Come fall of this year, Horizon Livestock & Poultry Supply will be closing up shop and vacating their Niverville store at 329 Bronstone Drive.
The company, which provides products and service to the local agriculture industry, has existed since 1996 and currently has locations in Niverville, Steinbach, and Winnipeg. In 2016, Horizon merged with Penner Farm Services and Paradigm Agri-Solutions. Although all three still operate under their separate names, Horizon and Penner Farm Services collaborate on providing farm services and are considered sister organizations.
The decision to close the Niverville branch of Horizon was a difficult one, says Penner senior executive Jeremy Hildebrand.
“Niverville is a very well-performing store,” he says, “And closing a community store is not something we do lightly or without good reason.”
The closure is a strategic move to be able to keep their customers happy with the services they need at the cost they want.
“As we reviewed how we operate, we saw that the local farmers’ appetite for cost savings was higher than their desire for convenience, generally speaking,” Hildebrand explains. “This was one of the ways which we could deliver better value back to the farmers.”
Since Horizon and Penner Farm Services will still have locations in Winnipeg, Steinbach, and Blumenort, customers will still have access to the same produces and services, but eliminating the Niverville store reduces the overlap in service areas.
“Previously, the old use for Horizon Niverville was Puratone and Maple Leaf warehousing, and now our warehouse is in Winnipeg, so there was a redundancy there,” Hildebrand adds.
Although the closure should not affect customers’ abilities to get supplies, Hildebrand says the company is aware that change can be a challenge. He sees this as an opportunity for the company’s relationship with their customers, though.
“We recognize that this offers each farmer an opportunity to think about how they do business. It’s our job to keep them convinced that the quality of our services is as good or better than anyone else’s.”
An official closing date has not yet been announced, but Hildebrand says that the specific date will be communicated by the Horizon store to customers.
