Sidney General Store under new management

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/01/2020 (2118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two days into the new year and 2020 already had some interesting changes in store for the small community of Sidney.

On Jan. 2, Robert Smith officially took over as the new owner of the Sidney General Store and held a grand opening to cement that fact for the public.

At 60 years of age, Smith told the Sun he has been looking for a new project now that younger members of his family are taking over operations on the farm.

When he saw a “For Sale” sign posted in the store’s window this past October, he jumped at the chance to run an institution that has been deeply ingrained in the daily routine of local residents for more than 100 years.

“At 8:30 in the morning there’s basically five farmers who are always sitting out front waiting for the store to open so they can come in and have a cup of coffee and catch up on the news and pick up the mail,” he said.

Smith went on to say that he has been visiting the Sidney General Store to pick up groceries and hang out basically his entire life, which encouraged him to take the plunge into owning the shop late last year.

“I’ve always enjoyed pouring coffee at functions. I’ve always done that since I was a kid, and so I thought I’d have my own coffee shop,” Smith said.

However, the new owner said the store is much more than just a convenient place to pick up a cup of morning joe. It also serves as the only real place where Sidney residents can get their hands on groceries, lottery tickets and mail from Canada Post.

Moving into the future, Smith even wants to introduce more of a hardware section that will spare residents the chore of having to drive to nearby Carberry or Austin to buy tools or building materials.

“If they can save driving 25 minutes there and 25 minutes back, then it will be worth their while,” he said.

Local resident Brenda Riege has served as the owner of the Sidney General Store since 2011, initially taking on the job over fears that no one would step up to the plate to keep the business going.

“They were going to close it,” she told the Sun recently. “I grew up here, so I thought I could run it and be stable for my son until he graduated (high school) and that’s exactly what I did.”

Now that Riege is ready to move on to other projects, she wishes her successor all the best in the future and tells him not get overwhelmed by all the newness that comes with the job.

“Just take it one day at a time,” she said. “Enjoy meeting new people and the travellers … you learn lots.”

And while Smith admits that the transition from life-long farmer to small retail business owner will have its fair share of challenges, he remains confident that he can make this work in the long run.

“It’s not huge business, but if you sell 30 cups of coffee a day at $2 a day that adds up to over $18,000 a year,” he said. “And with the post office and lotteries, everything just adds up, so it’s a viable business.”

The Sidney General Store is opened 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

Sidney is located 67 kilometres east of Brandon.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson