A major Canadian retailer with deep roots in Flin Flon has just committed to spending many millions of dollars on a spacious new store that will offer a greater range of products to residents across the region.
Stop me when I get to the bad part.
North of 53 Consumers Co-op’s decision to build a new store along Highway 10A marks one of the most significant retail projects in Flin Flon history. While some fine folks will differ with me, I welcome this news.
Why oppose the new store? “Because it might not work,” more than a few people say. To which I’ll point out that there’s no guarantee anything will work.
Is the new Co-op store particularly susceptible to not working? Not according to the folks who analyze economic scenarios for Federated Cooperatives Ltd, or FCL. And they presumably know a lot more about this kind of stuff than you or I.
FCL is so confident in the forthcoming store’s success in this region – and let’s remember we’re a region, not just Flin Flon-Creighton – that it is pumping about $3.5 million into the project, no strings attached.
FCL must see a bigger picture than do opponents of the new store. And FCL would have made its decision independent of what some people on the ground might think from their limited vantage point.
Why would FCL, whose mandate is to strengthen revenues and satisfy customers within the Co-op network, be so willing to pour money into something that plainly won’t work? This is where new-store opponents must be humble enough to reconsider their position.
“What if Extra Foods reopens?” That’s another concern among opponents, referencing the abandoned Flintoba Shopping Centre building that once housed that particular grocery chain. “Surely that would eat into the Co-op’s business.”
Let’s remember that Extra Foods closed in 2011 because it was losing money. I know there were initially rumours that the closure was a cynical ploy to “get rid of the union” by staying closed for a year and then reopening with unorganized labour.
Aside from the fact that I’m not sure you can just wait a year to eliminate a union, it’s clear today, five years later, that the Extra Foods shutdown was a real closure to end real monetary losses – so there’s no real reason to believe Extra Foods is coming back, especially to a building that now requires refurbishment.
Some new-store detractors who live in the uptown area are upset about losing a Co-op in their neighbourhood. This is understandable but hardly a reason to maintain the status quo. While the new location may be further away from some customers, it is also much closer to others.
Another bonus to consider is that with the food floor of the existing Co-op opening up, more prime commercial space in our core area will become available. The
Co-op has been in talks with potential tenants, and things sound promising.
After years in community journalism, I’ve come to realize that no matter what decision is made, and no matter the reason, there will always be people resistant to change.
Opposition to the new Co-op store, as well meaning as it may be, is simply no match for the benefits our region will reap from an investment of this magnitude.
Local Angle is published on Fridays.
