Even when they were conducting business out of a boxcar,
customer satisfaction was high on the priority list for the Wetaskiwin Co-operative.
Their service to the members and the consumers grew to include delivery services
which again expanded their trading area. At first it was by horse and wagon but eventually
they acquired a fleet of trucks to do the job. They established a cream route pick
up, distribution of farm fuel, feed, and fertilizer, livestock hauling and delivery of
general merchandize. These trucking services were one of the first of its kind in the
Province. By 1966 they had eight trucks operating.
They made their community hall a focal point for meetings
and social activities for both co-op members and community groups. With changes in
society's social requirements over the years the hall ceased to be as popular and
eventually became a service department for the store.
In 1944 the Wetaskiwin Co-operative Association ventured
to acquire a little country store in Falun just West of Wetaskiwin. The owner of the
business had approached Wetaskiwin to purchase the operation. He remarked that the
residents of the area had been loyal customers who had repaid him for his assets twice
over and he hoped that the local people could become the true owners of the whole
operation instead of some private enterprise taking over.
The Wetaskiwin Co-operative conducted a survey in the Falun area
and only two individuals were not interested in the venture. So the residents of Falun got their store.
The Wetaskiwin Co-operative Association paid $32,000 cash for the store building, two
residences, truck garage and shop, farm fuel building and bulk storage, two trucks, all
inventory, wind charger, post office facilities, bus station connection, and two acres of
land with a well - all of which faced the busy Pigeon Lake Highway.
The Wetaskiwin Co-operative Association was approached to
explore an undertaking in Bluffton in 1947, but it did not prove to be viable. The
Wetaskiwin Board of Directors were instrumental in establishing the Camrose Co-op.
They endeavoured to have a branch in Millet on property that was
acquired on a short-term lease. This venture lasted until 1979 when neither a
long-term lease agreement or purchase of the property could be realistically negotiated
and it was eventually deemed to be a less viable operation than expected.
In addition to expanding outside the City of Wetaskiwin the Co-op had the foresight to
expand within the City limits, too.
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