Local investors are considering buying The Prospector Inn following its abrupt closure last week.
The Creighton motel, restaurant and lounge closed with little notice last Friday morning, Jan. 16.
“We at the Prospector and Copperkettle [restaurant] are sad to announce our closure,” the owners of the business announced on their Facebook page that same afternoon. “We thank Flin Flon/Creighton for your support and patronage over the last couple years. We will miss serving you.”
Later, the owners added: “We locked up this [Friday] morning.”
Patrons arriving at the Prospector were greeted by locked doors and paper signs that read: “Sorry We’re Closed / Thank You for your patronage and service!!!”.
Neither the signs nor the Facebook post provided a reason for the closure. The Reminder was unable to reach the owners for comment.
Investors
There’s a chance the Prospector, a signature business and major employer for Creighton, won’t be closed long.
A group of local investors has started talking about the possibility of purchasing the business, one of them told The Reminder on the condition of anonymity.
Asked Monday if a date has been set for an offer to be made, the prospective investor said, “No, right now it is just talk.”
Tom Therien, president of the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce, hopes the investor group materializes and proceeds with a purchase.
“That [closure] is unfortunate because it puts a lot of people out of jobs, it takes away one hotel from us, one restaurant,” said Therien.
“It needs to be open. It doesn’t serve anybody to have it closed.”
A decade ago, there was talk in the Flin Flon-Creighton business community of a shortage of accommodations for visitors.
Today, Therien said he isn’t sure whether the remaining hotels and motels will be able to meet demand at peak times.
But he is optimistic the Prospector can operate profitably and that its closure will be short-term.
“Certainly it won’t be a Flin Flon Hotel-type closure,” he said, referring to a hotel that closed in 1999 and remains empty 16 years later.
The Prospector Inn opened in 1988 as RJ’s Motel and Restaurant. In 2008, under new ownership, the name was changed to The Prospector Inn, with the dining area christened The Copper Kettle Restaurant.
The business was on its third ownership group at the time of the closure.
