Wild Birds Unlimited, Kitchener, ON

     A great addition to a community of birders is a store specializing in all things related to birds -  seed, feeders, nesting boxes, optics and so forth.
     Last year (almost exactly a year ago in fact) a Wild Birds Unlimited store opened in Kitchener, ideally positioned to serve the naturalists of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the surrounding area. 

     Many of us had previously made the trek to the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Guelph, so we were very happy to have a store in our community, located at 4391 King Street East in Kitchener. 

     The owner of the store is Cathy Hale, seen below with her dedicated and highly proficient assistant Debbie Huck.

Debbie, Cathy

     Before taking the plunge with this venture Cathy was an account manager with a Canadian telecom company with international scope, a career from which she derived a good deal of satisfaction. When the company was sold to US interests, however, and conditions began to change, her level of contentment went into steep decline, and she decided to resign her position.
     She took time off to ponder her future and following discussions with the owners of several other Wild Birds Unlimited stores decided to take the plunge into the world of retail. She had previously been a client of the store in Burlington, ON and had a lifelong love affair with nature, nurtured by time spent in British Columbia and here in Ontario. It seemed like an obvious move.
     And she has not regretted it one bit.  She has always been happy dealing with people and looked forward to the challenge of building a clientele and developing her business. Cathy is very much a "people person" and goes out of her way to interact in the most positive and friendly way with her customers, whether they come into the store to buy one suet block or a month's supply of seed and a couple of feeders. Her view of life is that you receive happiness by giving happiness. 
     The store has a wide variety of bird feed - suet and seed, for example.

     All of Cathy's bird seed is sourced locally and supplies are received weekly ensuring that the bird food is fresh. My personal favourite is a "no mess" mix containing a variety of seeds - sunflower hearts, peanuts, safflower etc. - thereby attracting a range of species. And there are no shells to clean up after those messy birds have finished eating!
     Whatever type of bird feeder you have in mind, you will find it at Wild Birds Unlimited. And most of them have a lifetime warranty.

     In addition to helping birds, we also need to improve conditions for solitary bees, those essential pollinators, so critical to all life on earth, and Cathy has bee "hotels."

     And did I mention she has bird feeders?

     While I was there several customers came into the store, including a delightful young woman coming in to buy both hardware and seed. In recent months she and her mother have been walking the Bruce Trail and have recently completed the Niagara section of it (Bravo!), and as might be expected they have been seeing many birds during their hikes. Now she wishes to take it a step further and feed them at home.

     I have to say that Cathy was a fountain of knowledge and a paragon of cooperation and kindness as she helped this novice find exactly what she wanted.
     The use of a chart to show her client the range of species to be expected was very helpful.

     I chatted with this customer myself and I know that she left the store very pleased with the service she received and the products she purchased.
     Lest anyone think that I have a financial interest in this venture, I do not. Nor do I have any links of kinship to Cathy.
     I am simply very happy that the store has been established in our neighbourhood and I am sure that myriad other birders feel the same way. Whether you are a veteran at feeding birds, or someone about to embark on the task of putting out bird feeders for the first time, this is the store to obtain quality, value, a warm smile and good service.
     Go and talk to Cathy or Debbie. You'll be glad you did.

     Just tell them David sent you!