{"id":617060,"date":"2026-04-20T18:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617060\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:27:13","slug":"owner-of-ayrs-home-hardware-looks-to-new-beginnings-almost-2-years-after-tornado-hit-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617060\/","title":{"rendered":"Owner of Ayr’s Home Hardware looks to ‘new beginnings’ almost 2 years after tornado hit community"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Almost two years after a tornado caused extensive damage to the Home Hardware Building Centre in Ayr, Ont., owner Jeff Seydel says he’s happy to have closed that chapter as he looks to the future of the business.<\/p>\n

“It’s a wonderful feeling to have it all behind us finally. I mean, it was challenging. It was 18 months of hard work and certainly stress, and now it feels like new beginnings,” Seydel said before Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, involving a chainsaw cutting through a piece of lumber.<\/p>\n

“We’re just going to start and take off and our town has been incredibly supportive.”<\/p>\n

Though the store reopened in November to the public, Friday’s ceremony marked the store’s official grand opening after reconstruction took approximately 15 months to complete.<\/p>\n

An EF-2 tornado touched down in Ayr on Aug. 17, 2024 and caused significant damage to some businesses, homes and parks as it tore through the area. <\/p>\n

Under Environment Canada’s tornado rating system, which goes from EF-0 (the least intense) to EF-5 (the most intense), an EF-2 indicates the tornado had sustained winds of between 179 and 218 km\/h, and can cause considerable damage. <\/p>\n

\"peopleNorth Dumfries Coun. Derrick Ostner, Cambridge MP Connie Cody, Seydel and North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton, left to right, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony involving a chainshaw going through a piece of lumber. (Carmen Groleau\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Seydel said he was up north when he received a call from the store’s manager that weekend informing him that a tornado had touched down in the area and damaged the building. <\/p>\n

“I immediately came down and helped my team and surveyed the damage, but it was a shock,” he said.<\/p>\n

Seydel said most of the damage was done to the back of the store, where half of the roof was torn off and the gable and wall had collapsed in. He said the walls at the front of the store were also damaged.<\/p>\n

“The building was twisted and in terms of rebuilding, part of the reason it [took] so long was everything had to be removed once we deemed it was safe to enter, right down to the studs.”<\/p>\n

The new store is much the same as the old one, Seydel said, with a few upgrades to make the layout cleaner and new floors.<\/p>\n

\"AThe damage to the Home Hardware store in Ayr was extensive after an EF-2 tornado touched down Aug. 17, 2024. (Submitted by Leigh-Anne Bradbury)’An essential business to the town’<\/p>\n

Seydel said the Home Hardware is one of the only hardware stores in the village and its significance showed when the store was not open to the public.<\/p>\n

“We put a little float in the Santa Claus parade and people were chanting, ‘We miss you, when are you coming back?’ and it just shows you the support this community has for us,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We really discovered that we are an essential business to the town.”<\/p>\n

North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton was among local politicians, including Cambridge MP Connie Cody, who came out to the opening ceremony. <\/p>\n

She said the store is a staple of the community.<\/p>\n

“It’s like going in and talking to your neighbour or best friend,” she said. <\/p>\n

“They know your needs, they know what you want, they know where you live, so they know exactly what you’re talking about.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-617060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}