Hard-working employee acquires Victoria Glass from long-time owner

The solution was as clear as glass.

Don Lyon, longtime owner of Victoria Glass Co. Ltd., had been talking for years about retiring. Then, in January, employee Aaron Smart, 28, approached Lyon with the idea of buying the company.

Last Thursday, the 49-year-old company changed hands.

Despite talk about retiring, Lyon, 75, isn't going to leave right away. He expects to stay on full-time at first, tapering back to part-time at the Quesnel Street business.

Whatever suits his new boss.

As for those extra hours retirement offers, Lyon hasn't given them much thought. After all, he's been working at Victoria Glass for almost a half century.

Lyon was hired as a salesperson in 1964 by original owner Bill Usbourne. Lyon eventually purchased the company with Bill Cox. The pair were business partners for a decade, with Lyon becoming sole owner of Victoria Glass in 1997. Today it has 12 employees.

He had always wanted to be a business owner. "You want to go as far as you are capable," Lyon said Tuesday.

"It is always changing. That's what makes it interesting — the new products and the new ways of doing things."

He has especially enjoyed the camaraderie of the workplace and working with the same families. "You've known people for years and years. You are dealing with second and third generations sometimes," he said.

Smart started working at Victoria Glass in January 2006 as a glazier's helper, taking a break between Camosun College courses. He never left, instead becoming a journeyman glazier and graduating to head fabricator in 2009.

It's been a good fit from the start. "I just felt it was something I could see myself doing for 50 years, instead of just five."

About 70 per cent of the company's work is commercial. It also does residential windows, glass showers and other projects.

His favourite jobs included providing skylights for the Bay Centre and updating downtown storefronts, Smart said.

He already works the long hours of a business owner, starting at 6 a.m. (after working out at the gym) and finishing at 6 p.m. The time goes quickly, Smart said. "It's enjoyable."

It's important to Smart that all customers are treated with respect. A homeowner with a broken mirror gets the same attention as a major commercial job.

Smart, who was married to Liberty on Aug. 4, is hoping to see the business expand in the future.