By Emily Stonehouse
Many would note that the Minden location of Tim Horton on Highway 35 is looking a little different these days.
On March 3, the owners of the store took to Facebook to announce that the community hot-spot would be temporarily closed as of March 7.
“Every 10 years, it’s required for Tim Hortons to do a renovation,” explained Mike Garland, who owns both the Minden and Haliburton locations with his partner, Paige Chapman. “And ideally, around here, you don’t want to do that over the summer months.”
The piece of the puzzle that the couple was missing was a confirmation of a drive-thru trailer, which would keep business running. “As the project got closer and closer, we weren’t sure if we could pull it off,” said Garland, noting that securing a trailer is difficult within the organization.
In order to get the trailer up and running, the business owners needed to work directly with Hydro One in an effort to ensure the trailer – which is placed in the parking lot of the current store – could function properly. “We had a meeting just before, asking, ‘do we go ahead with this now, or should we wait for the fall?’”
The Minden Tim Hortons has been up and running since 2003, with the last major renovation taking place 12 years ago. With the change in ownership last year, Garland and Chapman had some extra time to confirm the renovation for this year.
While this is the first major renovation the couple has been through with the franchise as the owners, they were both involved with the Haliburton renovation last year. “It’s a lot to handle in the first year of business,” said Garland. “Whenever someone makes a big decision like this, we don’t take it lightly.”
Traditionally, the renovations for the shops tended to lean towards more aesthetic upgrades, but Garland noted that with this particular reno, major changes will be put in place. “We want to make it the most efficient and guest-friendly restaurant,” he said. “It’s going to be a really nice little facelift.”
With the ice storm slamming the County last week, the owners lost an extra day to power outages and setbacks for the temporary trailer set-up, but as of March 14, the drive-thru option is fully functional. Garland noted that folks can access the drive-thru the same as before, but there is a temporary speaker that needs to be used, or people can walk up to the trailer on the side.
In terms of a re-open date, that projection is still up in the air. “We’re hoping for early April,” confirmed Garland, but was hesitant to set anything in stone.
While the owners have taken to social media in an effort to spread the word of the renovation, Garland noted that the closure has not been met with a particularly warm reception around the community. “It’s never easy,” he said. “It’s hard on us, it’s hard on the staff. It would be nice to see a little compassion. A lot of people don’t seem to understand, and they’re making assumptions.”
With the new trailer open, the renovations in the main building are well underway, and Garland is hoping for a quick turnaround to go back to regularly scheduled business. A confirmed opening date will be shared once the renovations continue.
