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New owners of the Redcliff Bakery are encouraging others to invest in the town

Jan 12, 2018 | 4:45 PM

 

REDCLIFF – Business and economic development has been slow in the Town of Redcliff over the last few years according to Mayor Dwight Kilpatrick.

“2015 was a large shrink year, 2016 was a continuance of that,” he said.

“Last year we did have some businesses come in. That could be due to the fact that prices came down on commercial buildings, rent has come down on commercial space because there’s so much of it available.”

Kilpatrick said the town is hoping to see more business investment in 2018, but added that will be dependant on the businesses themselves.

“We can’t drag them kicking and screaming,” he stated. “We’re trying right now to look at getting some highway corridor commercial land possibly available.”

One business in the town doesn’t seem to need any incentives to invest.

The Redcliff Bakery was sold in December to Joel and Melissa Graber.

“My wife and I we just love being entrepreneurial and so we decided to buy it,” said Joel Graber.

The young family has invested time, effort and money into renovating the old building, giving it a facelift and a fresh start.

“For the last couple weeks we’ve just done some paint, some tile and some flooring [work],” said Graber. “Really we just wanted to give it an update on the front end side of things.”

Behind the counter they’re keeping the baking the same, with all the classic breads and baked goods, but they have brought in a red seal chef to offer something new as well.

“Some of the lunch stuff, we’re doing hot sandwiches and soups,” Graber said. “People were trying it and they were just loving it.”

Graber hopes that his family’s investment in the bakery will encourage other businesses to choose to invest in Redcliff too.

“Redcliff’s an amazing community and hopefully this, with the little renovation in front of house, inspires some people,” he said.

Mayor Kilpatrick said any investment into businesses in the town is welcome.

“Any business in a small town is a good business,” he said.