Prince George Canadian Tire Sold

Tuesday, August 07, 2007 03:58 AM

Two people who were the chair and the co-chair of the initiative to raise two million dollars towards a Northern Medical Bursary Program, are leaving Prince George.

Janet and Tim Curry have operated the Canadian Tire franchise from its opening in the Westgate Plaza.

Prince George Northern Medical Society director Dr. Bert Kelly says the Curry’s contributed a great deal to the Northern Medical program “They contributed a lot of time and money to the program.” The Currys’ made a significant personal financial donation in their drive to raise two million dollars.

The Currys’ also served on a host of different community programs.

Curry says he and his wife (and of course their yellow lab dog) will move into a new home at Bear Mountain near Victoria and will take over the Langford Canadian Tire store.

“We had always hoped to be able to retire on the Island and we have passed up at least ten different opportunities,” says Tim Curry “this one was just too good to pass up.”

The Curry’s leave the Canadian Tire in Prince George on September 26^th; they take over their new store in Langford on October 3^rd.

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Posted on Tuesday, August 07, 2007 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: kitkat on August 7 2007 9:29 AM

I hope the new owners hire some staff, I avoid shopping there just because the few people who do work there are stretched far to thin.

Posted by: diplomat on August 7 2007 11:03 AM

I like shopping at Canadian Tire, but far too many items have no price on them and no price on the shelf where they are kept. I end up taking small items to a scanner, but the bigger ones I simply will not bother with and pass up on them, buy elsewhere.

Staff is too busy stacking shelves and blocking aisles, the whole store needs a complete makeover and cleanup.

Take the Canadian Tire store in Quesnel as an example. It is neat, clean, it has enough staff and shopping there is a positive experience.

Hopefully the new owner will start things off with a new attitude and stick with it.

Cheers!

Posted by: Buzz on August 7 2007 11:59 AM

I have to agree that the service at our Canadian Tire is somewhat pathetic. I always have a good laugh when I read each year how they've won another "best customer serive" award...of course, it's an 'insiders' award that Canadian Tire awards itself!!
Having said that, the story here is that Tim & Janet Curry are leaving PG, which is a loss as they've been great supporters of our community. I know Tim has done plenty of volunteer work, and helps out groups above and beyond the call of duty. (both high profile work as well as very quiet behind the scenes stuff) While we all seem to love bashing corporations, many of them are also huge contributors to their local communities, and the Curry's have done a great job in using their power to better our city.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 7 2007 12:19 PM

Tim and Janet Curry may have been good corporate citizens, but I WAS getting a little tired of seeing their faces (and their dog even!) in every Canadian Tire ad in the paper.
I also agree that the store itself is not one of the best I have been in.
Staffing is an issue and finding someone to help who actually knows something is a rarity!
As another poster wrote,the store in Quesnel is by far better run without question!
But good luck to them anyway!

Posted by: Buzz on August 7 2007 1:29 PM

Andyfreeze, yes, the marketing agency sure went overboard with that whole schtick...probably some attempt to "brand" the store with a friendly local flavour. They could have used some of the advertising money to hire some more staff. Mind you, IF you can even find a staff, they usually turn out to be a pimply faced 13 year old who thinks that screwdrivers come in both left and right handed models! (Not to say I'm any better...that's why I NEED a decent staff person to help me with my own incompetence...it's pretty bad when I know more than they do!!)

Posted by: Gofaster on August 7 2007 4:44 PM

Gee , maybe we will be able to get some service now...for a little while anyways...
probably not!

Posted by: Harbinger on August 7 2007 5:21 PM

Canadian Tire...more of nothing.

Posted by: dgdiggler on August 7 2007 5:48 PM

Why would they move? If most of their friends are in prince george , why retire to the island?

