The Big Beaver General Store is Back!

The Big Beaver Store is open again. It has been refreshed. It is a new old, and Southern Saskatchewan is lucky to have this gem.

I sat down with Sheri Anderson, the brand new owner of a provincial treasure, to ask her some questions about a place that has served the area for years which we all hope will continue in the decades to come.

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Your grand opening was on April 8^th, tell me about that day.
We had free cake and coffee. It was busy and steady in the flow of people. People stopped in to check it out and to buy a few things.

How many people do you think came through the door?
Oh, I don’t know. Probably over 100.

What made you want to do this?
Well, we already ran the hardware stuff from our farm. So, I figured we might as well move to town as we would have more foot traffic. Then we bought the store. I have to learn groceries. Groceries are a different learning curve for me. And, why not have a lunch counter while you are here? I have to eat every day while I am here, so I might as well have food and serve it to the public. We’re going to have hard icecream soon.

How do you like it so far?
It’s good. It’s really good. Everyday is different. There is always something different people ask for and you’re like, “Oh, let me look that up. I can probably get that.” You know, stick to your motto!

Who did all of the renovation work here?
The majority of the work was done my myself, my husband Stacey, my dad, my mom, and my sister. We had different people come in. Garrett Osborn came and did some stuff. We had Bryce Wrolson and Monique. Monique’s mom, Linda, came in. She did most of the refinishing of all the furniture. Zina Harris was here and she did a lot of painting. We changed all of the electrical and the main source coming in.

Tell me about some of the interesting things you came across while renovating the store?
On the hardware side there was a little closet there. Dad found a suitcase and it was fully packed, like woman had packed her clothes and then just left it there. We couldn’t do anything with the clothing but we kept the suitcase.

Dad found the original insurance or the purchase of that far building. The original purchasing name was on there. We are going to laminate it and hang it in the store. It is from 1928.

We found all of the retro clothing upstairs. There were rooms of that clothing up there. Some of the shoes were in original boxes, paper wrapped on them and still with stuffing in the toes of the shoes as if they were just a new shipment. The little radios were downstairs. We just had to wash them up. That little orange radio. It was just down here. The Williams sewing machine, we took that out, took the old chest and made it into the sink in the bathroom. We drilled one little hole and refinished it.

And receipt books. You know how Ronnie used to write all those receipt books? Well there is some from every era. There are some from the 1970s, 80s, 90s, 2000s. We kept some from every era. Most people came every day for groceries. Every day you could see what they purchased because they did not just write the hardware on those bills. The wrote all the groceries on the bill. They were getting tobacco. They were getting cat food. It is all handwritten in that book. And it was just page after page was just tallied until the book was done. And then it was totalled and carried to another book. So, they found a lot of stuff like that. It was very interesting.

There are some posters we found in the store, like an old sales flyer from the 1980s. We kept a couple of them. We’ll laminate them and decorate the rest of it in here with that.

Ronnie kept all of his receipt papers. From the day the store was opened. They were all upstairs. We filled a 3-Ton with old receipt-tape books and the till tapes.

Let’s talk about the future.
I hope it stays really busy. There are some slower days but you are definitely going to have that.

I feel like the community was lost without the store. Every time I come in here Sheri, I feel like there is a very happy energy in here. I think people are so happy it is here.
It’s back. I feel like it is coming. People have to get back into that groove of, ‘Oh she has that. We can get that there.’

Tell me about the merchandise.
I have to do another order. I did those pottery mugs. Those were big. I will do postcards and fridge magnets. People want things that say Big Beaver, Sask. I have to get the underwear. People really ask for that. You learn. People ask for things and I think, ‘That’s a good idea.’ I just go by what people tell me. Your people will help you here, to get where you need to be. You have to listen to them.

What is the most interesting thing you have learned about this business so far?
Just meeting new people. You meet everybody new, and just getting everything they want. I knew most people in the area. I knew their faces, but now I get to actually talk to them.

You are now the queen of the community. You realize that right?
Yeah sure! I’ll know all of the answers! Come here… And now we are booking campsites right from the store.

Let’s talk about licensing this place to sell alcohol. My who generation wanted a bar here. So did my brothers’ age group. My dad’s too. Is that a reality that could happen?
Yep. It will be off-sale through the kitchen. My children think they can turn this side into a nightclub. I am like, “No!” This mom’s not doing it.

So, what are you going to be selling? Soup and sandwiches?
Soups, salads, wraps. We will probably do cheesecake. I have a couple of people who want to come bake two days a week, so we’ll have fresh buns or bread one day. Muffins maybe in the mornings. We can probably do bacon and eggs. We’ll pre-make some sandwiches and put them in the cooler so that if a guy comes in for hydraulic hose, he’s hungry, he can grab a sandwich and a drink and stay on the go. Maybe someone does not feel like cooking and today’s special is lasagne, they can just say, ‘I need four orders to go.’ I will keep it updated on social media every day.

How do people initially react when they come in here?
A friend of ours came and he sat at the front counter. He sent me a message. It said, ‘Thanks for letting us hang out at your store today. You guys did a really good job fixing it up. I watched the reactions of the people who came in and they all seemed really impressed with the work you did. I wish you many years of success with the store.’ He said just watching them and their expressions of, ‘Look at how bright it is in here. Oh, you re-did the flooring. How much work was that? Oh, you kept all the shelving. That’s so nostalgic. Oh, you opened this side up. Oh, the bathroom’s done. I love the bathroom.’ The bathroom is a highlight. So, people see the work for sure.

I’m hoping that by July 1^st at the latest, the kitchen is open.

Well, thank you for saving our town!
(Laughing) I hope it does. I really hope it does.