May 6-7, 2022 saw Bestbuy shareholders from all across Canada, as well as vendors from all over North America, gather at the Delta Hotel on Toronto’s airport strip to meet and physically network for the first time since 2019!

And a merry event it was… all were happy to be able to mingle with their peers, meet new people and be with friends once again.

As in past events, a highlight of the Bestbuy Conference was the gala dinner and the evening’s entertainment. Aaron Paterson, Magician and Illusionist had us all captivated with his unique and mind-bending interactive show… indeed it was thrilling to watch, and all agreed it was a great performance!

Then it was time to present the newly elected Board of Directors and Bill Hay, Bestbuy President and Chief Operating Officer made the introductions—Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer Doug Wilson, Fat Guys Auto Parts; Vice-Chair Gary Thibault, The Partsman; Treasurer Tony Racioppo, Fincham Automotive; Douglas Squires, Colonial Auto Parts and A.P.M. Limited; Michael MacPherson, Down East Auto Parts; John Brunelle, Parts Stop Auto & Industrial; Will Wiebe, Central Transport Refrigeration and Scott Anderson, Peterborough Automotive.

Award presentations

Then it was time to present some vendors their Awards of Excellence and Hay stated, 

 “These awards officially celebrate the vendor community who are instrumental in Bestbuy’s success and growth.” 

The prestigious Horace J. Pratt Award for 2021 Vendor of the Year recognizing their excellence in service, sales performance and support went to Robert Bosch. Cameron Young and Dave Carter accepted the award for Bosch.

Other important vendor awards were also presented: The Marketing Partner Award was awarded to SMP Blue Streak. The Bestbuy Partner Award recipients were Magnacharge and ProMax, and the Cornerstone Award went to BBB Industries. AIT Trakmotive received the Rising Star Award.

Along with these awards, there were some amazing ‘Anniversary’ Awards

• 20 years—Pieces d’Automobiles de Sept-Iles
• 30 years—Spark Auto Electric
• 40 years—Busch’s Auto Supplies
• 45 years—Temlac Lteé
• 60 years—McLeod & Richmond. 

SickKids donation

Next came the Bestbuy Board of Director’s cheque presentation in support of the SickKids Family Heart Centre—one of the centres which is among the world’s top three pediatric heart centres. Bestbuy has been supporting this worthy cause since 1986 and to date has contributed $813,950. On hand to accept the $13,950 donation from 2021 contributions was Dr. Hamilton from SickKids. 

Saturday saw the annual trade show being presented at the Bestbuy warehouse and the shareholders flocked to the event. They were there to see what was new in the product lineups; find out what they could learn from those presenting their wares and, of course, to ask many questions about the products, find samples they could use, get information they needed about the products and services and just generally source what they were interested in for their businesses in order to take back to their locations and put into daily use. All this new information would help their counter people serve their customers better.

It was definitely another successful Conference and Trade Show for Bestbuy Distributors!