Capital Home Hardware’s new face

By Kieran Heffernan

Andrew Dean, the new manager of the Capital Home Hardware as of early October, started working in the Glebe at 16 and hasn’t stopped working here since, despite growing up in Orleans and living now in Chesterville.

After working for 25 years at a paint store in the Glebe, he decided it was time for a change. The hardest part of the switch has been having to learn about much more than paint.

“It’s been challenging for sure, but I’m excited for the challenge because I think a lot of the things I can learn here, I can apply at home as well,” he said. “It’s not just learning about your job.”

“The staff here have been very helpful,” he added. He has plans to work on a new front porch and fix a sink in his home.

What’s kept him in the Glebe so long is the people.

“I just really like the community and the customers,” he said. “It seems like almost every day I recognize a few customers that I used to help out for so many years.”

If he hadn’t been working in a paint store or a hardware store, Dean said he’d still definitely be working in customer service.

“I like to be able to find out [a customer’s] problem and try to help out with that, because every scenario is a little bit different,” he said.

Beyond being a paint expert and soon-to-be all-around hardware expert, Dean is also a knowledgeable cook. He makes a little bit of everything, except fish and seafood.

“Just don’t have an appetite for that,” he laughed. His signature dish is jambalaya, “except for the shrimp. I don’t add the shrimp.”

Dean is also a travel lover. He’s been to Mexico, Hawaii and his favourite location so far, Belize, where he went on an “eye-opening” three-week backpacking trip. He found the country’s public transportation system particularly interesting.

“There’s the odd bus stop, but really if you need a bus and you’re walking down the road, you just hail them down and they’ll stop and pick you up,” he explained.

Dean lives with his partner, Tina. They don’t have children but do have a dog and a cat.

“Definitely mark that down, those are my kids,” 
he said.

Sam is a 10-year-old puggle (pug and beagle) and Lord Stanley is a 12-year-old cat.

“His real name’s Stanley but obviously Lord Stanley works well for him,” Dean said. The two get along “quite well” for a dog and cat.

Dean’s two favourite musical artists are The Tragically Hip and Sam Roberts. He also tries to go to Bluesfest as much as he can, attending for the last 10 years in a row until it was cancelled this year because of the pandemic.

Dean is also a big Senators fan. He admits that it’s been frustrating, but “the young core that they have right now, it’s really enthusiastic and last year it was really fun to watch them play.” He tries to focus on the game rather than any ownership troubles.

“Always try to look at the positives,” he said.

Kieran Heffernan is a journalism and linguistics student at Carleton University who loves hockey, classic rock and Douglas Adams novels.