The fresh face of Petro Canada

Brian Son is busy running the Petro Canada station and taking care of his tenants

Brian Son is a partner and manager of the Cranbrook Petro Canada station. — Marie Milner photo

Brian Son, formerly of Creston, is the new owner-operator of the Petro Canada station located at 406 Cranbrook Street North in Cranbrook, B.C. As of August 29, 2012, Son’s parents—owners of the Hacienda Inn in Creston—became the majority owners of the Cranbrook Street property which includes Taco Time, Kootenay Tailor Shop, Cranbrook Sushi, Ed’s Vacuum Shop, The Sports Grill and JSL Forum. The younger Son is the operating partner.

“We were looking for an opportunity to buy another business,” Son said. “We looked around in B.C. and Alberta, and this property seemed like a good fit for us. I’ve never had more than one tenant at a time before, so this is different—and kind of fun. Dealing with them and running the PetroCan keeps me busy.”

Business is good and Son is satisfied that things are operating well, so he retained the staff who were working at the station when he arrived.

“For the future, well, I can’t do much about the cost of fuel, but we can increase and improve our service,” he said.

A new kitchen was built in the station about six months before Son took ownership. It was used for only a couple of months and Son is planning to make use of it again.

“I would like to reactivate the kitchen,” he said, “maybe offering soups and fresh sandwiches to increase our in-store sales. We do a points-and-rewards program, which helps to increase our fuel sales, and since I have the kitchen equipment I think that we can attract more customers by increasing the service.”