Up to 25 Year Guarantee
50 Years Experience
Local Manufacturing
We love Canberra. It runs through our veins. You’ll catch us at GIO stadium watching the Raiders or the Brumbies every weekend.
During the week, we run the only factory in the region still manufacturing window furnishings. We employ almost 80 staff, doing our best to provide jobs and support the local economy as much as we can.
Many of our team members have been working with us for decades – some for 30 or 40 years! Now, we even have the next generation of family members coming into the business.
Sure, we could move our manufacturing interstate or overseas to increase profits, but that’s not who we are. We’re big believers in supporting the local community – it’s where our staff are from, and we like giving back.
Our family has a history of putting Canberrans first and insisting on local quality products. Read on to learn a bit more about what makes us tick.
We’ve always been a family serving families, ever since we opened our doors in 1968. John Watson launched Watson Blinds & Awnings on Lyle Street with just one employee, Pauline Hoare.
After selling and fitting blinds transported from Sydney for a few years, John brought his wife Pat on in 1975. With Pat working as a seamstress, the Watson family was able to manufacture their own high-quality blinds and curtains. It was the start of an operation that’s grown much larger but remains in-house to this day!
With the Watson family’s dedication to quality products and above-and-beyond customer service, it wasn’t long before Australians started taking notice.
The company’s first exhibition was a huge success, and local customers continued spreading the word to friends and family. John’s old-school belief that ‘cheaper doesn’t always mean better’ was catching on!
In just two decades, John Watson had grown Watson Blinds 500%. The company had 45 employees, a factory in Queanbeyan, and retail outlets in Fyshwick and Mitchell.
Ready to retire to Huskisson with his wife Pat, John passed the baton to his three sons, Ray, Kevin, and Peter Watson in 1990. With an ongoing commitment to quality products and putting customers first, the three brothers ensured Watson Blinds remained a business of families serving families.
By 2000, what started as a humble, two-person team had grown into a multi-generational business serving Australians like you.
As the Watson family celebrated 30 years, Ray and Kevin broke new ground and, more importantly, continued working hard to make every customer feel heard, taken care of, and happy in their homes.
As Canberra grew, so did the family business. With a new showroom and factory, the Watson family kept up with advances in technology and manufacturing.
Still operating with the mindset that “quality is remembered long after price is forgotten,” the Watson’s aimed to balance their role as industry pioneers with their longstanding history of putting customers and quality first.
After over 50 years, Watson Blinds & Awnings has grown to almost 80 staff members and fitted out over 67,000 homes in the Canberra region.
Still the only window furnishing company with a local factory, the Watson family continues to strive for perfection and look for ways to better serve Canberra homeowners.
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