I'm Rubeena Sandhu. My husband, Michael, and I run Merit Home Furniture in Duncan, on Vancouver Island, and we became co-owners in 2025. Michael looks after sales, and he has made the store beautiful. My own day-to-day work is administration.
I grew up in this family business. It goes back to my grandfather, Sandy Sandhu, who opened his first store in Lake Cowichan in the mid 1950s. My father, Jeet Sandhu, runs the company now. Michael and I are the third generation, and my sister is starting to run our Nanaimo store.
Schools and counselling before Merit
About 25 years of my working life went into non-profit administration. Teaching came first for me, then counselling. I helped found the Okanagan Waldorf School and was its principal. Around 2015 we moved to Pemberton, and I later became Head of School at Whistler Waldorf School.
My master's is in educational leadership and school counselling. I also hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Waldorf teacher training certificate, and I'm a Registered Clinical Counsellor with the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors.
What I bring to Merit Duncan
As a co-owner, I'm bringing those administration skills to Merit Duncan for the first time. My strengths are systems and how to manage them. I also know HR, and how to support the people who work in an organization.
From a lifetime around the stores, I know what a family business takes: long hours, passion and service. To me, a small business is part of the ground a small community stands on. Merit gives to Duncan, and Duncan gives back.
The guides I write for Merit
My guides cover how ordering, delivery and service work with us, and the Island itself:
- Delivery: what happens on delivery day, and ferry runs to the Gulf Islands
- Lead times on special orders, and what we do when one runs late
- Warranties and repairs, and what happens with returns and deposits
- Buying from an Island store, and our four showrooms
All of them are gathered on the hub for Island delivery and our stores. The policy guides also sit among the furniture buying guides.
Reaching me at the Duncan store
My work is at Merit Home Furniture Duncan, 107 Ingram Street. Our hours are 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday, and we're closed on Sundays.