The expiration date is coming up on Cranberry Portage’s only grocery store.
Family Food Town will close at an undetermined date as owner Rick Huck prepares to transition part of the business to his nearby convenience store.
“I can’t operate at a loss anymore,” said Huck.
“The grocery business is best left for a corporation that can afford to do it. The mom and pop store thing is pretty well done.”
Huck said a combination of population decline in Cranberry Portage and competition from grocers in Flin Flon and The Pas has eaten into business.
He said he has explained the pending closure to his customers.
“They understand where I’m coming from,” said Huck, who has owned Family Food Town for the past decade.
Cranberry Portage resident Bill Taylor said he understands the decision, but he believes it will worry some residents.
“I think the town would be a little concerned just in the sense of access to fruits and vegetables and different products that they’re used to getting,” said Taylor, a teacher at Frontier Collegiate Institute.
However, ahead of the closure Huck plans to expand the grocery selection at Rick’s Quikstop, the nearby gas station and convenience store he also owns.
“The timing [of the closure] is undetermined because I want to make a smooth transition,” he said, adding that Family Food Town will not shut down until the transition is complete.
Huck said he has no plans for the Family Food Town building, a mainstay on Canberry Portage’s Main Street, other than to use it as storage for his convenience store.
The pending closure marks another blow to Cranberry Portage’s business sector, as Streamer’s Hardware shut down last year after nearly 90 years in business.
