Flying under the radar has been a successful strategy for Sherwood Industries. Since its start in 1989 as a small wood stove manufacturer, Sherwood has grown into one of North America’s largest and most successful, privately-owned hearth products companies; it now offers a complete line of wood, gas and pellet stoves, inserts and fireplaces.

Yousief, along with brothers and former owners of Osburn Manufacturing, Tom and Martin O’Connor, started Sherwood Industries 26 years ago as a wood stove manufacturer in Saanichton, British Columbia, 10 miles north of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Within a year the company expanded into pellet stoves and then, in 1993, into gas hearth products.

After years of strong growth in all three hearth products categories, Tom and Martin retired and, in March 2015, Yousief, along with Martin’s son Stuart O’Connor, who had been with Sherwood since 1996, purchased Tom and Martin’s shares.
Sherwood’s factory and headquarters, still in Saanichton, have grown to cover 92,000 sq. ft. and the company has about 200 employees.

Today pellet stoves account for 55 percent of Sherwood’s sales, with gas-burning products totaling 32 percent and wood-burning models making up 13 percent. Freestanding stoves, including pellet, gas and wood, account for 50 percent of Sherwood’s business, with fireplace inserts totaling 35 percent and fireplaces at 15 percent.