Grant Hodgins has lost most of his voice, but he can still talk up a storm when it comes to his new auctioneering business on the outskirts of St. Albert.
“I can tell you being an auctioneer is a fascinating study of human nature and the idiosyncrasies of people. You have your auctioneering chant, of course, but at the same time you have to be part showman, you have to have stage presence, you have to be a salesman, you have to know the market value, you have to be part psychologist and you have to be part negotiator,” Hodgins said.
Hodgins, who learned his trade 35 years ago from his parents in Melfort, Sask., is expanding his family-owned business Hodgins Auctioneers to Alberta. It will be based on a farm off Highway 37, just east of Highway 2 at Range Road 251.
His next auction will be Sept. 21, but Hodgins anticipates sales will be held quarterly at that location each year.
For the most part, Hodgins will auction “big iron,” which is his name for farm equipment and transportation machinery such as cranes, dump trucks, trailers and dozers.
“We will be renting the property there and we’re moving here because the Edmonton area is what I call the ‘mecca’ of auctioneering. The largest auctions in the world are held in this area,” he said, adding that it is not unusual to have up to 5,000 people at equipment auctions as well as an additional number of online bidders from as far away as the Middle East, South America and Mexico.
Hodgins’ voice is scratchy because his vocal chords were damaged during 35 years as an auctioneer, but he says the show will go on.
“There will be a half dozen auctioneers on site,” he said.
For more information about Hodgins Auctioneers, visit www.hodginsauctioneers.com.
Ingrid Machtemes looked at the patchwork pattern of businesses in St. Albert to find a place to relocate her Quiltessential shop, and finally made the improbable choice of moving it into the old Petro Canada garage on McKenney Avenue.
“I was desperate because there is very little commercial space in St. Albert. I looked for over a year and could find nothing commercial that also had parking,” Machtemes said.
Parking was one of her main concerns, as well as one reason to move from her former location on the corner of Perron Street and St. Michael Street.
“We have lessons and people need a place where they can park, and it needs to be on a main street,” she said, as she added that Riel and Campbell Parks were too remote for her needs.
Before stacking her counters with nice soft fabrics, Machtemes gutted the old garage. She used a pressure washer to clean the greasy grime from the floor and walls and re-insulated the whole structure.
“It had been empty for a few years and it still had pits in the floor and garage doors,” she said, adding that she put in new flooring.
“I’m all about re-purposing. That’s what quilters do, after all. I saw this space had a lot of potential. It just had a lot of issues too,” she said.
The new Quiltessential is located at 100 McKenney Ave.
