The Brick Ltd. started its story as The Brick Warehouse LP in Edmonton, Alta., in 1971, eventually growing into the national retailer of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics that it is today.
With a reputation for having large retail spaces in urban centres, Lance Jacobson didn’t expect that it was even an option to open up a Brick franchise in Swan River, which has had its footprint and iconic Vermillion Red logo in Swan River for 10 years now.
Jacobson was the manager of the Sears store that existed in the same location at 619 Main Street East, before it abruptly closed amongst the company-wide shuttering of retail locations across the country in the last decade leading up to the company’s bankruptcy.
“With Sears, of course it was a whole different business that focused more on catalog sales,” he said. “We had a mix of major appliances, some beds and some lawn and garden. It really was limited to what we could have and sell inside that store.”
When the local Sears store closed, Jacobson asked around amongst his Sears colleagues and he discovered that the manager in Humboldt had opened up a Brick franchise instead.
“I called up my friend in Humboldt and he said that if we don’t have a Sears anymore, that I’d be interested in this,” said Jacobson.
“It’s completely night and day as far as operations go. In the Sears stores, you didn’t own them and were more of a dealer. You didn’t have much flexibility or opportunity to grow. Here (at The Brick), you own it and it opened up a lot of different avenues for us to explore and to grow.
“When we went through the process of applying for a franchise, back in those days it was a little simpler than it is today,” Jacobson continued. “We were very lucky and we had a chance to meet with the Senior Vice President. He came here twice to Swan River: once when he assessed the building and who we were, and then he came for the grand opening as well.”
The Brick operates both corporate-owned and franchised locations. The Brick in Swan River represents one of about 20 franchise locations out of the more than 200 retail stores that The Brick operates across Canada.
Jacobson sees owning a Brick franchise as a natural progression in his career.
“Before managing the Sears dealer store with Neil Scales for almost 13 years, I worked at the Co-op furniture department for 13 years,” he said.
“Those early days working at the Co-op were the learning days – learning about the business, product and customers. Then the Sears days were about learning a management role and building a customer base. And, now owning The Brick is about being franchise owners.
“Of course, we’re not just franchise owners,” Jacobson continued. “We do the accounting, sell merchandise and take care of the customer from start to finish. We even do most of the deliveries.”
Jacobson added that he enjoys doing many of those jobs from start to finish because he is invested in making sure the customer experience goes the way it should, or can make things right when something doesn’t go the way it should.
“In smaller towns, we focus more on customer service because everybody knows you,” said Jacobson, who is a business owner with even more local visibility due to his role as an elected figure in Swan River. “If people have issues, you deal with them the best that you possibly can.”
The furniture and home furnishings industry has also gone through some major changes, not just in the time since Jacobson started selling furniture at the Swan Valley Consumers Co-op in 1988, but also even just in the last few years.
“When I started, everything was pretty much manual as far as inventory systems and POS and payment,” he said. “Eventually, Internet was a big part of everyone’s life and way to communicate.
“In time, Internet expanded, companies had websites and then had the option to buy online and so much more. This definitely has had the largest impact of consumer shopping and spending today.”
In Jacobson’s early retail days, cheque and cash was the norm, whereas today, most transactions are done through debit, credit or even e-transfer. And, through using the in-store Flexiti credit card, so many purchases can be financed now as well.
“Now, we pretty much can’t do business without Internet, including POS and inventory control,” he said.
“But no matter how one will shop, online or in person in our store, we continue to make our personal connection and the experience the best it can be.”
One other thing that has changed in just the last few years is where product is manufactured. Jacobson said that much of the industry had shifted towards imported products from overseas versus the domestic manufacturing the way it used to be more than 30 years ago.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic exposed how vulnerable the supply chain is with the shutdown of foreign manufacturing and logistics, which made companies realize that a shift towards more domestic products might be a good move, which also resulted in more expensive price tags as cost of inputs and labour went up.
While Jacobson said he’s not the kind of guy to often toot his own horn, he did share some praise and positive comments that he has received during the last 10 years a Brick franchisee.
“In the first few years, we had people in Flin Flon who would stop our truck and ask if there was a Brick store in Swan River,” said Jacobson, adding that people were very excited to stop by.
Jacobson has also received compliments and praise from other people from The Brick family in other locations.
“Overall, I appreciate the customers that support us,” said Jacobson. “We have a lot of different partners that we’ve grown a lot of different relationships with and we appreciate every single one of them. And, we also value the employees that we have.”
Jacobson has run The Brick with his wife, Coralie, for the entire 10 years, and one of his employees, Ashley Eggie, has also worked alongside the two of them for the entire 10 years, as well as the other valued employees and friendly faces that people interact with at The Brick, whether it’s people on the sales floor or people helping deliver purchases.
“I appreciate all the people that support us and I welcome those that have not yet walked in our door,” Jacobson concluded. “We will treat you as good as we possibly can with the best prices that we can.”

Eighteen teams from Swan River and Norquay competed at the Swan River Community Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 7 and 8) in the Swan River Senior Curling Club’s Senior Bonspiel. The winner – decided by their bonspiel winnings – was the Orest Nimetz rink, playing with Brent Scales, Kelly Tibble and Orest Woloshyn. Second place went to Barry Tall’s rink with Dennis and Peggy Kalynuk, Theresa McKay and Carol Fahrenschon. A close third went to Dave Bettesworth’s rink with Miles Granfield, Dale Jersak and Dwayne Strate...

The 42nd annual Calico Corners Craft Show and Bazaar took place at the Veterans Community Hall on Friday (Nov. 3), helping raise money for the Association of Community Living, Swan River Branch, and providing an early Christmas shopping opportunity for area people to buy from local small businesses.

