Memo to: PlayValue Toys

From: Bruce M Firestone, broker, Century 21 Explorer Realty; founder, Ottawa Senators

Date: November 8, 2013

Re. Grand Opening

Dear Janet, Doug and Reid—

Congratulations on completing the first stage of the next phase in the life of PlayValue Toys. Well done.

When you came to see us more than five years ago, you had a number of objectives—

To own your own premises;

To customize your own building to suit a growing business that was heading into the next generation with booming Internet sales;

To find a location that had a high profile, was affordable, was large enough to accommodate growth over the next 25 years and had easy ingress and egress not only for customers but for shipments in and out since the company now ships products all over North America.

Finding a site in the City of Ottawa for a hybrid—a company that does retail sales, wholesale sales, light assembly, transshipment (of up to 24,000 pound loads) and storage as well as needing both inside and outdoor showrooms—is hard because, frankly, such an animal does not exist in Ottawa zoning codes.

So you created your own future by finding a raw site that took advantage of a new interchange and highway built by the province of Ontario at a huge cost and Hazeldean Road, rebuilt by the City of Ottawa at a cost of tens of millions.

The result is a stunning new building that will take your family-owned company safely into the future.

You faced long odds—you struggled for more than four years to get the zoning done. But you did it! Your patience, perseverance and courage are to be commended proving once again that the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Here’s to a great future for PlayValue Toys.

Kindest personal regards,

Bruce M Firestone

broker, Century 21 Explorer Realty

founder, Ottawa Senators

@profbruce

“We make the impossible, possible.”