Commercial expansion and contraction is sweeping over town as businesses renovate, move to new spaces or close down altogether.
Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill agrees that the "business landscape in Athabasca is always in transition. "
Morrill said in a written statement the town's commercial and industrial assessment values went from $46 million to $64 million from 2007 to 2012.
While visible business licenses (office and retail) saw 10 losses in town between 2011 and 2013, 16 more cropped up, said the mayor.
The Great Canadian Dollar Store will be moving to the space formerly occupied by Tru Value Hardware.
The current Dollar Store will likely have its last day of business Sept. 14, and the owners are aiming to open the new store Sept. 18.
The grand opening will be celebrated from Sept. 20 –22.
The new, larger floor space will give the owners more room to expand their inventory.
The store's owner, Tracey Nicholson, eventually expects an expanded product line in all areas, but said a larger craft section is "going to be a big thing. "
"Craft has become a huge thing in the last year or two, " said Nicholson. "We're going to be the Michaels of the north.
"Our party areas will be huge, " she added.
Morning Star Ink owners built a new, larger building a year ago and opened last September; they are now welcoming a new business into the building's third bay.
Darcy Major, office manager of Expert Office Solutions, a Xerox agency and authorized reseller, will share the bay with Athabasca Hometown Printing Company, according to Major, who gained access to the space earlier this month.
"We've got it painted; we've got carpet in; we've got to set up desks and some equipment, and we're hopefully going to be opened the first or second week in September, " said Major.
Major had three agents working from their homes prior to the move, and she decided that moving to a fixed office space would be good for expanding their inventory, as their home businesses were very limiting in that regard.
The Floral Cottage has occupied the second bay since early August of last year.
Sears Athabasca has no plans to shut its doors, according to owner and operator Orest Wintonyk; it is simply undergoing a change in ownership.
Sears will become a corporate rather than private outlet, but during the transition period, Wintonyk will keep steering the ship.
"I'm just trying something, just for a few months, " said Wintonyk.
Wintonyk said there is no negative reason for his pending departure from the Sears store he opened 13 years ago. He said it's just he has been in retail for 39 years and wants to try something else. But he said he is not retiring.
"This way, instead of me paying the bills, I'll have Sears pay the bills, " he said.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day Sears will shift from being privately owned and operated by Wintonyk to being corporately operated by Sears.
