New Co-op store a go

It’s official: North of 53 Consumers Co-op will open a spacious new store at the former armoury property early as 2017.

The store is projected to cost $17 million, give or take a 10 per cent contingency, with about a quarter of the tab coming from the Co-op’s umbrella organization, Federated Cooperatives Ltd.

“We’re doing this for the future of North of 53 Co-op,” said general manager Tom Therien.

Therien said the current store on Main Street requires upgrades and is too small to offer sufficient product lines. There are also parking concerns.

The new store, to be built at the former armoury site on Highway 10A, will be about 1.5 times the size of the current building with up to 39,000 square feet of space, he said.

Therien said the store will open between late 2017 and early 2018. Site preparation is to begin in the near future, with the long-vacant armoury building to be demolished in September.

The announcement follows a feasibility study conducted with Federated Cooperatives Ltd. that Therien said far exceeded expectations.

He said the population of the region, specifically the area west of Flin Flon, is growing and that today’s grocery shoppers are looking for product lines the current store cannot offer due to space limitations.

Therien added that businesses are interested in renting the food floor of the current building, though no final announcement could be made Monday.

The Reminder will have more on this story in our Wednesday print edition.