HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-07-26, Page 12There is no question that cars changed the way business
was done Here, Allan Bert Bainton, one of the founders of
Baintons, poses with his first car, a 1911 Overland.
PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1995.
Producing quality wool and leather
¢t 1
turned down a vote for a
municipal sewage
treatment plant, Franklin
moved the processing
and tannery and wool
pulling operation to the
farm where a 13-acre site
provided room for a
treatment lagoon system.
The old, downtown
building remained as
office, warehouse and
retail space until the
retail side of the business
expanded so rapidly that
the entire main floor of
the building was turned
over to retailing of wool
and leather products.
As business boomed, a
second modern
processing plant was built
in 1979, adjacent to the
1963 plant in Hullett
Twp.
On Dec. 22, 1992
Franklin Bainton, aged
82, collapsed at his office. It was perhaps fitting that he died
at work at the company he had devoted his life to building to
international prominence.
While Bainton Limited has always played a large role in
the village of
Blyth and in
the leather
industry
nation wide,
the highly
visible,
consumer
oriented
retailing part
of the
business
gained new
prominence
from the
1960s
onward.
It was
during this
time that
Frank and
Cenetta
Bainton's
only
daughter, Glenyce, joined the firm. She'd grown up around
the wool and leather business and studied business
administration at the University of Western Ontario. Her first
role was doing sales for the company to other retailers but
eventually she became interested in
expanding the retail outlet.
As more and more people were making
the trip to Bainton's, the small retail outlet
could no longer cope, so, the family
decided to expand, taking over more of the
downtown building. The next few years
brought phenomenal growth at the factory
outlet. Thousands of people travelled from
cities like London, Sarnia, Strafford,
Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph for
shopping trips. Others came from the U.S.
and even Europe. By 1970 on a fall
weekend, it was hard to find a parking
space in the entire downtown area of Blyth
as shoppers flocked to the annual fall sale.
In the early 1970s, Glenyce, and her
husband Richard Snell, who had
specialized in the tannery end of the
business, decided to open their own
business, The Old Mill, a mile south of
Blyth. Rather than dividing the existing
business the fact that there were now two
retail outlets to choose from attracted even
more shoppers. By 1977, when Blyth
celebrated its centennial, Bainton's Old
Mill had an inventory of 15,000 garments,
including jackets, coats, blazers and pants,
motorcycle jackets, chaps and gloves.
Keeping on top of the latest trends in styles means plenty
of travel for members of the family. There are fashion shows
to attend and meetings with manufacturers to have leather
from the Bainton Limited tannery turned into leather coats
and garments for the Bainton's Old Mill outlet.
In 1987, Franklin and Cenetta turned over the retail part of
the operation to their grandchildren, Franklin, Jayne,
Amanda and Richard (Jr.) Snell.
Having grown up with the leather and woollen business,
the fourth generation brought tradition as well as youthful
energy and enthu,siasm to the company. Each pursued post-
secondary university studies. Richard trained for two years at
Nene College, Northampton, Eng. in the faculty of Science
in Leather Technology. He and Franklin, who also serves as
president of Bainton's Old Mill, are involved in the tannery
operation.
Jayne (Snell) Marquis, is now store manager and
secretary-treasurer for Bainton's Old Mill. Amanda serves as
a director of the company as well as being involved in the
retail operation. Both have extensive backgrounds in the
fashion industry. All four members of the family appear as
models in advertisements for the company's products from
time to time.
A great many of the garments sold at Bainton's Old Mill
come from the Bainton Limited tannery. Leather is graded at
the tannery into qualities suitable for coats, jackets, gloves,
hats, handbags and moccasins. The leather suitable for
garments is sent to one of four garment factories in Toronto.
Other leathers are sent to Kitchener and Quebec for glove
manufacturing, while another grade of leather is made into
hats and suitable grades are used for handbags and
moccasins. They're returned to Blyth where they become
part of the huge inventory that draws shoppers from all over
southern Ontario.
