Peavey Mart, the well-known retailer for farm and ranch supplies, is reportedly closing its doors across the country, which may include its locations in Saskatchewan.
No official company statement has been released regarding the fate of the company’s 90 plus locations across Canada. However, comments from staff members point towards a large-scale closure.
CTV News has repeatedly reached out to Peavey Industries LP for confirmation on the scale of the closures and for comment – but has yet to receive a response.
The Canadian-owned staple first opened in 1967 and has become a staple, marketed as providing “Hardware and A Whole Lot More” for farmers – specializing in agriculture supplies, clothing and home goods.
On Jan. 21, Peavey Industries LP announced plans to close 22 locations in Ontario and Nova Scotia in order to “strengthen operations” and position the company for “future sustainability.”
The move was described as a first step towards organizational restructuring and planning for the future.
However, the closures now seem to be more widespread than originally announced – affecting locations in Regina, Saskatoon and Yorkton.
A sign in Peavey Mart’s Regina store informs customers that effective immediately, all sales are final and no returns will be accepted - referencing the announcement of the store closures.
However, the note doesn’t explicitly confirm if the Regina location itself is closing.
An employee of Peavey Mart’s Saskatoon location confirmed to CTV News that their store would be among the closures.
Additionally, an employee of the store’s Yorkton location took to social media to announce the closure and thanked customers for their patronage.
Terri Evans is a frequent customer of Peavey Mart in Yorkton.
She told CTV News that she will be devastated if her local store is among the closures.
“I get everything here. I usually make a spring list, I get my fencing here, I get all my hardwood here, all my feed comes from here,” she explained.
Based in Foam Lake, Evans runs Lazy Horse Retirement – a ranch that looks after rescue horses and horses aged 15 plus brought in for retirement.
“We’ve had animals dumped on us left and right. With the affordable prices here at Peavey Mart, we’ve gotten by with managing feeding our animals and everyone else’s animals,” she explained.
“We drive an hour to come and shop here. I do work in Yorkton now, but it wasn’t always that way and we’ve driven the hour. There’s people coming in from Manitoba.”
She added that the friendly staff at the Yorkton location has been one of the main reasons for being a loyal customer over the years.
“It’s a happy place to come to, they’re very pet friendly it doesn’t matter what puppy or what family dog is under our arm, they are welcomed there,” Evans shared.
“This is going to be a total loss for us and a lot of other people.”
Peavey Mart was initially opened as “National Farmway” in 1967, with its first location in Dawson Creek, B.C.
In 1975, the chain was renamed as Peavey Mart, becoming a subsidiary of the Peavey Company of Minneapolis.
In 1984, the company returned to Canadian ownership – advertising itself as “100% Canadian owned and operated” since then.
