A business in Estevan reached out to the City earlier this week during their latest council meeting, as they're hoping that they could help with a growing business problem.
Brandon Geerts, the president of LB Liquor, took the time to explain the situation to the tethered council members.
"You may have noticed that in early April, the LB Liquor Store on King Street at the mall started renting out U-Haul trucks and trailers. The original intention of this was just a supplementary part to our business to assist us with the delivery of alcohol to commercial clients in the Estevan area. We quickly learned that there was a huge need in Estevan for this service."
Geerts says that in just four weeks, they received over 40 inquiries and 20 rentals for U-Haul trucks and trailers, becoming a significant part of the operations for that store.
Not everyone was agreeable with the situation, says Geets.
"The mall owner was not on side with having that many units available in that location. So we worked with U-Haul to get the units removed in the short term. We are looking at maybe relocating that business to downtown and operating out of our Express Liquor Store and then using some stalls in one of the two vacant lots where the old Kal Tire was behind TD Bank."
The proposal from the liquor retailer was to rent out a space for 10 U-Haul units, with staff from their downtown Express Liquor location facilitating the rentals.
An initial offer for $30 per month per stall was put forward by the business, totalling $300 a month for the city.
The issue was then opened up to the councillors, with Shelly Veroba asking if any other alternative locations had been scouted. She said that as the downtown revitalization is taking place and the city is looking to spark more activity in the area, a parking lot may not be the best use for the area.
Geerts replied that it's not viable to have a storage site that's far from their store, as an employee needs to be the one to hook trailers up due to liability concerns.
Veroba suggested that the issue be tabled for the meeting in order to try and find other alternative spots that would work for a storage site.
While there's another storage business in town that deals with U-Hauls, Geerts says the majority of their business was because their store operates seven days a week and at expanded hours, making it convenient for people to pick up their U-Haul truck or trailer.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser asked whether the group had discussed the plans with the Business Improvement District (BID) or the Downtown Business Association (DBA).
While Geerts says that they haven't brought up any official conversations, they did bring it up at the latest DBA meeting, as they are members, there was no official opinion from the group.
Walliser made the recommendation of consulting with both groups before moving forward, and the issue was subsequently tabled for the next council meeting, planned for May 26th.