by PAUL RAYNER

It might have taken a while to settle, but a new business development may end up working out for the best for both parties involved.

In the end, Boissevain will see a new home for the Boissevain Bakery and a new merchandise store on South Railway. It took a while to develop, and in some ways, hung in the balance until perhaps the final moments.

According to Michael Waldron, who owned one half of the old Macleod’s building on South Railway, the situation began developing almost a full year ago. He said he was approached by Fields, a small, value-priced general merchandise store, a part of the Hudson’s Bay Company family, which locates in Western Canada. They were interested in leasing the space in the building. However, they were not interested in his half only, which Waldron said he worked on initially.

“Absolutely,” Waldron explained, “I tried a number of times, but there was no interest in half for the store.”

What Waldron eventually did was activate a clause in the contract with the Boissevain Bakery, who owned and operated the other half of the building, in which he made an offer to purchase and they had the option of accepting or buying him out. However, the owners, Ron and Sharon Fikkert, chose not to.

Sharon Fikkert said they were not interested in owning the whole building. This left them, as she put it, “homeless”. She said they were very close to leaving town altogether, but a solution did eventually come up.

“We had a lot of support from the town and the Town Council,” Fikkert explained. “I guess in the end the planets just fell into alignment.”

The fact is that the Fikkert’s owned land right next door to their former bakery, and were able to build a new structure on it.

“We were concerned about the cost of the new building, but we owned the land, which helped and made it economically feasible.”

The construction of the building started this past week. It is to be a little smaller than their current home, at 30 ft by 60 ft. It will still have both the bakery and the coffee shop. Fikkert said they are planning to close down after Thanksgiving for about 6 weeks, both to allow for completion of the new building and to move all of the equipment over. She said they are hoping to open by December. That would correspond with the anniversary of them coming to town in 1980. They moved to their current location in the early 1990’s.

Waldron said Fields takes possession on October 27, although they might start working on his side of the building earlier. Although a Fields representative could not be contacted, Waldron indicated the company would like to be open for business by Christmas.

Although it has been trying for all concerned, Waldron does feel that in the end, the situation has worked out as well as possible.

“At the end of the day,” he stated, “I think it is good for everybody. I think it’s good for the town to get a large retail outlet, and we keep their business.”

Fikkert said they wanted to stay in the town that has become their home.

“Everything fell into place,” she said. “We had a lot of support. It is not something we chose to do, but we wanted to stay and it worked out.”