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Kingsclear First Nation set to open new gas bar and convenience store

Kingsclear First Nation is building a new convenience store and gas bar along Route 102 that is set to open in July.

Derek Solomon, the assistant manager of the Wulastukw Convenience store, said he is also planning to have a coffee shop in the store.

The community is open to working with other businesses as well.

"Looking at the space now we possibly have some future aspirations for some other businesses to coincide with the store," he said.

"There's a lot of excitement of coming from where we are now to up here. It's like night and day — the store size, the colour, everything about it is different and I'm assuming even the clientele that it attracts will be different."

More visibility

The store the community currently runs employs 16 people full time and several more on a part time, call-in basis.

Solomon said the store is busy but it lacks visibility from the highway.

"The older store, if you stand here, you can't even see that it exists if you drive by here," Solomon said from the site of the new store.

"Right here it's going to be all lit up — the gas pumps, the store — lit up, you can't miss it. Tourist season is coming up, just a lot of benefits of having it right on the highway."

Solomon said it's an expansion that should have happened years ago.

Needed expansion

"It was just something they were thinking about for the past four years and more now. Future development is really important."

Now, with subdivisions building up along Route 102, the community hopes to capitalize on the growth in the area, Solomon said.

"The people that are travelling through here are local … our community is growing, which is another thing that we took note of. We hope to … provide a service to them. The accessibility here is great and it's going to have plenty of room to work with.

"There's not a whole lot of service stations left on this highway so we see that as an opportunity."