On the Rite track

By Carolyn Sloan

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Long before he was the owner, Rick Longmire was a familiar face at Double D, located outside of Annapolis Royal on Highway 1. Once one of the store’s regular customers, it’s been a year and half now since he hung up his fishing gear to become an entrepreneur.

Raised in Hillsburn, Rick comes from a family of fishermen, and learned all about the industry from his father. But with fisheries facing hard times, and his health taking a turn, he started thinking about a new line of work. Looking around, there weren’t many options, but he liked the idea of working for himself.

“I had to get into something,” Rick explains. “I had no idea what it would be like.”

Fortunately, he has good help. Roberta Connell is also from the local area and has been working at the store for eight years now. Raised in Victoria Beach, she is happy to still be living in the area where she can be close to her son and grandchildren.

“I don’t want to move,” she says. “I’m happy here. I’m not used to the fast pace. I like the slow lane.”

Both Rick and Roberta are excited about what’s happening at Double D these days, which has recently changed from being a Valufoods grocery to a RiteStop convenience store. While the business still offers a wide array of grocery basics, such as canned goods, coffee, tea, snacks, seasonal fresh foods and frozen foods, the transformation has given Rick and his staff the ability to focus more on the bakery and deli, which are the store’s biggest draws, and less on stocking grocery items that aren’t moving off the shelves.

“With the Valufoods before, we just weren’t making a go of it,” says Roberta. “We had lots of stuff in the store that we wouldn’t normally sell. We’d have 10 different kinds of tea bags, when we really only needed two.”

In the end, the change is an opportunity to better cater to customers, such as offering a larger selection of hot and cold lunch options, including their tried and true subs, as well as some new health conscious choices.

While the store may have gotten a facelift and a new sign above the door, some things never change. Double D still continues to offer their famous line of homemade baked goods, including their popular fresh rolls, breads and sweets, which are made every morning on the premises. They even had a couple from Chicago come into the store specifically for their brown bread. They had heard the rave reviews from their neighbours, who spent part of their summer down the road from the store at the Dunromin campsite.

Open 16 hours a day, Rick has experienced first hand just how much goes into running his own business. But the greatest challenge by far has been in trying to make up for the loss of clientele due to a declining population and closures of local businesses. When the Shaw Wood operation closed, for example, Rick lost business from a number of the plant’s employees who would stop by every morning on their way to work.

“I was just really surprised with the people leaving how much affect it has on local business,” he says. “In the short time I’ve been here, you can really see the difference.”

Roberta has also seen the out migration of local people, coupled with the passing of many elders in her community.

“When we were kids, you knew everyone,” she explains. “You knew every house. But not anymore.”

With the demographics shifting and population dwindling, now, more than ever, it is a good time to re-orientate the business to better fit the local market.

“It’s exciting for me,” says Rick, “and there’s really been good feedback.”

“We miss the sales and so do our customers,” Roberta adds, “but they’re coming back. The bakery draws them in.

“I think we’ve done well to do what we’ve done.”