Brodie and Charissa Dobson don’t like seeing empty lots on their town’s Main Street. So, when the owners of the former Co-operative grocery store asked their company, Subcan Ltd., to demolish the vacant building, they saw a chance to bring a long-imagined business idea to life.
Passionate travellers and coffee lovers, the Dobsons dreamt for years of opening a high-end coffee shop in their hometown of Manitou, about 150 km southwest of Winnipeg. But as successful entrepreneurs, they knew that having a stand-alone coffee shop wasn’t feasible given the low margins and a relatively small population to support it.
Brodie’s initial thought was to renovate the building at 359 Main Street into an incubator mall with rental spaces for small, start-up businesses in addition to the front-facing coffee shop. After purchasing the building, they were encouraged to secure a long-term, anchor tenant in the local short-line railway company, Boundary Trails Railway.
“It was a significant investment and we knew it would be long-term,” says Charissa. “But we decided that if we were going to do it, we wanted to do it properly and make sure that it would add to the appeal of Main Street in our community.”
By the time Charlie’s Coffee Co. opened in February 2022, the other four rental offices were already spoken for by a massage therapist, reflexologist, chiropractor and osteopath. They soon had a waiting list, which prompted them to develop the back part of the building to offer an additional eight offices, which today are also full. 359 Main is now also home to a spa practitioner, naturopathic doctor, athletic
therapist, additional massage therapist and a bookkeeper.
It has become a thriving business and social hub for the community, attracting people from all over the area, including Winkler and Morden – a source of pride for the couple.
“It’s nice to see people coming from other communities and especially from the east because usually people are going that way because there are more services there,” Brodie says.
Charlie’s Coffee Co. is growing steadily each year, and has exceeded the couple’s goal of breaking even.
“Our second year in business was a 100 per cent busier than our first year, and this year is 40 per cent busier than last year. It just keeps growing,” Charissa says. “There is also a nice, symbiotic relationship with the tenants and the coffee shop because those wellness services lend themselves well to the coffee shop being there. It’s a very collaborative atmosphere in the building.”
COMMUNITY PRIDE TAKES OVER
But the Dobsons aren’t alone in ensuring their community doesn’t share the fate of many other small, rural towns, where the closing of established, generational businesses often leave premises vacant and decaying slowly.
In Manitou, community pride, along with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a forward-thinking vision, has preserved many historic structures. The town’s residents aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, supporting and building on its abundant strengths — a rich heritage, a vibrant artistic community and committed entrepreneurs.
When the historic Manitou Opera House, which had served as a community meeting place for more than 80 years, was in need of major restoration in the 1990s, local arts groups took over management of the building. After years of fundraising by a small group of dedicated local musicians and entertainers, the Opera House Foundation installed geothermal heating and cooling for the building in 1995, and added a $1.3-million accessible addition to the original structure in 2016. This historic landmark today hosts dances, plays, concerts, dinner theatres, coffeehouses, markets, dance and music lessons, and is home to a permanent art gallery.
The town also celebrates Nellie McClung, the famous author and champion of women’s rights. The local collegiate is named after her and the Nellie Houses — two restored homes where McClung lived following her marriage to Manitou druggist, Wes McClung in 1899 — are a provincially-designated historical site that attracts visitors from all over western Canada.
REINVENTING OLD, ABANDONED BUILDINGS
Other derelict buildings have also been reimagined. The Good As New Community Thrift Store, a volunteer-led and operated non-profit organization has donated more than $117,000 back into the community over the past 10 years. A gym was established in the former hardware store, which had been owned and operated by two generations of the Mueller family, after they retired in 2016.
The newest tourism attraction is a museum and interpretive centre in the restored Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station built in 1898, relocated from the nearby La Riviere to anchor the north end of Main Street.
The short line railway operated by the Boundary Trails Railway Company (BTRC) runs behind it, shipping grain and other commodities along the 37-kilometre stretch of the former CP line (that had been slated for removal). BTRC is owned and operated by local farmers.
In Manitou, houses sell quickly as people are uncovering the best-kept secret of a community that offers all the basic amenities and more, including a grocery store, pharmacist, library, restaurants, a convenience store, hotel and recreational facilities that include a golf course, outdoor swimming pool, arena and curling rink. Manitou is a community that people are moving to rather than leaving.
“There have been a number of young people moving back to the area lately, and when I’ve asked them what made them decide to move back, they said that they feel Manitou has the most to offer in this area,” Charissa says.
Like any small town, there have been a few naysayers who were skeptical about all of these various reinventions over the years, but that never seems to hold back this passionate and inventive community.
“People are afraid of growth or change sometimes,” Charissa says. “But you have to stay relevant and it takes a good mix of intergenerational, so people that appreciate the history but also people that are willing to push the envelope a little to create some change.”
The way the Dobsons see it, the more successful businesses there are in town, the better, and they are proud to be creating employment and helping other people realize their business dreams.
“That’s how you keep community alive is by keeping the businesses going and the buildings in the town and all of that keeps the people,” Brodie says.
