McKenna Distribution a family affair

REGINA McKenna Distribution Ltd. of Regina, a 30-year-old flooring, tile and building supplies company, was the winner of the 2014 Family Enterprise of the Year Achievement (FEYA) award at the Regina chapter of the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE Regina) gala Thursday night.

Were proud to be recognized by the community, especially as a family business, said Steve McKenna of McKenna Distribution. Were very much a family business.

The business was founded in 1984 by Steves father, Bruce McKenna, as McKenna Flooring Supplies. Steve started working at the business at a very young age and worked his way up from the warehouse to sales to general manager. In 2011, Steve and his wife, Alyssa, started a new company called McKenna Tile and Stone, a tile distribution company, which Alyssa managed until November 2012.

At that time, Bruce McKenna retired and the two companies, McKenna Tile and Stone and McKennas Flooring Supplies, were amalgamated under the business name of McKenna Distribution. The companys product line now includes glass, porcelain and ceramic tile, luxury vinyl tile, flooring supplies, and building supplies, and serves Regina and other communities in southern Saskatchewan.

Following the award presentation, the McKennas talked about growing and growing up in a family business. I started working at the age of seven or eight. I have memories of going in and helping tidy up on the weekend, while my dad did paperwork, working for a Slurpee, that type of thing, Steve said.

After purchasing the company from Steves parents, Steve and Alyssa decided to amalgamate the two business into one. It allowed us to diversify our product mix. The purpose of starting a separate company in the first place was that we wanted to branch (off) into more finishing products, like tile and stone. We felt there was an opportunity to import some really unique products ... that were being missed in the marketplace.

McKenna Distribution currently has 11 employees. We also own Luxury Granite, which does countertop fabrication and installation. We have another 12 employees there.

Steve sees good things for McKenna in the future. Theres definitely strong growth opportunities here, especially in the business were in, being directly related to residential and commercial construction and aligned with the right partners, a lot of the successful builders.

As for passing on the family business to his four-year old daughter, that would be a dream. Steve added.

bjohnstone@leaderpost.com

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McKenna Distribution a family affair