Henry Nickel says goodbye to Co-op

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This article was published 22/03/2024 (403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For 46 years, Henry Nickel has called Co-op home but going forward it will be somebody else in charge of building equity.

“Once you get on in age there is a time when you need to step aside,” he said.

Nickel began his journey in retail as a salesman with Esso. Seeing that the company was faltering he decided to apply at Co-op as a petroleum driver/salesman. When he got the job all his clients went with him. In six months, the Esso had shut down.

“Opportunities were presented to me and I took the challenge and went from one to the next. We were a small company at the time. We were five employees and about four years into my employment our general manager at the time passed away in an accident. That opened it up for two people to move up and that happened to be myself and another guy. He took on the general manager position and I took on the assistant manager position. I was working as an assistant manager for 25 years and GM for 16 years or so.”

Nickel first began working at the Ste Anne Co-op before moving on to the Clearview Co-op in Steinbach. He said it was an exciting time working for those two stores.

“There’s been so much growth, so much, and I’ve always been part of the growth and strategy around the growth. It remained exciting throughout my career. It’s been very rewarding.”

One of the ways Nickel has been part of that growth has been in building relationships with members, suppliers, and other retail organizations.

“It’s all about relationships and the value that that brings. My goal has been as well fostering those relationships. The other thing is being innovative and seeing things from a different angle and being able to do things better sometimes or different.”

Nickel has seen a lot of changes during his time at Co-op. He said there were no computers at the time just two “clunker adding machines” that eventually turned into fully integrated computer systems. He said Co-op went from one small location to 21 locations with “building number 22 and more on the way.”

“(We went) from five employees to around 280 at this point. Lots of changes. We used to be only in petroleum, lubes and now we’re selling ag inputs, food, groceries, C-store related items, car washes, truck scale, and more and hardware. We’ve expanded into different commodities. Each one brings a different challenge to it on an ongoing basis.”

Part of the reason Co-op is so successful, according to Nickel, is that it tries to meet the needs of the community and that the people make it successful. Nickel said Co-op has put $133 million into the community in the past 10 years.

“That’s the value of Co-op and by working together we’re stronger.”

Nickel plans on spending more time with his family and travelling upon his retirement.