Ready for their next phase

The only grocery store in Balfour, B.C., is up for sale

The Balfour Superette, owned by Bill and Sherry Blancher, is up for sale. — Photo courtesy David Blancher

Bill Blancher’s daily routine starts early in the morning. By 6 a.m. he’s putting the coffee on at the Balfour Superette, Balfour, B.C.’s only grocery store. Once he’s poured his first cup, Blancher gets busy making bread for the store’s shelves; through the rising and the baking, he does paperwork in the office.

He opens the store at 9 a.m. and works until noon, doing everything from placing orders to taking out the trash and stocking shelves. He leaves the store in the hands of his staff from noon until closing time—which varies according to the season—when he returns to lock up.

“If my routine is upset in the morning, I’m lost for the rest of the day!” Blancher laughed. “I’ve been at this for 36 years—half my lifetime—so I have a pretty strong habit.”

Blancher and his wife, Sherry, bought the store in 1977 and did a major renovation to it in 1982-83, when the building was about 30 years old. The store—with a selling floor area of 2,600 square feet—is currently for sale, as the Blanchers are ready to retire and experience their community in a way they have been too busy to do in the past.

“We want some time to enjoy Kootenay Lake and our beautiful surroundings,” Blancher said. “We’ve watched other people doing it for years and now it’s our turn.”

Blancher said that he has been fortunate to have a good long-time partnership with Sherry, who is the postmaster for Balfour.

“It’s important to both of us to give good service to our community,” he said. “We never carry a grudge. Even if we don’t agree, we don’t let it affect our relationship. If we have something on our minds, we speak it. And once a year we take separate holidays—it helps us to appreciate each other more.”