When Leanne and Jim Barr were looking for a new business opportunity, they had two important conditions. They didn’t want to be in the retail gas business anymore and they wanted something that would allow them to continue working together.

“Jim was tired of the gas business, so we looked at over one hundred franchise opportunities and we came up with End of the Roll as our choice,” Leanne recalls. “We love the fact that is was a Canadian franchise.”

It was also a benefit that Jim is “generally very handy.”

End of the Roll Thunder Bay allows the Barrs to continue their lifelong partnership. Jim is the owner/operator while Leanne serves as chief financial officer. Currently they have one employee, Mike Meady, who serves as sales manager, but they plan on expanding as the business grows.

The Barrs believe they have a competitive advantage in providing quality, brand name flooring products at low prices. At their Squier Street location they stock pallets of laminate and luxury vinyl, area rugs as well as large rolls of carpet and vinyl flooring.

Jim and Leanne come to the business having grown up in entrepreneurial families. Jim’s family operated Atlas Supply Automotive. Leanne’s family ran Northwest Amusements and Golden Castle Games.

The couple operated an Esso station on Memorial Avenue for 27 years, then one on Arthur Street for eight years, followed by another one at Arthur and Franklin streets. When their son became ill and they were shuttling to Toronto Sick Kids hospital for treatments, their contract with the company was cancelled.

“Jim and I had to reinvent ourselves,” Leanne explains. “We knew we wanted to keep working together. That’s all we have done in 30 years of marriage.”

Their relationship as a couple, both personally and professionally, means they generally find a solution to any problem.

“Take each challenge as it comes," Leanne says, “and find a way to make it happen.”