Filipino started his new life in Canada as a hog worker, but his grocery store now serves a booming immigrant population
YORKTON, Sask. – At 9 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in November, the parking lot at the bus station in downtown Yorkton was empty. There were no buses, no passengers and no cabs.
And for good reason. The bus station in Yorkton is no longer a bus station.
It is now the New Philippines Product Store — a grocery serving people from the Philippines who live in Yorkton and the surrounding communities.
At 9:15 a.m., a person pulled into the parking lot and parked his SUV. It was Eduardo Castillo, the store’s owner. He arrived to start his workday and open the store for customers at 10 a.m.
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Castillo unlocked the front door and turned on the lights. The shelves were loaded with spices, sauces and noodles, but most of the brands were unfamiliar for an average Canadian — things like Mama Sita’s gravy mix and Marca Pina soy sauce that can’t be found at Safeway or the Co-op.
After turning on his computer and taking a seat by the cash register, Castillo explained how he became the owner of a grocery store in Yorkton.
The story began more than 12 years ago in Tarlac, a city north of Manila. Castillo had a business where he delivered food to small grocery stores and wine to larger stores.
Business was OK, but delivering groceries was a dangerous way to make a living.
“In the Philippines, crime, robbery and hold ups are very rampant at that time. Most of the sales-person I know… they had been robbed,” he said. “Armed robberies. Sometimes they told them to remove all their clothes and left them in the field. They thought that was the end of their life.”
Castillo was fortunate. He hadn’t been robbed, yet, but it was only a matter of time.
After thinking about it, Castillo realized that his business was not worth his life.
There must be something better.
“I got afraid for my life and my family… that’s the time I ended up applying to (come to) Canada.”
He went to a job placement agency, which found him a job in Saskatchewan working at a hog farm.
He didn’t know anything about Saskatchewan but did understand livestock and farming because he had a bachelor’s degree in animal science.
In 2009, he arrived in Canada and moved his life to Sheho, Sask., a town about 70 kilometres northwest of Yorkton.
“They told me at that time that the population of Sheho is 112 people.”
The metro area of Manila has about 14 million people.
Castillo’s first job in Canada, as a temporary foreign worker, was a pig barn technician at a farm near Theodore, Sask. His family joined him in Canada after he earned his permanent resident status.
Castillo worked at the hog farm for two years, when a friend recommended he apply at Milligan, a company that processes canola into biodiesel, diesel fuel conditioner, penetrating oils and other products.
He got the job and stayed for about five years, until he got an idea.
Many of his friends were frequently driving to Regina or Saskatoon to buy Filipino spices, sauces and other foods that they couldn’t find in Yorkton.
Castillo understood the grocery business in the Philippines. Could he start his own store in Canada?
He began working on a business plan and sought answers to the basic questions: how to register a business in Saskatchewan, where to get a debit machine and how to find suppliers of Filipino food.
He then found a 1,600 sq. foot location in downtown Yorkton and renovated the space, with his wife’s help, so it was suitable for a grocery store.
“I did not quit my job (at Milligan’s). We kept travelling from Foam Lake… to Yorkton. When it was my day off, I came here.”
The store opened in December 2016. Nearly five years later, this past August, Castillo closed that location and opened a bigger store at the old bus station.
The move to the larger space made sense because Yorkton has a booming population of Filipinos.
Scott Shiels, grain procurement manager with Grain Millers, an oat miller in Yorkton, estimated that 3,000 people from the Philippines live in Yorkton.
Castillo said the number is higher. Yorkton and the surrounding towns probably have 5,000 Filipinos, or more.
Some came as temporary foreign workers. Others came to join their husband or wife in Canada.
Many are now employed at the hospital or home care in Yorkton. Some work in the city’s agri-food processing industry, which includes canola crushing plants and the oat mill.
“Lots and lots of Filipinos are working in nursing homes,” Castillo said.
Every person has a different reason for coming to Canada, but most share something in common — their wage or salary is massive compared to potential earnings in their home country.
“When I came to Canada … my two days of salary is a month salary in the Philippines,” Castillo said, adding the cost of living in Saskatchewan is similar to the Philippines.
About 80 Filipinos work at Harvest Meats, a meat processing firm in Yorkton. They represent more than 25 percent of the workforce at the company, said vice-president and general manager Geoff Propp, who has become friends with some of his employees.
As a result, he’s learned a few things about Filipino culture, such as, don’t mess with them on a basketball court.
At 6’ 3” and 220 pounds, Propp should have an advantage in basketball.
But not in Yorkton’s Filipino league, the most aggressive and fierce basketball he’s ever seen in his life — closer to rugby than basketball.
“I had to stop (playing),” Propp said and then laughed. “It’s the national sport of the Philippines.”
Castillo didn’t talk about basketball, but he did mention his sister. She will soon move to Yorkton from the Philippines and will help him manage the store. She hopes to bring her family to Yorkton once she becomes a permanent resident of Canada.
Running a small business is rarely easy, but a continuing flow of immigrants to eastern Saskatchewan should benefit Castillo and his grocery store.
“Not just Filipinos (shop here),” he said. “All nationalities…. African, Chinese, Thailanders and Canadians.”
