North of 53 Consumers Co-op is facing some opposition to its multimillion-dollar proposal for a new location, but the general manager defends the plan as forward-looking and necessary.
Ken Mansell, a long-time Co-op member, says his petition against building a new store at the former armoury site has garnered 474 signatures.
“I think that is a definite indication that the armoury site is not acceptable,” he said.
Mansell launched the petition in October, concerned that the Co-op’s proposal strays from sound business principles.
“The economic nature of Flin Flon right now doesn’t warrant an extreme expenditure on a new store,” he said. “The [armoury] site is a very expensive place to build on, with all of the rocks and the [existing] building.”
Mansell said the current Co-op building has been renovated several times since it opened and he believes it can continue to be refurbished.
But general manager Tom Therien said there is support for the new location.
“The people that don’t speak out are the younger people, and they’re the ones we’re doing this for,” he said.
“This is for the future of the Co-op. I understand his [Mansell’s] apprehension, but at the same time we need to move forward. We don’t have any room, we have no parking. We need to expand, and that’s really what we’re doing. We’re trying to make a better Co-op.”
Therien said the proposed new location is undergoing a feasibility study and that nothing is cast in stone.
“We’re going to see if we can make this pay,” he said. “We think we can, and when we do we’ll move forward.”
The new building would carry a “fairly hefty price tag,” likely around $15 million, Therien said.
Between existing savings and support from Federated Co-operatives Ltd., he said basically half of the tab would be paid before the doors open.
Product prices wouldn’t change, Therien said, adding the store’s bottom line, and likely member equity cheques, would be impacted initially.
“We cannot look at the short term. We have to look at the long term,” he said.
Therien said the new store would be about 38,000 sq ft, which is 15,000 sq ft more than the current food floor.
“It’s a bigger building, more areas to sell more product that people want and you’ve got three times the amount of parking,” he said.
“We can’t [currently] offer the products that we want to offer. We just don’t have any space for it, and people’s shopping habits are changing. They want different products. They want the gluten-frees, they want the organics, they want more and different types of produce, [and] ethnic products.”
If the new store is deemed feasible, Therien said the best-case scenario would see a mid-2018 opening.
The current building would remain in place. Therien said he already has six viable, long-term tenants on the lower level and has fielded interest from people interested in renting space on the upper level, where the grocery store and administrative offices are now located.
As for concerns that Flin Flon’s population cannot support a large new Co-op, Therien said the region as a whole must be considered.
“For those that say that Flin Flon is stagnating in population, that’s fine, it is,” he said. “But we have a significant population to the west of us that is growing exponentially, and we have to cater to them, too. We’ve done our homework on this.”
Mansell, a former Co-op board member, said he is surprised by the level of support his petition has received.
“I put out petitions hoping to get 200 signatures and now I’m approaching 500,” he said. “And people are asking me where they can go to sign. It’s amazing, the opposition to this.”
Of the 474 signatures on the petition, Mansell said 358, or 76 per cent, are Co-op members who included their member numbers.
He planned to present photocopies of the petition to Co-op administration and directors this week.
The petition indicates opposition to a new store at the armoury site along Highway 10A. If the board decides to proceed with the project, the petition asks that there be a secret-ballot vote among members.
“I can’t see anything wrong with [the current store], to tell you the truth,” Mansell said. “I like shopping there.”