The Canadians Rangers participated in Exercise Southern Cross 2023 last month, which took a select group of Rangers from across Canada to Northern Territory, Australia, where they participated in survival activities and cultural exchanges with the NORFORCE – Australia’s equivalent to the Canadian Rangers – as well as Indigenous people in the area.
The exercise fosters a close relationship between the two countries, with members of the Australian unit also visiting Canada similarly at some point, trading knowledge and experience.
Ranger Paul Hrabarchuk of the Swan River patrol in the Fourth Canadian Ranger Patrol Group was fortunate enough to be selected for the experience and represent his home country on the international stage.
“The Australian trip is one of the most sought after exercises that the Rangers do,” said Sergeant Ryan Peden of the Swan River patrol. “It’s an exchange program with our sister unit in Australia, and it’s something that doesn’t happen very often with the Rangers.”
Peden noted that anyone is open to apply, but the top of the chain of command makes the decisions on who will be able to participate.
“There are a few different factors in the selection process,” said Peden. “There’s the physical factor – you’re working in the Outback and the Northern Territory in Australia and it can be quite physically gruelling compared to things we’re used to out here. With the heat and the animal life, it’s a different sort of environment than what we’re used to.
“They also take into consideration your contribution to the Rangers as a whole, and whether you are a good ambassador to us while being in this other country.
“Paul was selected on the basis that he met those requirements and he showed himself again and again to go above and beyond what we do when we run exercises,” Peden continued. “He always has a positive attitude and always dives into things head first. That was a big part of his recommendation for this exercise.
“He’s done an excellent job at representing himself and representing the Canadian Rangers as a whole on this exercise.”
Hrabarchuk left with his Ranger comrades on Aug. 7, going through many hours of flights before landing in Darwin, on the northern shore of Australia.
“We had to do our cultural training first and learn about the Indigenous culture, the places we’re going to go and the customs that are involved,” said Hrabarchuk.
From there, the crew set off on a vehicle patrol to Jabiru, where they participated in survival training for three days.
“We camped out at a billabong there and we had a ‘welcome to the country’ from a local Indigenous leader,” said Hrabarchuk. “When we were doing survival training, we actually trained with Gordon Dedman, who is the head survival guide for NORFORCE. He also runs Bushcraft Survival Australia and the head survival guide for the TV series Alone.”
Hrabarchuk also noted that they also trained with Dr. Theresa Emmerich Kamper, who also appeared on season eight of Alone, when it was filmed in British Columbia.
The group then went on another vehicle patrol to Maningrida, where they ended up on a boat patrol on the Blyth River.
“We ended up seeing some crocs,” said Hrabarchuk. “There was a 3.5-metre one that was trying to eat the boat.”
He then flew back to Darwin and then south to Alice Springs, where he participated in a Freedom of Entry March with NORFORCE. Freedom of Entry is significant honour bestowed upon a military unit by a municipality, indicating trust between that municipality and the military.
“The last time a Freedom of Entry March was done in Alice Springs was (nearly) 40 years ago, and the one that we participated in was the first time a foreign military unit ever participated with them, so we made a little bit of history there,” said Hrabarchuk.
While in and around Alice Springs, Hrabarchuk got to experience some interesting foods and traditions, which included consuming green ant tea, kangaroo, crocodile, camel, among other things.
Hrabarchuk also travelled to nearby Uluru – otherwise known as Ayers Rock – which is a famous natural sandstone landmark in the Northern Territory with major cultural significance to the Indigenous people in the area.
“We got to see parts of the country that not many of the civilians of Australia get to see, especially in the backcountry,” said Hrabarchuk.
He finally returned to Canada with the Rangers on Aug. 28, joking that it was the first time he’d ever experienced time travel, leaving on Aug. 28 and landing on the same day, despite the flight between Brisbane and Vancouver taking 14 hours alone.
One of the biggest challenges that Hrabarchuk had to face while on this trip was passing a swim test, given that he admittedly isn’t the best swimmer.
“I basically had four lessons,” he said. “The swim test I was training for before I left the country was the basic army one, which was swim 30 metres and tread water for two minutes. I had to pass the marine one, which was plunging yourself in a 3.5 metre deep pool, swim through some debris, come to the top, swim 100 metres and tread water for five minutes.
“For me, not knowing how to swim that well, that was the most challenging thing. What made it comfortable was the strength in numbers of being with everyone in my unit, because when I was starting to get tired, everyone would call my name and get the morale up to get to the end.”
Hrabarchuk also learned about the importance of surviving in a hot climate like Australia.
“It’s a lie if anyone tells you to conserve water,” he said. “Consume as much as you can. If you conserve your water, you’re going to die of dehydration.
“One of the things Gordon Dedman taught us to have in your kit is a transpiration bag, which is basically a clear bag you put over a deciduous tree. That can collect up to a litre of water every 24 hours. And, when you’re in a survival situation, you can have a few of them going and make more than enough off of those trees. With the hot weather, we were going through about a gallon and a half to two gallons of water a day.”
Although Hrabarchuk has travelled as far as Mexico before, his previous experiences didn’t compare to this once in a lifetime opportunity, and he is very grateful that he was selected to participate and represent his country.
One big takeaway he found was the sense of connection and friendship amongst the military units between the two allied countries.
“One thing I didn’t expect is when we hit the ground, they welcomed us with open arms like family,” said Hrabarchuk.
“The Rangers is a unique opportunity. We all come from different aspects and training. There’s opportunities no matter where you’re from, and if you put your heart and soul into it, they’ll definitely send you places, no matter how young or old you think you are.”

The Boys’ and Girls’ teams of the SVRSS Tigers Soccer program competed in Zones on Thursday (Oct. 5) against other school teams from around the Parkland. Both teams advanced to provincials hosted by Dauphin this weekend...