Trust and loyalty are qualities in short supply within modern business and sporting circles, so it’s no wonder Russell Barrett was considered such a valuable asset at Knights Building Supplies.
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As the giant warehouse-style hardware stores developed around them, Russell and Knights Building Supplies owner Stuart Anderson were able to maintain — even build — their share of the region’s business trade.
Friday was Russell Barrett’s last day as manager of Knights Building Supplies, and in a final message to his almost three decade-long clients he had a simple message — thanks for your support.
He was never going to get away without being given a traditional “tradies farewell’’ — in other words, Friday afternoon beers, and he willingly accepted the invitation to attend Kyabram Club for the farewell.
Such is the standing in which the decorated sportsman is held with tradesmen that frequented the Kyabram hardware business that retired builders, the current crop of tradesmen and their new apprentices were all on hand to say goodbye.
In describing his 28-and-a-half-year career with the long-standing Kyabram business, he was quick to recognise the relationships he had built with what is now three generations of tradespeople.
When I asked him how many of his trade customers had “stuck fat’’ with Knights since the development of warehouse-style hardware businesses in the mid-1990s, his answer was quick, and decisive.
“A huge percentage, a majority of them in fact, have stuck with us,” he said.
“We don’t take their business for granted and they still keep us honest, but if are in and around the ball park with our quotes they prefer to deal with a Kyabram based business,” Russell explained.
In describing the loyalty of the town’s tradies he said, in his time at Knights, he had dealt with now retired tradesmen, their apprentices and then the third wave of tradies — among them Jack Elliott, Dylan Fitzgerald, Wes Hill and Besim Besim.
He has always had something to talk about aside from providing quotations on products from the store, his own decorated football career and passion for sports a source of banter with clientele.
“Footy has been a constant talking point In my position, but I usually limit it to a minute or two otherwise nothing would get done,” he said.
Being a passionate fan of the game (Australian Rules) not all of Russell’s clientele would even know that he follows Essendon.
“There are a lot who are much more passionate about their team than I am, the likes of Steve Ward (a staunch Richmond supporter) for example.
“I’ve heard a lot from him in recent years,” Russell said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic caused panic among several regional businesses, it was a particularly enlightening time for the Kyabram building supplies company.
“People weren’t allowed to travel and Bunnings couldn’t deal with the general public, so I suddenly had a new clientele.
“I wouldn’t have even known a lot of the people who walked in the door.
“A lot of people who were online buyers came into the store and they were quite surprised with what we could offer.
“And, as it turns out, we have kept a lot of those people as customers from that first lockdown winter of 2020,” he said.
Russell said he dealt with a lot of people completing do-it-yourself home projects where they used the likes of YouTube for inspiration and direction.
“They would come in with a list and pricing for what they wanted, not really knowing what they needed.
“In the end a lot of them are still coming in the door,” he said.
Russell said COVID-19 was a surprisingly busy time for the business.
His send off at the Kyabram Club attracted several clients of the Knights’ business which he inherited when he started in 1994 — the likes of Noel Roberts, Barry Wootton and Andy Boswell.
Glenn Rathbone, Dean Chiswell, Jeff Howard and Leigh Huggard were representative of the next group of builders and plumbers who regularly pulled up in jam packed utilities for supplies from the store.
Sixty four-year-old Russell was recruited to Knights by its current owner after spending five years at the hardware store directly across the road from his current site.
“It was called Knights Hardware and was a homestead store. I came in from Stanhope to work with them, having been working at Bonlac after six months of travelling overseas,” he said.
Prior to arriving in the hardware and building supplies game, Russell recalled a short career as a “postie’’, when he shared a house in Melbourne with Laurie Casey and Steve Sharp.
“Six Bank St was a fairly famous location in Ascot Vale. Whenever we played at Seymour it wasn’t that far for the footy boys to come down and stay for the weekend,” he said.
The three footballing 19-year-olds were, at the time, training together with Melbourne’s under-19 team — coached at the time by legendary junior football mentor Ray “Slug’’ Jordan.
"He (Jordan) used to like us kicking torpedoes while we were doing circle work around the MCG. I kicked one out on the full, several rows back in the bottom tier of seats and I remember hearing him say, ‘the biggest bloody ground there is and you still couldn’t find the grass’.
“We were all playing with Ky then, in 1978-79, I’d come in from Stanhope and Laurie from Girgarre,” Russell explained.
Russell had played in the Heathcote league 1976 Stanhope premiership team and Casey had done the same at Girgarre.
In all he played in three premierships at Stanhope, 1976, 1986 and 1987, but lost both 1988 and 1989.
He was assistant coach to Neil Warnett during a golden era with the club, but the1989 grand final was his final match.
“David Freer Alan Lanyon and I all gave it away after that grand final. I was 30 and after three or four knee operations I’d had enough,” he said.
The father of four — Ellen, Mitchell, Liam and Drew — and grandfather of four, aged from nine to two years old, said retirement meant he would pursue other interests.
"I will work part-time, but there are other things to do,“ he said.
He said he and wife of 36 years Kath didn’t plan to travel immediately and would continue to live in Fenaughty St.
“Three of the four kids live in Bendigo, and the other is in Shepparton. I will spend a bit more time with them and the grandkids,” he said.
Russell’s relationship with his current clientele is a little different to how things started out.
“I remember copping a fair bit of cheek when I first started, but there is a bit more respect,” he said.
“A lot of the tradespeople I deal with now grew up while I was working here.”
Russell said that, like many people who spent three or four decades in the workforce, he was unsure why technology hadn’t made for a lighter workload.
“When I started everything was done by hand and we posted everything out,” Russell said.
“Now it is all computers and emails. It should be quicker, I wonder where we got the time to do it the long way back then.
"Much longer process then, but I think we still had more time.”
While it wasn’t a complete case of being dragged kicking and screaming into a new age of technology, Russell admitted learning a new way of doing business was a bit of a challenge.
“It was a very organic process. It was really tough the first couple of years,” he said.
He explained that it was the camaraderie that he would miss most in retirement
“That and working with the team here at Knights. When I started there were eight people employed by the business and today that number has remained at seven.
“The business has certainly stood the test of time,” he said.
As for his replacement, it’s is expected that the team will absorb the managerial responsibility as a team.
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