Low oil and grain prices have hit the south east region hard, and as long as the farming and oil industries aren't doing well, neither is anyone else - especially business owners in rural areas. A number of rural owners say their core customers don't have the cash flow to spend like they did last winter.
Parts person Louise Hislop, who works at Raynard's Service in Stoughton, says sales are down because "the money's not out there," especially for agricultural parts sold at Raynard's.
Although sales are always slow during winter months, Hislop doesn't expect them to pick up much in the spring.
"I think the general consensus among farmers and the business community is that things will get worse before they get better," she said.
One area that has improved since last year at Raynard's are snowmobile sales, due to the mild winter of 1998 and snow dump experienced this winter.
At Laird's Construction and Trucking, also in Stoughton, owner Lester Laird says business is "slow." On the construction side, he doesn't expect the same volume of business when it comes to digging dug outs for farmers, or building roads for RMs that don't have the money.
On the trucking side, Laird says he hauled a lot less wheat this past fall than years before, and he doesn't expect business to get better until the general economy of the area does. In short, "people are not going to do much more than they have to," he said.
Bernie Prawdzik has noticed fewer customers walking through the doors of his business, the Midale Variety Store, in the past few months. Prawdzik says convenience store items aren't moving off the shelves like they used to when service crews working in the oil patch were plentiful. Although Prawdzik, who has been operating the store for nearly 20 years, isn't expecting business to improve for a long time, he also isn't expecting the slump to shut him down for good.
"I've been through this before in the '80s. I'm not in a big panic. It's just you can noticeably see the daily traffic a lot less," he said. "I'm going to have to look at a different (product) line, go for less snacks and find something else that will sell."
The Midale Lucky Dollar grocery store has seen "a little less action" compared to this time last year, says owner Brent Franks.
"It seems like people are living more pay check to pay check - we'll be busy one week and slow the next," he said.
Just like his customers, Franks has had to tighten expenses like advertising and donations, until the oil and farm economies get back on track.
"I really can't complain - we had it pretty good for a couple of years. It's a cycle, and it'll get busy again ... I hope."
Properties for sale and rent in rural areas around Weyburn haven't been keeping Remax sales associate Lyle Leonard busy lately.
"In one easy word - it's been slow," says Leonard, who blames the market slump on the economic slump in the south east.
"In some areas we've had a lot of signs up, but nobody is buying at this point ... a lot (of sellers) haven't put their house on the market because they would just be sitting empty anyway," he said.
Leonard lists Halbrite, Midale, Yellow Grass, Ogema, Pangman, and Francis as some of the communities where the real-estate business has been fairly stagnant.
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