CARNDUFF - Some days as you enter Earls’ General Store in Carnduff, you might think, “Oops, wrong place.”
Greeting you is the cheeping of chickens and ducks and turkeys. It sounds more like a hatchery than a general store.
Alisa and Kevin Earl took a gamble opening their store in November 2015. General stores belong to a different era as most stores today focus on specialty lines. The ease of online ordering makes it tough to compete as a store that tries to carry everything.
It turned out to be a pretty good move.
The idea of operating a general store appealed to them, as it was something their whole family could be involved in. Alisa was a veterinary technologist, a nurse of sorts, assisting the doctor, the veterinarian.
Kevin was and still is a battery operator. They had four children, all school-aged. Whatever the age, there was always something that could be done.
For example, when Target closed their store in Brandon, Man., the whole family made several trips to take the shelving, disassembling them and reassembling them in their store.
As the children have grown up (two have graduated), their involvement has lessened. Kiana, the eldest daughter, is still very involved. Kevin occasionally gets his hands dirty around the store, but the bulk of running the store has fallen upon Alisa’s shoulders.
The years have presented challenges. Knowing what to stock is always a hard call. The growth of online retailers has hurt and COVID didn’t help. But the Earls have persevered and the store continues to do a solid business.
Alisa enjoys being able to line customers up with products. A big part of her job is sourcing items for people and finding them is very rewarding.
In February 2021, a customer made an unusual request. “Could you get me some live chickens?”
Alisa tried, calling a hatchery, but she missed the deadline. At the beginning of this year, she became an agent for the hatchery and since then, she has received four shipments, with a fifth coming later this month. Each shipment contains about 1,000 baby chicks, ducks and turkeys.
A day after they have emerged from their eggs, they’re singing in Earls’ General Store, having gone from the hatchery to Canada Post in Regina, then to Canada Post in Carnduff, where Alisa meets the truck to pick them up. All within one day.
That very same day, those who have pre-ordered the fowl arrive to free them from the Earls’ hands.
This is just one example of the extremes that the Earls’ will go to in getting what you need.
At Earls’ General Store, you can get everything from soup to nuts, including chickens, turkeys and ducks.
