Life in Humboldt is going to undergo a fundamental change in a few months, and it will never be the same again.
Everyone will be affected. Well, everyone who shops for groceries on a regular basis, which is pretty much everyone, I'd venture to say.
The change will be this: there will no longer be a grocery store downtown.
When the Humboldt Co-op Food Store moves to its gigantic new store on the west end of the city, there will be nowhere on Main St. to buy groceries, with the exception of convenience stores, which carry limited amounts of everyday essentials and no fresh produce.
As Sobeys (formerly the Humboldt IGA) already moved into its building across the highway from the new Co-op store, this means that Extra Foods in Humboldt, formerly the furthest store from downtown, will become the closest.
That's going to be weird for a lot of people.
Don't get me wrong - it is completely understandable why the Co-op decided to move its food store. They've been trying to expand their offerings for years, and have attempted to find other locations closer to their present one on Main St. for about as long. The move out to the west side will give them more space, give customers more selection and allow their business to remain competitive with the other two grocery stores in town.
But the change to a large store will also mean, for many, making a special trip to go grocery shopping instead of just popping in for a few things after work or on lunch hours, as many people do now.
So, okay, fine, for some of us, this just means we will have to do a little more planning. We will miss the small store in some ways, but the change is not going to kill us.
But what about those who don't have vehicles?
Having all three grocery stores out of the downtown core, and at an end of the city where there are few, if any, sidewalks and walking trails, is a huge problem for that part of the population. How can they get food if they can't get to the grocery store?
This is an issue that Saskatoon had to deal with. And now I think it's one Humboldt is going to have to address.
In the summer, it's going to be a heck of a hike for people who don't have access to a vehicle to get out to any of the grocery stores. To get to either of the new stores, they will have to walk on the highway, in a ditch, or on a street that has no sidewalks (5th Ave.) for part of the ways.
In the winter, between snow in the ditches and along the sides of the roads, low temperatures and windchills, it's going to be nigh on impossible to get out there if you don't have wheels.
So what's the solution?
I've thrown this question at a few people in the community, and from all of their input I've come up with this to throw at you: a limited public transit system.
One bus, that's all we'd need, and some stops along major streets, like Main St. It would not only solve the issue of how to get people who can't or don't want to drive out to the grocery stores, it would also solve an issue that's cropped up for many families in Humboldt since last year - how to get their high school students who don't yet drive to school every day.
For the kids who live on the east side of the city, north and south, it's a heck of a walk to get to school out by the Uniplex. And yet if they don't drive themselves, and their parents can't drive them because of work, how else do they get there?
Some friends of mine are looking into carpooling for their children heading into Grade 9 or 10. A transit system that would have a stop near their neighbourhood would mean they wouldn't have to do that.
Now that I've thrown this idea out there, what do you think? Should it be done? Can we afford it?
Those are questions I might just have to throw at City Hall, to see what they think. I'll let you know how it goes.
