Red Barn Market is the newest tenant of North Saanich’s Sandown Park Shopping Centre, on land that was once part of the 95-acre Sandown Racetrack property.
The store, the eighth and largest Red Barn Market in the capital region, opened this week in the shopping centre on the west side of the Patricia Bay Highway.
A 49,000-square-foot Canadian Tire store opened in 2018 as the centre’s first tenant.
“It’s like homecoming week,” said Russ Benwell, one of the Red Barn owners. “I’ve seen so many friends and family in [the first] 48 hours.”
The 10,000-square-foot Red Barn store’s official grand opening is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes a barbecue.
Initial store hours are 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Benwell, who began his career in the grocery business in Thrifty Foods in Sidney in 1988, said he has always wanted to see a Red Barn store in the north end of the Saanich Peninsula.
Having a larger space provided room to develop the company’s largest sandwich bar, to better showcase products from its smokehouse and to add to the number of local offerings, Benwell said. The store features local produce and Island products.
There’s also a strong local flavour in the store’s decor. The Saanich Historical Artifacts Society, operator of Heritage Acres, donated surplus items, including old farm implements such as milking jugs and wagon wheels.
Twenty-seven murals were created from photos in the Sidney archives and Sidney Museum, and interpretative information will be added in coming days.
The market will employ 65 full- and part-time staff, which means Red Barn group’s total employment is pushing 500, Benwell said.
Red Barn’s principal ownership group consists of Benwell, Peter Hansen, Duncan Davies and Ashley Bourque. Another 11 long-term employees have become minority shareholders.
“It was part of a recruitment and retention strategy to reward employees that have been with us long term,” Benwell said.
Red Barn is one of the anchors — along with Dollarama and Springs Group Liquor — of the second phase of development at Sandown Park, immediately to the north of the Canadian Tire store, and featuring about 50,000 square feet of retail space on just under four acres.
The centre was developed by Platform Properties and the Randall family, long-time owners of the original Sandown Park racetrack.
Kyle Shury, principal of Platform, said other tenants coming to the shopping centre will include a local pharmacy, pet store, cannabis retailers and quick-service restaurants. A few spaces remain available for lease, ranging from about 1,100 square feet up to 2,200 square feet.
Additional stores are expected to open in the next few months.
The second phase has 189 parking spaces and a Tesla Supercharger Station will be opening soon, Platform said.
The land occupied by the shopping centre is part of a 12-acre parcel designated for commercial development in return for the Randalls donating 83 acres of the former Sandown Racetrack property to North Saanich for agricultural purposes. That land is now used by the Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture.
North Saanich Mayor Peter Jones said he is looking forward to seeing the shopping centre built out.
Jones said he anticipates Red Barn will continue selling locally sourced products, which is “great for our farming community.”
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