By Lisa Brady

New and improved Co-op Home & Agro Centres look to save customers time

Apr 24, 2019 | 12:18 PM

After four years of designing and revitalizing, Prairie North Co-op have opened their Home and Agro Centres in Melfort and Kelvington.

After saving money and time for DIY home renovators, Prairie North Co-op general manager Randy Wassermann said they look to do the same for contractors and agriculture customers in Northeast Saskatchewan.

“It’s very exciting to get to this point and be able to provide an upgraded and enhanced shopping experience in the area,” Wassermann said. “We’ve provide facilities here we believe rival anything in the major cities.”

Wassermann said four years ago Prairie North Co-op realized the contractor business was essential to their Home and Business Solutions area. Over the years, the former garden centre on the east side of the Melfort store got a facelift and became the contractor centre to focus on contractors’ needs.

“We thought we could make that an area where we can specialize and work with them, but more importantly get them in and out of the building as quickly as possible,” Wassermann said. “They want to come in, talk to people with the product knowledge we have, and get out to the job site.

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The Melfort location has the specific contractor centre, while Kelvington has a smaller version in the project centre.

Although there are slight differences for contractors, both stores have specialized Agro Centres to focus on the grower’s needs.

In the previous stores, Wassermann said it was typical for the agriculture office to be on the sales floor in the hustle and bustle of the home centre. Something he and Prairies North Co-op wanted to change.

“It was kind of hard to have those professional conversations with our growers,” Wassermann said. “By segmenting that away from the main selling area we’re able to focus on agriculture more and give it the attention it deserves.”

With Agro and Contractor Centres in place for those specific clients, it means more open space for home centre customers to shop.

The Co-op Home and Agro Centres in Melfort are open from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday, and the Agro Centre in Kelvington is open from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday.