KINISTINO, Sask. – Customer familiarity is why a farm equipment dealership is rebuilding on the same place where its headquarters were destroyed in a Christmas Day fire.
“A lot of people know the business, have been here for many years and we’re in a situation where we don’t have any desire to move out of town,” said Farm World chief executive officer Tex Prete.
“Kinistino will remain the head office. It worked good all these years so we might as well leave it here. The mother ship will stay here,” he said Dec. 31.
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The 3,600 sq. metre operation, which is celebrating 25 years in business and employs about 45 people lost its main building. Farm World also has store locations in Humboldt and Prince Albert.
While no one was injured in the blaze, the fire destroyed 26 pieces of equipment including combines, tractors and sprayers that had been moved inside because of the cold so they could be worked on right after the holiday.
Prete estimates total losses between $10 million and $15 million for building and contents.
“She was right full,” said Prete.
Twenty of the machines belonged to customers. Farm World insurance will not cover those losses.
“(There has been) a lot of support from the local community. So many calls from people who say ‘we feel for you and we hope you can get up and going soon.’ It’s just been very, very positive all the way. The town offered us the rink to use for a place to work in the meantime – they’ve been supportive as well. That’s been very, very good,” said Prete.
He said Farm World would do its service work in the shops of two local farmers. The auditorium above the Kinistino ice rink has been the business’s temporary office but it will soon relocate to trailers on the property site.
Prete admits he’s been losing some sleep since the fire with all the planning required to rebuild the business.
“It’s hard to shut my mind off and relax,” he said.
The business was able to retrieve two main computers that will allow it to open for business more quickly. It also has two parts departments still functioning at its other locations.
“I suppose if a person had to have a fire, this will have the least impact on our customers. It’s going to be hard to build in the winter and all that stuff, but this is definitely our slowest time of year as far as the direct impact to our customers,” said Prete.
“We need this facility up and running by harvest, which is our main season, for sure,” said Prete.
“They’ll be some changes in the new one. The building before was built in many different sections over the years. That made some inefficiencies and we’ll eliminate those with the new facility.
“I think I’d have a mutiny in the shop if I didn’t put a wash bay in this one.”
