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Our Company's History

GRK Canada Limited is a family owned and operated company. Uli, Gerda and Mirco Walther own 80% of the company and manage its daily operations. Hermann Hoerz has also been a long time shareholder who, although never active in the company, has contributed much with his quiet and unassuming manner and through sharing his extensive business experience.

In 1983, Uli Walther was hired by German screw maker Reisser Schraubentechnik GmbH in Kuenzelsau, Germany, to manage Reisser's Swiss operation. After successfully managing the location in Moehlin, Switzerland, Uli was offered the position of General Manager of North American operations.

Reisser had previously attempted to break into the lucrative North American construction market but had failed to show any success with its operation in the Chicagoland area. The ambition was to create a new entity to be located in the Canadian Province of Ontario.

In June of 1990, the Walther family, consisting of Uli, Gerda, Thorsten and Mirco, visited four communities in Ontario which had been placed on a short list. The communities were Welland, Woodstock, Lindsay and Thunder Bay. Although economic development officials in Lindsay worked hard to have Reisser locate in that city, in the end, the Walthers felt most comfortable with the city of Thunder Bay.

In August of 1990, the Walther family moved from their home in Binzen, Germany, across the Atlantic and settled in Thunder Bay. GRK Canada Limited was founded in September of 1990.

1990, 1991 and 1992 proved to be very challenging years for GRK. Interference from the German head office and the 1992 bankruptcy of Reisser Schraubentechnik GmbH left the Walthers with few options. To everyone's relief, a Canadian fastener company located in Kitchener showed interest in buying GRK and made an offer to Reisser. Reisser agreed to sell GRK and invited the buyer to come to Germany to formally sign any documents required to sell its Canadian operation.

The Kitchener firm dispatched a senior executive to Germany in December 1992. As it turned out, however, the buyer everybody had been thankful for, had a sinister motive. In a meeting at Reisser's offices in Germany, the buyer refused to sign any documents, knowing that Reisser had stopped entertaining any competitive offers. The Kitchener based company never had any intention of paying the verbally negotiated price, and was instead hoping to now see GRK file for bankruptcy in order to buy any assets for pennies on the dollar.

Dejected and desperate, Uli, who had been GRK's General Manager, and Gerda, who had been its Chief Financial Officer, found several Thunder Bay based investors who believed in GRK and the Walther family. So, in January of 1993, Uli, Gerda, and three Thunder Bay based investors took ownership of GRK.

Although GRK had first been incorporated in 1990, January 1993 was the true birthday of the company; a fresh start for an enterprise with big plans and motivated people to achieve them.

Brothers Thorsten and Mirco, who had been working in GRK's warehouse as part time employees, became co-managers of the warehouse operation. Although only 17 years old, the brothers would promptly go to GRK after finishing their day at High School. While working full time and going to school full time was not an easy task, both Thorsten and Mirco knew it was something which had to be done, especially since money to hire a warehouse manager was scarce.

In January of 1994, Thorsten and Mirco joined Uli for their first sales trip, calling on prospective new customers in Texas and Louisiana. This trip was followed by another in Minnesota in the summer of 1994.

Through much hard work by all members of the Walther family, and a product line based on exceptional and uncompromised quality, GRK managed to grow and posted a modest, yet respectable profit for the 1994 fiscal year.

With Gerda holding the company's purse strings, and Uli managing sales, Thorsten and Mirco continued their full time warehouse and sales duties, even after entering University.

As the years went on, GRK's success continued to grow. Wholesale partners and building material retailers in all corners of the United States were seeing the value in providing 'The Industry's Toughest Screws' to their customers. Oddly enough, however, sales in GRK's home country of Canada, remained flat and, to this day, only account for a very small amount of overall sales.

In 1998, Thorsten and Mirco purchased the shares owned by two of the three investors who had become a part of GRK's history in 1993. Thorsten's and Mirco's years of hard work were now endorsed by ownership in GRK. Having paid their dues and having worked every position within the firm, Thorsten and Mirco now assumed titles matching the responsibility they had shouldered for some time.

GRK's success in the United States attracted attention from building material and fastener companies on other continents. Beginning in the late 1990's, GRK began relationships with wholesale partners in Japan and Europe, eventually necessitating the formation of a German sales office, located in Egringen, Germany, only a few miles from the Walthers' home town of Binzen. Naturally, this company was called GRK Europe GmbH.

After contributing to GRK's success from the very beginning, both Thorsten and Mirco earned doctorate degrees in business administration in 2002. During all the years of working full time and going to school full time, the brothers and their parents had seen GRK grow from a small company to a multi million dollar operation with a base of exceptionally loyal customers in many countries, especially the United States.

Tragically, Thorsten, who had been an enormous part of GRK's growth, was killed in a traffic accident near Edmonton, Alberta, on July 19th, 2003. For a family which had shared hardship and success, the loss of one of its members was a blow of indescribable measure.

Uli, Gerda and Mirco remain touched by the outpouring of sympathy from their staff and customers.

Since Thorsten's untimely death, GRK has continued to prosper, adding new products, more employees and greatly expanding its facility in Thunder Bay. This is not only due to the Walther's hard work, but also because of the dedication of all the employees and sales representatives who work to make GRK the foremost name for quality construction fasteners.

GRK always aims to improve its existing fasteners and to develop new and exciting products for professionals and handymen everywhere. GRK is a company built on innovation and quality and will continue to be guided by its commitment to invention and setting ever greater standards.

Today, GRK offers a complete line of fasteners for many different applications and a size range which cannot be matched by the combined catalogs of any two competitors. All of GRK's products are unique, featuring at least one patent.

Thanks to everyone who has supported GRK Canada Limited.

Text written by
Dr. Mirco Walther, D.B.A.
President / Co-Owner
GRK Canada Limited