BULYEA, Sask. – The wind sweeps across the wide main street here, a loose gathering of weathered buildings north of the Qu’Appelle Valley. Greying grain elevators formerly known as Saskatchewan Wheat Pool No. 1 tower over the road and the village’s newest addition, a teal-trimmed agro centre and gas bar.
The Bulyea Community Co-operative stretches across the street to include the metal-sided grocery store and farm supply sheds.
One senior braves the cold to seek out marshmallows and
oranges for the week ahead, while a father and adult son back a truck up to load cultivator shovels for their seeder still buried under snow on the farm.
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Inside the agro centre, co-op employees Brian
Gorrill and John Hoffman are gearing up for spring too, stocking the shelves with bug sprays and gardening supplies.
Sales surge in the summer from the thousands who settle into RVs and cottages at nearby beaches along Last Mountain Lake, said general manager Lynn McLeod.
The co-op’s core business comes from its 1,100 local members spread out over the mixed farming community from Govan to
Craven to Southey.
“We have a very loyal following and loyal customers,” she said.
Fuel accounts for the bulk of sales here as it does for other western Canadian co-ops supplied by Federated Co-operatives Ltd. The gas bulk plant was added in the ’70s to the Bulyea co-op, established in 1938 as a grocery and dry goods store.
Like the co-op, the community has witnessed sweeping changes. The village of 100 residents named for a CP railway executive has retained its rail line, which once serviced the town but now exists mainly to move potash.
Gone are the lumberyards and machinery dealers. Also disappearing are smaller farms and large families.
“It isn’t good. The less farmers you have, the less people you have coming through the door,” said McLeod.
Co-op president Glen Ritter, who produces grain and cattle south of here, said the poor farm economy challenges the store to keep looking for
opportunities.
The boldest initiative to attract business came in 2003 with the building of a new store.
“We’d outgrown our facility and they needed to be updated,” said Ritter. “Our facilities were just about finished.”
The co-op’s past-president Terry Fiessel said the expansion was necessary for business and for the village.
“It was either we were moving ahead or we’d be moving backwards,” said Fiessel.
The co-operative was in good shape financially, investing $650,000 in the new centre. Fiessel said the co-op supports the village through its business assessment, and by supporting local charities and keeping local money in the community.
“In Safeway, your money goes down East and to the States,” said Ritter. “If you support your local community, that money comes back to you.”
Fiessel and Ritter said the co-op pays more than $100,000
in dividends annually to its membership, while providing
local employment.
Employee Brian Gorrill started working here 12 years ago
to offset his declining farm income. He said many are surprised to find such a big store in a little place.
“It’s a drawing card for someone wanting to move to our town,” he said.
Mega stores in Regina provide strong competition for the Bulyea Co-op as many area residents commute to the city for work each day. It responds with regular promotions and sales to encourage shopping locally.
The co-op provides employment for 10 district residents and racked up $6.91 million in sales in 2005. That increased from the previous year, largely due to increased fuel prices.
Bulyea farmer Leif Nordal pays the clerk for gas
for his truck as he explains how he has shopped here all of his life.
“It’s handy and the price is good,” he said.
Donna Hornung agrees. She is in the store for the third time this day, getting paint supplies for a renovation project at her hotel in the village.
“I can get what I need here,” said the local co-op member.
Locals also trickle into the small grocery store where manager Patti McLeod stocks a little bit of
everything. Limited space means settling for packaged bologna and frozen hamburger over a fresh meat counter, and making do with a small but
colourful mix of fresh fruits and vegetables.
It’s enough for longtime resident Geoff Williams, who trades his cane for a grocery cart to help him gather items from the store shelves.
“If we don’t have local services, we’d all have to run to the city,” he said. “Some of us are reaching the age where it’s not so easy to run to the city.”
Looking ahead, McLeod does not see major change on the
Bulyea Co-op business horizon.
“Farmers are fighting just to survive,” she said.
“The goals are to keep what you have profitable. We don’t care to be expanding.”
MacLeod, like most of her rural customers, hopes for better times ahead for farm families.
“That’s the bread and butter of this place,” she said.
