Rob Rice

Rob Rice moved from Newfoundland to Fort McMurray with his family in 1983, when he was just four-years-old, making Fort McMurray his home. “I would not be where I am today without my parents Marilyn and Percy Rice. I thank them for taking the leap of faith and moving to Fort McMurray leaving all their friends and family behind”.

He did all of his schooling in Fort McMurray, and started working at Beaver Lumber when he was in high school. Over the years, Beaver Lumber became Home Hardware, and had various different owners. Rob stayed there, moving up the ladder until he had the opportunity to purchase the business, and jumped on it.

Rob credits his many coaches from years of playing sports for teaching him many life skills. He calls himself lucky to have had legendary coaches like Terry Connors, and Frank Lacroix to teach him to learn to be competitive but also to work with people, and deal with adversity. Now, Home Hardware is a proud supporter of local children’s sports teams as well as many other community organizations like The Wood Buffalo Food Bank, The United Way, Waypoints, Girls Inc and Keyano College.

Sometimes, you are given advice that shapes how you live, and that is what happened to Rob. “Don’t invest anywhere else; invest here. Invest where you live, and invest in the people.” Rob takes that advice from his father-in-law, into his business. “We have 70 employees - all local. They are all living here with their families.”

According to Rob, those 70 people are what makes his business great. “I want to know what they think we should be doing. Even when I hire a new employee I’ll ask them what they think we need to do to improve. We have to evolve and we have to change. We have to go above and beyond to keep people shopping with us, and improving our community...a community that my wife Jaylene and I will raise our two boys in for years to come. Fort McMurray is our home!”