On June 21, Ritchot’s council gave their stamp of approval to a business about to put down roots in Ste. Agathe. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers will soon begin operations on a six-acre lot bordering Highway 75. The lot will be leased to the business by Denis and Richard Baudry of H. Baudry Construction.
Ritchie Bros. are the world’s largest heavy equipment auctioneers, specializing in construction and agricultural equipment as well as tractor trailers. With more than 60 years in the business, they currently operate most of their auctions online, serving a worldwide market.
The Canada-based company manages 40 permanent auction sites around the world, including in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Their Ste. Agathe site is the second in Manitoba, with one other in Brandon.
This new location will act as a staging area for the company’s online heavy equipment auctions. Sellers, consignors, and buyers may occasionally come and go, but for the most part the tidy rows of display units have simply found a landing spot prior to their sale.
Brennan LeBlanc of Saskatoon is the director of operations for Ritchie Bros. Canada. He was onsite last week to inspect the 228 pieces of equipment already in Ste. Agathe.
“We’re here to support the ease and transfer of gear, whether it’s trailers, trucks, or excavators for local consumers,” LeBlanc says. “Whether they’re construction outfits or dealers that are looking to move their equipment, they’re leveraging Ritchie Bros. marketplace in order to find the buyers in the province, the country, or across the globe.”
LeBlanc says there are at least two key criteria they use in locating heavy equipment staging areas and Ste. Agathe meets them all: close proximity to a major city and direct proximity to several major trunk highways.
“If people can’t have [the equipment] at their own property, they want to have a location to drop it off,” says LeBlanc. “We then bring it in for inventory, complete inspections, and provide information to market it to the web.”
Equipment located at the Ste. Agathe site may be purchased from the seller by Ritchie Bros. or consignment options are available on a commission basis. They also provide assessment services and risk management guarantees.
“We venture into areas where people need to have something solved for either fiscal year end or to satisfy different bank functions,” LeBlanc says.
In total, Ritchie Bros. Canada conducts an average of 360 sales annually, amounting to a sale for approximately every day of the year.
“It’s very exciting for us to be a part of this market,” LeBlanc says. “We’ve been satisfying this area for decades and there’s a demand to have Ritchie Bros. present.”
Sam Webber is the company’s territory manager for Manitoba. Apart from offering local buyers and sellers a convenient new location, he says there will be offshoot benefits for the community of Ste. Agathe.
“It [will] bring auxiliary businesses into the mix, like fuel, transportation, lodging, and restaurants,” says Webber. “It is a draw for a lot of the people to come to the community and look at the equipment.”
The Baudry brothers of Ste. Agathe agree that this business is a perfect fit for their property since it’s already long been in use as a heavy equipment storage area for their own construction company.
“Being with Ritchie will put this town on the map because they are worldwide auctioneers,” says Richard proudly.
“On their website auctions, you’ll see interest from all over,” adds Denis. “When an auction opens up, there’ll be 10,000 [viewers], there’ll be 50,000, there’ll be 80,000 online looking at the auction.”
Joel Lemoine, councillor for Ste. Agathe, is also optimistic about the prospects of this venture.
“It was just a vacant property owned by private owners, and to make something out of it [is great],” says Lemoine. “It’s temporary for now, but who knows? Maybe Ritchie Bros. will have success and wish to grow the business and maybe find land in the industrial park. So that will be revisited in the years to come.”
Lemoine says that only one Ste. Agathe resident voiced concerns about the conditional use application. Unaware that the Ste. Agathe site was strictly intended as a staging area, the resident worried about high traffic volumes and parked cars as well as loudspeaker auctioneer calls being heard throughout the residential neighbourhoods, which would be typical of a live auction site.
The first online auction for items held at the Ste. Agathe site took place this month. The second, and likely last one this year, will take place on September 13.
