FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Belmont, New Hampshire
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Contacts:
Bruce Hamel – Founder of The Home Beautiful
Rob Brown, Director, Business Ownership Solutions, Cooperative Development Institute
(207) 233-2987 rbrown@cdi.coop
Tom DuBois, General Manager & New Employee Owner, The Home Beautiful
603-524-5588 tom@home-beautiful.com
Watch the Video! The Home Beautiful Transition to Employee Ownership – Their Story
The Home Beautiful Transitions Ownership to Employees!
Employee-owned cooperative is first of its kind in the region
The Home Beautiful, one of central New Hampshire’s largest home decorating centers, serving homeowners, builders, designers and architects in the Lakes Region for more than 40 years, has transitioned to employee ownership. The Home Beautiful, which has been owned by Bruce Hamel for 35 years, has 21 employees, 10 of which are now employee owners. It is a full-service home decorating and design company that has always prided itself on being locally-owned. Employee ownership ensures that the business will continue to be locally-owned, serving the community, preserving local jobs, and guaranteeing that the company will be controlled by the employees that work there every day.
Searching for greater opportunities and freedoms than he was experiencing in his corporate career, Gilford, N.H. native, Bruce Hamel and his wife purchased The Home Beautiful in 1986. “After 35 years of ownership, and several years of thinking about the company’s future, I am proud to announce that I decided to sell The Home Beautiful to our employees. These people were vital to our success, so it was a natural fit to offer them the opportunity to continue building on that success. Their ownership will guarantee that the Home Beautiful will continue to be locally owned, serving the community, preserving local jobs, and guaranteeing that the company will always provide the quality service we are known for, ” said former president and owner Bruce Hamel.
“I’d like to thank Rob Brown and the team at Cooperative Development Institute for their help in creating our co-op and making this transition possible. If you’re a business owner struggling with an exit strategy, I suggest looking into selling your business to your employees,” said Hamel.
Hamel, and the employees of The Home Beautiful, worked closely with Rob Brown, Director of Business Ownership Solutions at the Cooperative Development Institute who provided the technical assistance that guided them through the process to transition to employee ownership.
“It’s been amazing to watch these workers develop the leadership and business skills needed to take over,” Brown said. “By solidifying the local ownership of the business and jobs, these workers can now chart their own future and the future of the enterprise and build wealth through ownership.”
Facing the Challenge
The Home Beautiful’s transition to worker ownership comes at a time when local businesses face significant challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to the pandemic, New Hampshire was already on the leading edge of what was termed the “Silver Tsunami”, the looming retirement of millions of aging baby boomer business owners with no concrete plans for how to exit. While half of business owners nationally are over age 50, in rural regions such as New Hampshire, nearly half are over 60. Nationally, 79% of business owners want to retire within 10 years, 57% in less than 5 years, and 33% in less than three years, yet fewer than 1 in 5 have a credible exit plan and most do not understand the process or options. Transitioning to employee ownership can be the perfect solution, if more business owners understood the option.
As New Hampshire faces these challenges, its rural communities face widespread business closures and job losses that have detrimental impacts on the state’s economy. Employee owned cooperatives offer a viable solution that can help sustain businesses and jobs, while keeping the business locally controlled and democratically managed. Worker-owned businesses tend to maintain above average retention rates of talent, weather economic stressors better than traditional business models and keep wealth in local communities.
A Dream Come True
For the employees for The Home Beautiful, becoming an employee owner is a dream come true. “I never dreamed that I would be an owner, I never even thought that I would be in management when I first started. I was only 19 years old, now twenty one years later, to be an owner as well as the president of the board of directors feels like quite an achievement from where I started,” said Jackie Lemire.
The employee ownership model can also be a great way to attract new employees and retain them. “When I interviewed at The Home Beautiful, Bruce shared with me he was preparing for retirement, and his desire to form an employee-owned co-op. His excitement about the co-op model and the love he had for The Home Beautiful was infectious, I couldn’t help but be excited about the idea,” said Kim Young, Assistant General Manager and Employee Owner. “We are not only employee-owners, but we are also a family, and the co-op has allowed us an opportunity that we wouldn’t get anywhere else,” Young continued.
“As a manager it has been helpful to have co-op membership to offer to employees. It helps with recruitment of new employees and with retaining experienced help. The co-op model contributes to having our employees engaged and focused on success, and is a great way to continue driving the business in that direction,” said Tom DuBois, General Manager, another employee owner. “Teamwork is essential in our business. With the atmosphere created by the co-op, teamwork is enhanced, through the shared values of the members of the co-op. It makes us better members of the community as individuals and as a business.”
Local Relationships Matter
Ken Lorden, Facilities Manager with Taylor Community, that’s been doing business with The Home Beautiful for 30 years, agreed: “ Having the workers own the business makes the company better, and keeps my business local. As a local contractor, at The Home Beautiful I’m not a number like at a big box store.They know me here and get what we do and that means a lot. Our relationship will continue. The workers now have a stake in it, it’s a win-win, and they will bring this company to a whole different level.”
Lauren Milligan, owner of Lauren Milligan Design, added: “I’m an independent interior designer and personal relationships are so important. Doing business with people you know and trust, knowing that they will support and help you, and that you’re not just another face in the crowd matters. They are a resource that the local economy, especially the contractor and construction, can go to to help our industry thrive. They care about the local economy, they care about their customers, and they care about the success of my business. As a small business owner myself, when I heard that The Home Beautiful was selling to be an employee-owned business, I was really excited for the people that work here, and for the opportunity it presents for them to be invested in the success of the business.”
“As a member of the Flooring America purchasing cooperative, I’m thrilled that The Home Beautiful, with Bruce’s leadership and vision, has transitioned to an employee-owned cooperative. Cooperatives do build a better world in all sectors of our economy. Most importantly they are transformative in helping to sustain and strengthen local economies. They invest in communities, sustain family businesses, bolster local economies, provide an opportunity for businesses and employees to grow and thrive,” said Howard Brodsky, co-founder of CCA Global Partners, headquartered in Manchester, NH.
Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) is the Northeast’s Center for cooperative business education, training, and technical assistance. CDI is an independent Center, a 501(c)3 founded in 1994 by cooperative leaders across industry sectors to work with people in the Northeast to create cooperative businesses and networks that grow a prosperous, equitable rural economy with healthy, robust, sustainable rural communities. While our focus is rural and regional, we contribute to innovative economic and community development strategies on national and global levels.
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