Twin Valley Co-op announced on Nov. 16 that Elkhorn’s Home Centre will not close.
Just six weeks previous, in early October Twin Valley’s Board of Directors and Manager Dwayne Moncur had announced the hardware store’s closure. That announcement brought a rain of protest from Elkhorn people and resulted in a public meeting with the co-op board and management, hosted by the Elkhorn District Chamber of Commerce (EDCC).
Moncur and the board heard a number of concerns and ideas at that meeting in the Elks Hall. The outcome was a suggestion that the community be polled to see what they would support.
The chamber did just that. “We sent out a survey into all mail boxes and presented the completed surveys to the co-op,” said EDCC President Samantha Cluett.
“They’ve looked over their decision and decided to give it another chance” - Canart
Twin Valley (TV) called a second meeting with the Chamber, on Nov. 7, to review the results from that mail-out, to see what services people would support and what they felt they needed in order to keep the Home Centre & Gas Bar open.
“They asked questions about what we were looking for, what they could do to try and make the place more viable,” said a member of EDCC and Elkhorn resident Clayton Canart.
A TV board meeting was held last week, Nov. 13; and following that recent meeting came this communication late last week:
“The Board and Management of Twin Valley Co-op Ltd are very pleased to announce that, after consulting with members and organizations in the Elkhorn trading area, the decision to close the Elkhorn Home Centre in January 2019 has been rescinded.
“Despite the economic challenges facing our small rural towns, we are optimistic that, with the support of our Elkhorn membership, the co-op stores in Elkhorn can remain viable and sustainable. Shopping locally has always been what keeps our small-town stores in business.”
The forward looking message of the press release indicates that cooperation will win the day:
“Operating results will continue to be reviewed, but with Twin Valley providing the goods and services our members want, and our members reciprocating through their continued support, we look forward to maintaining a presence in Elkhorn.
“The Board and Management wish to thank the members of the Elkhorn community for their input and ideas, and we look forward to keeping those lines of communication open.”
Moncur explained this week, “We’ve set out a budget and hopefully the business can achieve those numbers.”
Canart said, “I thought it was great that they came and offered us that chance that we could meet with them again. They’ve looked over their decision and decided to give it another chance.”
