Family roots

Family-run, from one generation to another. 

There’s been a changing of the guard at Grizzly Industrial. Shabir Balolia — son of company founder Shiraz Balolia — has been named president. 

For any other major manufacturer, this might be interesting but somewhat ordinary news.  Companies like DeWalt, Delta, Black & Decker change company leadership and even ownership all the time. But the difference here is that Grizzly is, and always has been, a family company. And considering how much they’ve grown in the last 40+ years, that’s a real achievement in the woodworking industry.  

Shiraz Balolia was literally just a woodworking hobbyist when he began repairing and reselling used machines. The goal was to support his own hobby, but he quickly learned two things: Selling machinery might be a better career path, and he liked selling machinery. 

The real key to Grizzly’s success was the business model. Whereas the Deltas and Milwaukees of the world distributed their product through retailers, Balolia realized he could sell directly to customers at lower prices, with a larger return for the company. The company’s growth was not only immediate, but the Grizzly name became well established in the woodworking mindset. There’s not a woodworker out there that hasn’t seen its familiar two-page ads in virtually every woodworking publication there is. 

Still, that wouldn’t be so amazing if it was the big corporate-owned makers, but in the case of Grizzly we’re talking about a small startup family business that became a woodworking machinery powerhouse — and it’s still a family business. With Shabir Balolia stepping into his dad’s shoes, the company’s family roots will only deepen. 

While Shabir takes over the company reins, Shiraz isn’t really the retiring type. He’s still involved with Grizzly as well as some of his other companies, and he’s even found time to return to his own roots as a woodworker with a series of videos and how-tos on the Grizzly website. Most of all, it looks like he’s still having fun.