Cross-border connections

By Emma Peterson. 

This year we headed north to support our distributors & contractors in Canada! While there, we got the chance to talk to other companies that work in both the States and Canada. 

Across borders, offices and job sites, The Coffee Shops wants to be the place where all professionals in the industry can come together to create a community that celebrates our industry and the people in it! As part of that mission, we've designed a Canadian domain of our website (rooferscoffeeshop.ca) specially for our friends up North. We know that Canadian contractors have been frequenting The Coffee Shops since its inception, but this will make it easier than ever for them to find the latest Canada-related content. As part of the announcement of this domain, we sent some Coffee Shop crew members to Toronto, Canada this summer for the Canadian Roofing Expo (CRE). 

While there, we enjoyed getting to talk to our Canadian friends and colleagues in person. We also got to see some familiar faces from the states, like Gary Weinert, the director of sales and marketing at Van Mark Products Corp! Van Mark is based out of Detroit, Michigan, but, like The Coffee Shops, is proud to support and supply contractors across nations. Gary explained, “For 50 years we've done a lot of business in Canada. The Canadian roofing and siding industries and the distributors have embraced our products, they're some of our most loyal customers so we definitely want to show up for them at shows like this!” 

At this show in particular, Gary talked with contractors and distributors who use Van Mark’s heavier industrial brakes. He shared, “This being an expo centered on roofing, a lot of our distributors here are selling more of our heavier industrial brakes that'll get into bending heavier sheet metals. But there’s also two distributors here that sell our siding brakes that bend the light gauge trim coils and things like that... It’s been great to be here, we have such a loyal customer base here and their construction market is so strong. They really embrace our products and it’s great to be able to come and embrace this community at shows like this.” 

Watch our full conversation with Gary to learn more about Van Mark Products and how they support Canadian contractors and distributors.