Having two specialties, wool and leather, helps Bainton's
Old Mill remain strong when fashions change. If leather
drops in popularity then wool may gain, and vice versa.
No company, however, can have as long and proud a
history as Bainton's without everyone from top to bottom
being committed to quality and customer service.
Employees at Bainton's Old Mill, (which employs 17
people full and part time) are continually coached in
customers relations. They're taught that the customer is the
most important person in the business. He is not an
interruption of the employee's work, he is the purpose of it.
Everyone in the company is dependent on the customer. The
customer is the person who brings his wants to Bainton's. It
is the job of the staff to handle and to make sure his visit is
profitable for him, and in doing so it will be profitable for the
company and its employees too.
The secret to Bainton's success is its customer service.
Sleeves are shortened on site free of charge for up to one
year after purchase of a garment. A garment is serviced free
of charge for any flaws that are garment-related. Bainton's
stands behind its products.
For over 100 years this partnership of leadership and
employees, has helped Bainton's grow to become one of the
largest employers in Blyth.
Bainton's Old Mill: A shopping mecca for shoppers seeking quality wool and leather
products at factory outlet prices.
Allan Bert Bainton, Frank Bainton and Jayne Bainton,
children of Mrs. Charles Bainton, who had lost her husband
some years before, came to Blyth from Wingham in 1894.
Allan Bert worked in a tannery and glove factory in
Wingham before coming to Blyth. Frank had been working
at a woollen mill in Teeswater. They brought this experience
to Blyth, and with their sister formed a company that has
lasted 100 years and is one of the most famous in Ontario.
The first Bainton Brothers, a wool pulling and tannery
operation was in a rented old tannery building on the north
side of Blyth Creek. The two brothers worked in the plant
while Jayne ran the office.
Sh,-,epskins, hides and furs were bought from butchers
within a 100-mile radius. Furs were also purchased from
trappers. Hides and sheepskins were picked up monthly with
a horse and light wagon in the summer and a sleigh in the
winter. These hides and furs were sold to dealers in Toronto
and Lonoon.
Some of the furs were custom tanned in Blyth and all the
sheepskins were processed in the village. The wool was
taken off the skins, processed and sold to the woollen mills
in the area. 'The skins were tanned and made into mitts, work
gloves and leggings and sold through their factory outlet.
After the outlet was destroyed by fire in 1898, the Baintons
bought the property on the south side of the creek and built
on the present Bainton Old Mill site.
In 1925 they added to the north side of the building to
house machinery for manufacturing blankets and yarns from
100 per cent virgin wool.
Allan Bert Bair ton died in 1930 at 59. His son Franklin,
who had been born in Blyth 20 years earlier on Nov. 4, now
oversaw the business with his uncle, Frank Sr. They began a
wool pulling business again and manufactured knitting
yarns.
When Franklin Bainton Sr. died at age 64 in 1934 Franklin
Jr. was left to guide the fortunes of this family's business by
himself.
His father and uncle's deaths had thrust him into
leadership of Bainton Limited at just 24 years of age. Over
the next nearly 60 years, however, he proved his early start
was just the beginning.
It was the height of the Great Depression. Workers at the
plant earned $2 a day for working six days a week, from 7
a.m. to 6 p.m.
In 1935 Franklin's bride Cenetta joined the business. In
1938 their daughter Glenyce was born.
The outbreak of World War II brought a growing
demand for wool and the Depression was left behind. 1946
saw the original building on Westmoreland St. expanded,
with the addition of a three storey building on the east and
north side of the original old mill. The front of the original
building was refaced with red brick. The original inside wall
still exists.
Franklin increased production since skins were now
bought from the meat packing industry all across Canada. At
that time Bainton's were processing approximately 5,000
skins per week.
In 1958 he had purchased the former George Sloan farm
from Chester Morrison. It was located a mile south and east
of Blyth in Hullett Twp. In 1963, after Blyth ratepayers