For close to 90 years, Buckerfield's has had a presence in Abbotsford.
The home and garden, animal feed and farm supply store has the grand opening for its new Marshall Road location on Saturday, and the community is invited.
Buckerfield's history weaves a tale of the ups and downs of not only the store itself, but also of Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley as a region.
Back in 1929, the feed company opened a brand new plant in Abbotsford, and by the 1940s the company had a farm and three dehydrating plants for spring grass on the Sumas Prairie.
By 1947, Buckerfield's was the largest producer of dehydrated grass in the British Empire, but then a horde of grasshoppers and a fire to the company's Sumas Prairie plant slowed the company down. The plant was rebuilt and Buckerfield's opened a new store in 1966. Around this time period, the company became more active in community events and other civic organizations.
Buckerfield's head office moved to Abbotsford in 1986 and renamed Buckerfield's Country Stores to focus more on the growing residential population in Abbotsford. That store was closed in 2001, but new investors re-established the brand in Abbotsford by 2005.
That store is now being moved to Marshall Road, where the grand opening occurs on Saturday.
Buckerfield's marketing director Rob Andersen, who has worked for the company for 28 years, said it's great to see the company move forward.
"We are enormously proud of the role that Buckerfield’s has played in the history of the Fraser Valley and British Columbia," he said. "Our goal is to build on this heritage by making Buckerfield’s into a destination for anyone who wants to enhance their modern lifestyle with a well-nourished pet, a green landscape, returning wild birds, a safe personal vegetable garden, and backyard chickens, horses, and honey bees. Buckerfield’s stands for trustworthy products that promote healthy lifestyles."
The grand opening of the new location at 31852 Marshall Place occurs on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. A ribbon-cutting, food, prizes and entertainment are all planned.