By Ashley Wiebe

Big ticket purchases a sign local economy is doing well

Aug 3, 2017 | 4:29 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — It seems the local economy is finally starting to bounce back after oil prices dropped in 2015.

Thousands of workers who lost their jobs are back in the workforce and money is starting to flow back into local businesses.

Big ticket items were some of the first things people sold off and now that their income is stable, many are looking to buy them again.

“For the last couple years, it’s been scary being an RV dealer,” said Mark Semrau with Sterling Trailer.

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Recreational vehicles aren’t rolling off his lot like they once were.

“The way the economy’s been in Alberta for the last 10 years, and it’s no surprise to anybody, it’s been a rollercoaster and everything feeds off gas and oil,” he said. “Whether people like it or not, that’s the truth of it.”

The dealership was hit hard during the downturn.

Semrau said expendable, non-necessity items, like RV’s, boats and motorcycles, are the first to go.

“Its taken the fun out of a business,” said Ivan Karsten with Badlands Harley-Davidson, who said sales dropped 50 per cent in 2016, forcing him to lay off half of his staff.

But sales are slowly starting to rebound.

“People are fixing their old bikes or their original bikes now instead of buying new ones,” he said. “In the past they would trade them in, get a new bike and now I think they’re making Old Betsy go for another year and trying to ride it out that way.”

Semrau has also noticed more movement on his lot too, saying his sales are up about 20 per cent from last year.

“Everything’s downsizing, so the bigger units that we’ve had from years past, we still have on our lot so they’re getting aged,” he said. “We’re finding that a lot of people are going to the smaller units and just, it makes more sense in a down economy.”

“[I’m] starting to see a lot of people buying used bikes instead of new ones, getting back into the sport but, you know, being cautious and buying a $15,000 bike instead of a new bike,” Karsten added.

Karsten has heard from his customers that some are back to work, but are keeping a closer eye on their spending.

“They’re not making the money that they use to make so they’re much more cautious and with the oil business, going up and down as much as it has, the confidence level, I think, is not there yet,” he said.