Longtime business partners Keith Sheardown (left) and Ken Naylor prepare to move on after the sale of Family Foods to the Buy-Low Foods group of stores. The store will now be known as AG (Associated Grocers) Foods and it will retain the current Family Foods staff. (Keith Lacey photo)
As business partners for 34 years, Keith Sheardown and Ken Naylor survived two devastating fires, more than one recession, high interest rates and many long winters in Osoyoos when their grocery store was not exactly booming with customers.
Last week, Sheardown and Naylor walked out of the Osoyoos Family Foods grocery store they’ve worked at together for more than three decades after announcing they had sold their store.
Naylor was store manager for many years before joining Sheardown as a full partner 15 years ago.
The store will now be known as AG (Associated Grocers) Foods, which is part of the Buy-Low Foods group of stores.
It has been a fantastic partnership and both men are ready and looking forward to retirement – although Naylor admits he’s likely to continue working part-time as a consultant to the grocery store and food industries.
“I don’t think we had a serious argument in just short of 34 years in running this store,” said Naylor proudly. “I don’t know of many marriages or friendships that last 34 years without a single serious argument or dispute, but we managed to pull it off.”
Sheardown has been working in the grocery business for 49 years after he started working at the small grocery store his father owned in Osoyoos at age 16.
Naylor was working at a grocery store in Penticton in his teenage years and moved to work in Osoyoos at the former Super Valu store back in 1984.
He has worked in the industry three months short of 48 years.
“After 49 years of having the honour and privilege of serving the needs of our many wonderful and loyal customers, Ken and I are ready to enjoy a slower pace of life,” said Sheardown. “We feel really good about the new ownership. It seemed like a natural fit to pass the baton to the people who, through their existing location, both know and understands the unique needs of the town already.”
Although it has had a few different names over the years, the store has been a longtime fixture in Osoyoos and is well known for its support of local charity and community events.
“We always believed in giving back to the community,” said Sheardown. “I would guess we’ve averaged about $20,000 to $30,000 in support of various community causes over the past many years. I remember donating $7,000 back in the early 19080s, but that would be the equivalent of more than 20 grand today.”
They have sponsored numerous minor sports teams, golf tournaments and other community events for decades.
Once the decision was made to sell, Buy-Low, and its Associated Grocers wholesale division, was the only choice and it has been serving independent retailers through their wholesale operations for almost 90 years, said Sheardown.
“They have been operating small stores across B.C. for almost 50 years,” he said. “They are a community-minded company that we know will serve our customers with the same passion and dedication we have had all our years.”
Buy-Low management also agreed to keep the friendly and qualified current staff, who will continue to provide exceptional customer service as they have for many years, said Naylor.
“Many of our staff have been here more than 20 years and our longest-serving employee has been here 37 years,” he said. “Without quality staff, you can’t succeed in this business. We’ve been blessed with exceptional staff during my entire time here and they have been a big reason for our success. I would say staff are 50 per cent of any success you will have in this business.”
Buy-Low president Dan Bregg wished Sheardown and Naylor nothing but the best in retirement.
“We wish Keith and Ken the very best in their retirement from the business and we are very happy that the current staff will be staying on in the store,” he said. “They are a talented group of people who have served the community of Osoyoos very well over the years and our plan is to provide them with every opportunity to continue that tradition.”
Although customers can expect many of the same food offerings in the store, there will be a few changes that will be necessary as a result of the change of ownership.
The Family Foods name belongs to the wholesale arm of Canada Safeway and his company is not allowed to use that name and it was decided AG Foods would be a great choice for this location and provide a viable alternative to the Buy-Low store located on the other side of town, said Bregg.
Ironically, both Sheardown and Naylor started in the same job in the grocery business.
“We both washed pop bottles,” said Sheardown.
In almost 50 years in business, Naylor said he never got tired of going to work.
“There’s never a dull moment and every single day is different because there are different issues and people to deal with,” he said.
With large-scale wholesale grocers like Costco and Superstore saturating the market, it has become increasingly difficult for smaller stores like theirs to succeed, but they managed to remain viable thanks to loyal customers, he said.
“There used to be so many mom and pop stores in this town and every town and now there aren’t any,” he said. “Now we have to compete against the big monster stores and every gas station is also selling groceries.
“It has been a fascinating journey watching this industry change and grow over almost 50 years.”
Two devastating fires will never be forgotten, said Sheardown.
The first one took place in July of 1980 and gutted the store that was located in the middle of the current parking lot.
No cause of that fire was ever determined.
After rebuilding the store, a second fire on Easter weekend in April of 1996 was caused by arson, but no one was ever arrested or convicted, he said.
“I got a call at 2:30 in the morning … they figured it was set by some of the kids pouring out of the bars,” he said. “The fire got into the ceiling and collapsed the building from the roof down.”
The current store opened 10 months to the day of that fire in February of 1997.
“Because of the fires, this entire building is concrete blocks and steel construction,” said Naylor.
It cost a lot of money to rebuild it properly at a time when interest rates were sky high around 20 per cent.
“We had a few tough years after the second fire,” he said.
Both men teared up a bit when asked what it was going to be like closing the doors for the final time this past Saturday afternoon.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” he said shaking his head. “This place has been a big part of my life for 49 years. I will still be the landlord, but that won’t be the same as coming to work every day. I’m sure I’ll miss it a lot.”
Naylor agreed.
“There will be a few tears and a few smiles,” he said.
Sheardown plans on “fishing and travelling” as much as he can in retirement, while Naylor, who is president of the Penticton Tennis Club, plans on playing a lot of tennis.
He also plans on maybe getting his first suntan.
“I’ve been working in this business so long that I’ve never got to enjoy an Okanagan summer since I was a teenager,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that very much.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
The Family Foods store was closed early this week as the changeover to AG Foods takes place. (Richard McGuire photo)
