The Midwest Co-op retail stores in Wiarton and Belgrave will close early next year.
Midwest Co-operative Services Inc. announced on Thursday that the retail location in Wiarton will close Jan. 15 and the Belgrave location will follow on March 12.
Its Belgrave Agronomy Centre, which offers forage supplies, turf seed and turf fertilizer along with regular agronomy products and services, is not affected by the retail closure.
The member-owned agricultural co-operative said the store closures are a result of a changing retail marketplace, evolving agricultural industry, and its commitment to long-term financial sustainability.
The latest closures come on the heels of the organization shutting down other local retail locations in Dundalk in 2024, Owen Sound last year and in Mildmay and Chesley earlier this year.
“The retail environment we operate in today is vastly different from the one our co-operatives were originally built around,” the co-op’s general manager Allan Williamson said in a news release. “While these stores have a long history of serving their communities, we must recognize that our customers’ needs and the way they do business have changed.
“As a member-owned co-operative, we have a responsibility to adapt alongside them.”
The co-op notes that products that have traditionally been purchased through rural co-operative stores are now widely available through online retailers, national chains and other competitors.
At the same time, the agricultural industry has evolved from a large number of smaller family farms to fewer much larger operations with different purchasing habits and service requirements, the co-op says.
The locations that are closing, along with those previously closed, either have been operating at a financial loss or have not generated the minimum return necessary to justify the continued investment of members’ resources, the co-op states, adding that maintaining physical retail locations carries significant operating costs.
“These are not decisions we take lightly,” Williamson said. “We have a responsibility to our members to operate efficiently and make sound financial decisions.
“Continuing to invest in locations that are losing money or failing to generate an acceptable return is not sustainable. Our priority is protecting the financial strength of the co-operative while continuing to provide the products and services our members depend on.”
The co-operative notes that customers in the areas impacted by the closures can still access their products and services through their network of delivery trucks and remaining locations.
Along with its headquarters in Teeswater, the co-op has other retail locations in Grey-Bruce communities, including Hanover, Markdale and Durham, with an express retail location at its Port Elgin bulk fuel facility. It has agronomy centres in Walkerton and Dundalk, two bulk plants at Hanover, as well as cardlock fuel stations. Operations outside Grey-Bruce are in Belgrave, Harriston and Mount Forest.
Midwest Co-operative Services Inc. was formed in 2022 through the merger of Huron Bay Co-operative Inc. and North Wellington Co-operative Services Inc. It is a member-owner of Growmark Inc., a large regional co-operative headquartered in the U.S.