Moose Jaw’s former Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) bus depot is receiving a new lease on life.
The building on High Street East used to act as the pickup and drop-off point for all STC buses that rolled through the community. However, the provincial government shut down STC on May 31, 2017, saying the Crown corporation was too expensive to continue to subsidize and few people were using the bus services.
After two years of sitting empty, renovations are now underway to turn the building into the new location for Budget Blinds. Work began at the start of June and is expected to finish by September.
“We did a complete overhaul. We gutted it out and we’re just so pumped about being downtown,” said owner Rebecca Johnstone.
“I love Moose Jaw and (the building is) in the heart of downtown,” she continued. “Our whole team got together and we made the decision together that we thought being downtown would be good for us, good for business (and) good for Moose Jaw. We just hated to see it empty. It will be a good change.”
This will be the first location that Budget Blinds has actually owned, Johnstone explained. The ownership group has leased out a building on McKenzie Lane for almost the past five years. It has always had the goal to purchase a building in Moose Jaw.
“We’ve actually expanded across Saskatchewan … . Our head office is actually in Moose Jaw,” she continued. The administration team has grown to four people from one, while the installation team has grown to two from one. Remote installers have also been placed in other communities in the province.
“It’s been great, really great,” she added.
Being a locally owned and operated business is good for the community since it supports other community organizations, Johnstone said. Employees of Budget Blinds have had opportunities over the years to volunteer at Riverside Mission, with the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank, with Joe’s Place, and at one time with Habitat for Humanity.
Speargrass Homes is the general contractor overseeing the renovations.
