The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The first of what could be several businesses has signed up to lease commercial space in the lower level of the Co-op. Entrepreneurs from southern Manitoba plan to soon open B and R Sewing, an upholstery shop, utilizing some of the vacant space created by the closure of the Co-op's general merchandise department last year. Co-op general manager Greg Baribeau said there is a growing interest in the space from a variety of local and out-of-town businesses. "We're getting more and more inquiries from small businesses all the time, which is a good thing," he said, adding he is not at liberty to release any details. Greenstone Community Futures Development Corp. and the chamber of commerce had tried to develop a mini mall of home businesses in the lower level this summer, but the effort fizzled due to insufficient interest. But that doesn't mean an individual business can't approach the Co-op on its own. "We're open to anything," said Baribeau. "The tricky part is to engineer [the businesses] so they fit, and act on people's requests for size, but we'll talk to anyone that's interested in leasing space." The Co-op Board of Directors voted in March 2003 to close the general merchandise department, which sold a variety of items such as electronics, toys, and sporting goods. "In the past years, the board considered the general merchandise department a service to the membership but now with the current retail condition in Flin Flon, that service is no longer needed," read a Co-op press release. The general merchandise department had been in the red for years, losing more than $250,000 in 2000 and 2001, according to financial reports.
