Since Lil’ Pete New and Used Store opened on May 2, business has been good, said Lillian Guyer, the owner.
The store is located in the former Canora Agencies building on the second block of Main Street. The building had been used for a second-hand store business which closed last year. Lynda Dyck purchased the building.
Guyer ran a similar business in Melville for four years. She started by specializing in good used furniture, but began adding other lines of goods, some used and some new.
Asked why she chose Canora to set up her business, Guyer said she used to make many trips from Melville to Preeceville and as she passed through Canora, she always thought it to be a nice little town. When she found out that there were no second-hand stores in Canora, she decided to set one up.
While she still lives in Melville, she is looking to buy a house in Canora and make Canora her home.
Her husband is a retired truck driver and prior to that, he worked for the City of Winnipeg for about 30 years. He will be around to help his wife run the business on occasion, but he is enjoying his retirement, she said.
Married for 20 years, the couple moved from Winnipeg to Melville in 2007. Guyer, who is originally from Jamaica, immigrated to Canada in 1994.
In addition to running her business, Guyer was also a educational assistant, working in the Good Spirit School Division since 2008. Prior to that, she was a educational assistant in Winnipeg. It depends how busy the store keeps her, but she may apply for a educational assistant job in Canora.
Acquiring merchandise to sell in the store can be tricky, she said. She does follow garage and yard sales, and she is open to buying goods that come into the store. The one point that she stresses is that the merchandise must be in good condition. She does not want to collect goods that never sell.
Guyer likes to be active in the church and on Saturday she was invited by the Canora Seventh-Day Adventist Church to speak about Jamaica and her life’s journey which brought her to Canora.
