Falla Movers closes permanently — Hamilton family ends 95 years in cartage business

There was no such thing as a moving truck when the Falla family started to do household moves.

Back in the mid-1940s, when Wendy Cardwell's dad, Fred Falla, joined his father's company, goods were transported on flatbed stake trucks with wooden rails. Freight and household items were covered in a tarp, said Cardwell, the owner of Falla Movers and Storage. Her grandfather, Wilson Falla, started the cartage business in 1928 transporting coal and ice in east Hamilton.

Almost 95 years later, the fourth-generation family moving company is shutting down permanently.

The closure is partially due to the stresses of being an essential service during COVID. And because Cardwell, who has been working for the company for over 45 years, wants to retire. On top of that, Cardwell's kids are now approaching their 40s and want to move on - Josh has been working for the moving company for over 20 years, and Shannon came on board a few years ago to do administrative work.

Cardwell took over when her father retired in 2015 - at 86.

Fred was in charge before that, starting in the early 1970s. A few years after he took over, Fred moved the company into its first office on Parkdale Avenue and in 1979 they became agents of Atlas Van Lines. By 1980, Falla Movers started to look like the longtime company it would be for the next 40 years.

Fred is still around, but his health took a turn for the worse in December, just after he gave his daughter his blessing to close down the company.

He's now nearing 94 in palliative care, but he's lived a great life," Cardwell said. It's a life to celebrate.

Falla Movers did their last move on Feb. 25.

The trucks are now gone. Their large warehouse on Woodward Avenue - once packed with storage - is slowly being emptied. By the end of March, the business will be no more.

But, in a small way, the legacy will move on. With other movers taking her gear and vehicles, there will still be a piece of Falla throughout the area," Cardwell says.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com