Posted by: Wileycoyote on August 7 2007 6:24 PM

I have to agree service at our canadian tire left alot to be desired. Just some of those deals were just too hard to pass on despite the poor service. Hopefully the new owners will remedy the situation,

Posted by: camoose on August 7 2007 7:05 PM

Canadian Tire isn't the only one on the block with poor service. Have you tried to push a shopping cart down the aisles of Home Depot? Stock stacked in every aisle. At 10 o'clock this morning Walmart had only one cashier open out of 20. Walmart also is stacking clothing in the aisle by the men's department. Seems if you make the parking places smaller and the aisles narrower you can make more money. I may be a little old fashioned but I expect a little consideration for my dollars. After all It's my money I'm spending and a little customer consideration goes a long way. Example - Northern Hardware.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 7 2007 10:03 PM

Quite right camoose!
Home Depot is a damn mess and Walmart is a disgrace!
They NEVER have enough tills open anytime I am ever in there, no matter how busy they are!(which is not very often anymore)
Wonder why we put up with that just to spend our money?
Unfortunately,as much as I still like the store,Northern Hardware is a pain to get to or pack stuff out of.

Posted by: opinionated on August 7 2007 10:08 PM

In my opinion Canadian Tire made a big mistake by moving.The service was decent at the old location. They seemed to then have good, knowledgable people working for them. CH location has the worst service of any store in PG. The Curry's had to know this but didn't seem to do a thing about it.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 7 2007 10:41 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the old Canadian Tire location had a somewhat older,better trained staff.
But maybe that's just my imagination?

Posted by: dgdiggler on August 8 2007 1:16 AM

He's sold the pg cdn tire and bought another near victoria. SO, I guess he's not really retiring. I'll bet he has seen the economic forcast for pg and wishes to head to another part of the province that can weather out the bad times with a store that will keep on making a profit.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 8 2007 8:43 AM

...actually,dgdiggler,that could be very true,and not too far down the road either!

Posted by: Buzz on August 8 2007 12:28 PM

Well I think you're wrong there dgdiggler & Andyfreeze...the economic forcasting I've seen for PG is quite bright - certainly the best outlook we've had in many many years. The forcasting I've seen comes from IPG, but also several guest economists who have no reason to B.S. or be overly rosy. BC Business magazine has also highlighted Prince George, Prince Rupert and surrounding areas several times with extremely encouraging forcasts.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on August 8 2007 3:13 PM

Actually Buzz,I would rather YOU were right and I was wrong!
Unfortunately,I have been around to long to pay much attention to things like economic forecasts etc.
Like realtors and developers,they will deny there is a slump until the bitter end!
I think we are in trouble when you consider the impact of the Pine Beetle issue and the general slump that will hit just before and after the Olympics are over.
Hopefully I am dead wrong.
Cheers!

Posted by: dgdiggler on August 8 2007 5:42 PM

Hey Buzz, what color is the sky in your world? Oh wait a min....its rosy.....hmmm ....what does IPG stand for?....something prince george does it not? Just part of the ideology infrastructure aimed at promoting the status quo.
I would like to be wrong, but stock analysists are panicking about how the housing market in the US is adversely affecting the dow. Their are several huge mortgage lenders in the US that are declaring bankruptcy now and this is invariably due to the effect of forclosures and nil growth combined. Meaning: no new houses = no demand for cdn wood. With factors thrown in such as beetle crisis = shut down of interior economy. This includes PG.
Was talking to a forestry expert the other day and his opinion is that the PG area is not affected by mining potential in other parts of the province due to demographic location.
Oh well, how this relates to the curries moving to van island may just be one factor - a cause and effect influence on why they have decided to relocate.

Or, they might simply want to live with a view of Jack Nicholas' golf course and or the ocean.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 8 2007 9:51 PM

Speaking of Pine Beetle, the attack didn't seem to happen this year. Is it still too early? I've been watching and I can't find any green attack in the pine around my place. So what's up?

Posted by: dgdiggler on August 8 2007 10:51 PM

It's because they've come and gone already. The beetle tends to follow air currents....wind currents...to help it along its way...then it lands on trees that will sustain it. That is why you may see a streak of green amoungst red affected pine trees.

Posted by: trollunderthebridge on August 8 2007 11:31 PM

Hmm,stay in dirty, homely Prince George or move to Vancouver island near Victoria? That is a no-brainer. Best of luck. I'm envious of them.