hardware
co-op. More than two decades ago, Walter
Hachborn, co-founder and then-president
of Home Hardware Stores Ltd., pursued Sali
to be his predecessor as Hachborn began
developing a succession plan. Sali visited
St. Jacobs, the quaint Ontario town where
Home’s head office is located, and finally
told Hachborn he was not prepared to leave
the lifestyle and business connections he
had with TIMBER MART, by then based
in Vancouver.
He also had many passions outside of his
business. Sali will be remembered as a wine
aficionado—even investing in a winery—
an avid traveller, who slowed down only a
little in retirement, and for his love of golf
and barbecuing.
Barrie Sali is survived by his wife of 31
years, Roxanne Diaz, and their sons Max
and Harrison Sali, as well as his siblings,
their partners, and his many nieces and
nephews. A celebration of his life was
held in February at Shaughnessy Golf and
Country Club in Vancouver.
PHOTO: POPLAR GROVE WINERIES
50 SECOND QUARTER / 2016
Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly
www.hardlines.ca