October 19th, 2:00 marked the official grand opening of the new expanded building of the Thompson Ford Service & Maintenance Auto Repair. It was 1993, October 1st that Ford was first brought to our community where this momentous occasion marks that 30 year celebration.
This event particularly showed their desire to serve the community to the best of their ability, where as aside from relying on their services, they had thousands of dollars worth of personal items represented giving into the community, such as flat screen TV’s and a truckload of food.
General Manager; Kevin Kelleher expressed his passion for the company and how they as a family have strived to maintain a ‘family oriented company’. Kelleher said family was the “heartbeat” of the company, family run, for other families, because who’s there for you more then your personal loved ones?
This statement proves true when it comes to a family as tight as this one, where as most of the main staff and many of the workers are closely related, putting each other and the customers first.
Mary Lefreniere, sister to Kelleher as well as partner and Office Manager said that though they are family oriented they have needed many extra workers and that one of their plans with the expansion was to attract more technicians. They are embracing the future to letting their family grow with new employees and provide better, faster service to the customers. “It’s all about the next generation” Kelleher declared, “Bringing forth the future!”
The idea of the building project came to parliament 5 years ago, when the World was on the brink of the COVID 19 pandemic, which sewed a lot of doubt the project would pull through once everything began to shut down. This had great effect on the cost and time as $50,000 extra expense was put down on the parking lot alone. Everything from permits to land negotiation proved more difficult and more expensive then anyone could’ve anticipated.
The local A&B commercial construction company marked this as their biggest undertaking to date, in which it was said that they all expressed how “Proud to be apart” they were; said Kelleher. Most the workers emphasized the way they “Took pride in the workmanship of the building” in which it greatly shows.
Originally installed on the right side of Thompson on 15 Station Rd, which now houses the renovating facility of McMunn & Yates, they have expanded from 1,700 square feet to nearly double the upgrade of 3,300 square feet. The land mass tripling in scale from 1.1 acres of land to 3 acres.
Thompson Ford can now run in a facility of not only more space across the board, but more shops, a new service drive through, triple the wash bay size and more machinery going from 7 hoists to 14, each with a lift capacity of 56,000 lbs.
The building had to purchase 3 different lots for the location, costing a total of $3 Million. The lots previously stationed Kal Tire, Prince Furniture and a city owned empty lot. Lefreniere explained how they worked closely with these two companies and helped them move to better locations after finding the original buildings contained traces of asbestos.
With 30 years of operation behind them, we are no stranger to relying on Thompson Ford Service & Maintenance Auto Repair for assistances. And with this longstanding local business, Mayor Colleen Smook quoted that this is not just a benefit of the community, but to the whole North, being a hub for the 60,000 represented in the region.
This is a huge step for the community, not only for Ford users, but to the local jobs, opportunities and the need they have opened to us all. Providing essential service for drivers and ensuring the roads maintain safe reliable vehicles for each and every one.
~Matthias J. Johnson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Thompson Citizen. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
