HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
The holiday season was very full for all of us at The Hitch House. We continued operations throughout the holidays in order to prepare for our rebuilding after the fire.
The Barrie area receives its fair share of snow and this holiday season did not disappoint us. The snow accumulation did hamper the demolition efforts. At this time, the remains of The Hitch House main building have been completely stripped. The roof of the Motorhome service bays were removed on New Year's Eve day along with most of the remaining walls. As I write this update the demolition crew is sorting the debris for appropriate disposal. Over the next several days the concrete floor will be lifted and removed. The Hitch House's main building was built over a period of 40+ years so the original concrete floor will pose some challenges for the demolition crew. In 1972 when the original concrete floor was poured the building code required reinforcing bars to be laid in the concrete. Now with improvements to building materials that type of structure is no longer required in concrete floors. Hopefully within a week or two the entire floor structure will be completely gone.
Our insurance company has been very good to work with and has approved TV advertising as well as signage to identify The Hitch House Sales Office and our separate Parts & Accessories Store. We are currently sourcing shelving units that will allow us to accommodate our Parts' Retail Store. The objective is to acquire shelving units that we will be able to use in the new building. We were very pleased with the store fixtures that adorned our previous Parts' store and we will be replacing those when the new building is complete. Under the current temporary circumstances we are focusing on store shelving that will serve the purpose until our new building is up and provide the Parts' & Accessories that you, our customers were used to.
The initial drawings of the new Hitch House are in! We are taking the best of the previous building, incorporating new technology, building standards and improving efficiencies through design. Now with the drawings we are soliciting input from our staff, suppliers and industry partners to make modifications and changes to the layout in order to build the very best Motorhome Dealership possible. By mid January our designer will submit the drawings to our engineers, Gerrits Engineering Limited. Please keep an eye on our site we will provide an artist's rendering as soon as it is available.
