Starting Wednesday, October 8, Snow Lake had one more business taking up residence on Main Street (Elm) – Northland Ford in the Forsyth Agency Building.
Though it is a once-per-week residence, that could change if the community’s response toward the venture is positive.
“We have a lot of customers from Snow Lake who come over and buy,” said Northland Ford sales rep Doug Gourlay. “They service their vehicles in Flin Flon as well. So we want to combine the two. We want to come back into Snow Lake, set up an office and have a local presence. We want to be here for at least one day a week, maybe it will grow into two… we don’t know.”
(Northland Ford has set up in Snow Lake in the past; Gary Ducharme out of The Pas once serviced the community.)
Gourlay will be joined by another rep on his weekly foray into Snow Lake, Tim Hanna. The two men note, that the long established dealership will focus on a twofold approach; sales and service.
They would like to be able to coordinate things so that they can offer service work pickups and drop offs via their people/drivers traveling in and out during weekly visits.
The same would be true in respect to the purchase of new vehicles. It’s all about providing the best possible service they can to the community, the men said.
“We will be here every Wednesday from 10 am to 4 pm and overtime if we have to. We would prefer appointments... that make it a lot easier for us and for them,” Gourlay said.
“Our numbers and emails will be in the window. But we also hope people will just drop by for coffee or to say hi,” adds Hanna.
Northland Ford’s Flin Flon operation currently employs 25 people and likely another 10 will come on board when their new dealership opens.
Showroom
Gourlay says the new building is approximately 13,000 square feet and will boast a showroom, office area and board room, ten mechanics bays, and a large parts and accessories counter, which will be able to stock a lot more items than at present.
He says they will also sell accessories out of their Snow Lake location.
Gourlay advises that there was no push from the local council to set up in Snow Lake, but that Town staff has been very accommodating in the process.
Their reason for coming in to Snow Lake is that as salespeople they are asked to increase their sales and Snow Lake seemed to be an obvious avenue to accomplish that, said Hanna.
Hanna’s background is in service work; a certified heavy-duty, industrial and vehicle mechanic by trade. He has lived in Flin Flon since 1961 and has owned and operated a couple of different service stations in the community.
Gourlay has lived in Flin Flon all his life and has been with Ford for seven and a half years. Prior to that he owned and operated the MTS store in Flin Flon for 12 years; he also worked as an industrial mechanic.
The two sales reps say that they plan to make the rented office space their own.
When they aren’t there, they’ll have a TV constantly running with a steady menu of services, new and used vehicles for sale, and deals available through Northland Ford.
“Yeah, we want to get involved in the town as well,” added Gourlay. “We are already involved with the Women’s Bonspiel and we’re looking at a golf tournament for next year – a one-day event, fully sponsored by Northland Ford.”
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