The firm is a wholesaler and has dealer representatives across the Maritimes, Ontario, and New England. It also does business in Bermuda, and the French colony of St. Pierre & Miquelon, and ships to the Caribbean.

Now owned by James McKenna, who is also the CEO, he is 48. McKenna, in a wide-ranging interview, tells The Macdonald Notebook he wants to drum up more retail networks in the Atlantic, to make up for a possible loss of 20 per cent of his American business, due to high tariffs on exporting into the U.S.. More on that later in this story.

“We bought the business from a family over 22 years ago, and there are 115 employees. “It’s a big shop. We have two factories. It’s a going concern”.

In NS, there are 15 dealer networks. “We’re almost in every major community in Atlantic Canada,” says McKenna.

“As a family-owned business, we prioritize quality, ensuring that every cabinet meets our high standards by sourcing only the finest materials and employing skilled craftsmen in our state-of-the-art facility,” the firm states on its website.

“Specializing in Framed, Frameless, and beaded inset cabinet building, we offer expertise in paints, stains, and custom colours, bringing personality to the heart of every home we grace across Canada, the United States, Bermuda, and France. Our commitment to excellence extends beyond our products; it’s deeply rooted in our values of family, community, and humility.”

“From the moment you step into our showroom to the final installation of your custom cabinets, you’ll experience the warmth, dedication, and personalized service that define the Glenwood Kitchen difference. Because for us, craftsmanship isn’t just about creating beautiful cabinets; it’s about enriching lives and building a legacy of integrity, quality, and service.”

The company was started by two brothers in 1973 in Shediac. They had a brother in the U.S. and started selling into the Boston States – “he is still a customer of ours.”

“At that time, custom kitchens were a new concept. They would be one of the first people who would be building custom kitchens – built to size for each individual home,” explains McKenna.

He offers semi-custom and custom. “We have a standard catalogue of kitchens, and if you want to go outside of that catalogue, we can definitely do it.”

He graduated from St. Francis Xavier Univeristy with a business degree in 2000. After graduating, he spent eight months travelling around Southeast Asia. Then he moved to a job in the natural gas industry in Toronto.

His parents – Frank McKenna & Julie McKenna – had three Glenwood Kitchen cabinets in their lives. “It is kind of the old adage, I liked the company so much, I bought the company.”

His dad, a banker with TD Bank Group, came across a for-sale file for Glenwood Kitchens. “He reached out to my brother in Calgary, my sister in Ottawa and me in Toronto, and he said, ‘Hey, I want you guys back in New Brunswick. Why don’t we buy this family business? We will all run it together, and we will set out roots up back in New Brunswick’”, recalls James McKenna.

“Being the Maritimer that he is and as loyal as he is, that was his idea,” he adds.

“My brother was a successful trader in Calgary, and he still is. And, he had no interest because he had a great career. My sister is in Ottawa in pharmaceuticals – a great career, with a young family at that point. And, I was single in Toronto, just starting my career, and I had always wanted to come back home, maybe not that quickly. Once they (the siblings) said ‘No’, I said ‘Yes’.”

That was 22 years ago when James McKenna did the deal. “He and I got into the business together,” he says of his famous dad. “He used the leverage of his name to buy the business. It was a vendor take-back. We borrowed money from the bank and the sellers. And put very little money in ourselves to buy the business – we paid them back eventually.”

James was 24 at the time, “with very little business experience,” at that point in time”. He learnt on the job. The company’s profits get redirected back into investing in new machinery at the firm.

Learning Lessons From Dad

“Lots,” is what James says when I asked what he learned from his dad, who is now vice chair of TD Bank Group, and former premier of NB from 1987-1997. Frank McKenna is one of the most consequential premiers ever in the Atlantic, and he transformed the NB economy.

“He is one of the best connectors I have ever met. He will talk to somebody who has a potential issue or problem, and he will automatically try to find the person who has that solution. Then my father will connect those two people together. Most people in business want a reward for doing that. They feel, ‘I did a favour for you, and I did a favour for them. I should be rewarded’. My father has the view that if he can get people connected together, that can grow the economy in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada, that he did his job and his payback will come back in the success of everybody – you know the Warren Buffett saying ‘rising tides float all boats’”.

“That is how he goes along on a day-to-day basis.”

During COVID, James McKenna bought out a competitor who was in his 60s, doing the deal within two weeks of being approached about a problem the competitor had approached James on. “We had a conversation….I said if you potentially want to sell your business, please give me a call. Two weeks later, he called, and I bought him out in 2023, during COVID.” That gave Glenwood Kitchens two factories now.

The main factory is in Shediac, and the second plant is 15 minutes down the road in Dieppe, near Moncton.

American Tariffs

James McKenna does 20 per cent of his volume shipping cabinets to New England. “That represents a few million dollars.”

“Right now, people don’t necessarily know this, but our industry will be one of the highest-tariffed industries of any industry. I do not think we are getting the recognition we deserve. There are not enough people talking about it. January 1st is D-Day, that is, when the 50 per cent tariff (exporting to America) gets enacted. Right now we are at 25 per cent.”

“Now, my U.S. customers (dealer networks) have all indicated they want to continue to buy from us. The issue and what I am seeing our sales heading into 2026 are sliding to a point that it might not make economic sense for us to ship to them anymore. Even though they say they want to buy from us, if I have to send a quarter-full or half-full transport truck down, the economics of transporting it down don’t make any sense anymore.”

The options do not look good.

“We are either going to have to change our shipping methods and charge them more money, which will make us uncompetitive, or pull out of that market altogether. If we can’t figure something out on these tariffs very quickly.”

But, he is planning to expand in Atlantic Canada to make up for the potential loss of the U.S. business due to the tariff issues.

“Our goal is to be in every major community in Atlantic Canada (with dealer networks). Right now, there are pockets in areas of northern New Brunswick, on the eastern seaboard of Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland where we don’t have a retailer network. We are actively in the market of filling those voids right now. So far, we have been very successful and picked up a few (new retailers). We probably need three or four more new retailers that will help us recoup what we will lose in the U.S.,” says McKenna.

In NS, he wants more retailers down in Barrington, Lockeport & Yarmouth areas. He has dealers in Halifax, Antigonish and other areas of NS, including lots in Cape Breton.

Glenwood Kitchen’s website lists its Atlantic dealerships. His dealerships are all independent retailers, including many Home Hardware stores.

McKenna prefers to manufacture cabinets as opposed to selling directly to the consumer.

“We’re very good at manufacturing. We are good at taking the drawings from our customers, and then converting them into production drawings and building cabinets. We prefer to do everything in our factory and not have people on the road, not having installers. We have great (retailer) partnerships. Many are the Home Hardware businesses, wonderfully locally owned businesses that have great relationships in the community. We prefer to sell through that type of customer (retailer) than go direct (to the consumer),” says McKenna.

Glenwood Kitchen’s website: https://glenwoodkitchen.com/