Pete and Rose Friesen of Country Snacks and Red River Co-op are excited for the big changes coming to their Main Street business over the coming weeks. The changes will include a substantially larger gas bar, a new automotive propane fill station, and a large outdoor patio.

“The upgrade will consist of six pumps, which will serve 12 cars, and the propane is getting upgraded, too,” says Rose.

The new gas bar will be located on the property just west of the store with a Main Street access and egress loop. The filling area will have an overhead canopy illuminated by LED lighting. An added automotive propane fill station will be large enough for motorhomes to drive in and fill their fixed propane tanks.

At some point down the road, they also hope to add an electric vehicle charging station.

“That’s something that we’re looking at doing because we know that that’s coming,” she says.

Work is expected to begin by mid-May. Before new tanks can be dug and pumps installed, the old ones will come out. This, the couple says, means having their gas island down for about three months. They hope to have the existing pump area cleaned up and a new 14-foot by 28-foot timber frame covered patio installed on the front of the building by the fair weekend in early June.

For the three-month construction period, the propane fill station will also disappear, but the Friesens plan to bring in a tank exchange program to continue servicing their customers. In the meantime, they encourage Red River Co-op members to fill their gas and propane tanks at either the St. Mary’s Road or St. Norbert locations.

“These plans have been in the works for the past five to ten years,” Pete says, suggesting that it was a lengthy process of determining a strategy, buying the additional property to make it happen, preparing the property, and working together with the Town of Niverville and Red River Co-op to bring their plans to fruition.

During the construction period, the store and restaurant will be open for business as usual. The parking area on the west side of the building will be under construction but parking will continue to be available on the east side and along Main Street. The town will soon be installing 15-minute parking signs on the east side of Fourth Avenue South to accommodate customers.

“Really, we’ve been continuously reinventing ourselves for many years and we’re coming up with new concepts all the time,” Pete says. “That hasn’t changed. It probably has forced us to view things differently, which is natural… It doesn’t matter if it’s an existing business or a new business, you have to offer something that will draw people.”

As for new competition in town, Pete and Rose aren’t too worried. The way the town is growing, they say, there’s plenty of business for everyone. The competition doesn’t seem to have impacted their bottom line much and the couple attributes that to customer loyalty, their diversified range of offerings, and their centralized location.

“This is a very central location,” Pete says. “We have a lot of walk-in traffic… which is huge for our store. The gas is very important to us, but the store and restaurant is also a big part of our profit. That’s why we want to keep growing the restaurant side of it. Of course, the ice cream speaks for itself. We still have a lot of people commenting that it’s very good ice cream.”

Rose says that they will be keeping their staff levels lower during the upgrade but will be hiring new people come mid-July to get ready for the new gas bar opening. In the meantime, they’ve signed on with Red River Co-op for another lengthy term because they’re optimistic that Country Snacks will continue to be a central and relevant part of the community for a long time to come.