ask Mike Thorne, President of JUST JUNK headquartered in Niagara.
In 2003, Mike was working with one of Canada’s largest corporations in Toronto. Sitting at his
desk in a sea of cubicles, Mike was given the job of figuring out a way to remove old office
equipment from the 7th floor of his building. After dialing and surfing the web unsuccessfully insearch for a junk removal company, it hit him – he realized everything in this world would one
day need to be removed and disposed of.
“It was an epiphany,” said Thorne. “Within a couple of weeks I had left my well paying position
and life in Toronto and moved back to my hometown in St. Catharines. I bought a $500.00 cargo
van, called my one-man-in-a-van operation JUST JUNK and I opened for business.”
After placing a primitive ad in the classifieds Mike’s suspected hunch was correct; everybody
owned junk. Mike spent his days picking up anything from anywhere, and nights were spent
working on building a business model and interviewing employees.
Since this time, JUST JUNK has grown by leaps and bounds. The Niagara based company now
has a centralized call center, 12 employees and spends much of their day interviewing prospective
franchisees. The company has been recognized with numerous entrepreneurial awards, and in
2007 (after turning down multiple franchise prospects) incorporated JUST JUNK Franchising
Corporation and sold the rights to Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga.
“Everybody wants an environmentally desirable solution for their junk problems, and we have
proven that in southern Ontario. We are in the process of expanding JUST JUNK nationally and
one day internationally. After examining demographics and waste statistics from across Canada,
there is room for tremendous growth. There are an abundance of Franchise opportunities across
Canada, and I encourage anyone who has thought about opening their own business to give JUST
JUNK a good look. We have a great business model with an exceptional support structure. It
works,” added Thorne.
Selecting a franchise is not a spur of the moment decision and it takes time and consideration to
find the right fit for your needs. Before venturing down that road, it’s important to find the right
idea and see whether you have what it takes.
Mike Thorne offers these top five reasons to consider a JUST JUNK franchise:
1) The most precious commodity today is time. Industry experts predict demand for junk removal
services will continue to grow at an accelerated rate as time-starved consumers continue to buy
time-saving services well into the 21st century.
2) We are now living in a throw-away society where products are routinely purchased and then
simply discarded after only a few short useful years.
3) Aging baby boomers are looking for a fast and easy way to dispose of and recycle a lifetimes
worth of “junk” as they downsize and simplify their lives.
4) The do-it-yourself renovation industry is booming. Renting a disposal bin or taking the junk to
the landfill using a personal vehicle or rental truck is not a simple, practical or cost-effective
solution.
5) Curbside programs are becoming more restrictive with the items residents are permitted to
place at the curb and in many cases finding the labor to get everything curbside is often
impossible. Curbside programs do not recycle junk either.
“We are now receiving inquiries from all over the U.S. and Canada and are aiming to have 100
franchises in the next five years. This is just the beginning,” added Thorne.
To learn more about JUST JUNK and/or purchasing a franchise, log on to: www.justjunk.com.
About JUST JUNK
JUST JUNK is an Ontario-based junk removal service that is rapidly franchising their awardwinning
business across Canada. JUST JUNK’s long-term vision is to become the most reputable
brand in the service industry.
