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Running the store
Carroll MacIntyre six year veteran at store by Arthur Milnes
NAHANNI BUTTE (Feb 06/98) - Though you'd never know it, Nahanni Butte's Carroll MacIntyre actually "retired" more than 11 years ago.
"I was in the publishing business," the Nova Scotia native says. "I lasted six months (retired) and then I saw an advertisement in the Halifax paper for (store) managers in the North and I applied. The next thing I knew I was in Sachs Harbour."
After serving as the co-op manager there, MacIntyre moved on to the Deh Cho's Nahanni Butte six years ago. He's been running the Nahanni Butte store ever since.
"When I was first here, we had $120,00 each year in sales," he says. "It's $500,000 a year now... Two years ago we got a new building (and) there is now a motel, coffee shop and store under one roof... There are extended services for the people and (a wider) availability of products."
All told, the store, which is owned by the NWT Development Corporation and the Nahanni Butte Development Corporation, has a full-time staff of three.
MacIntyre credits assistant manager Earl Bertrand with much of the operation's success.
"His hard work and assistance have really helped me," MacIntyre says.
The 56-year-old will soon be departing Nahanni Butte for opportunities -- plans are in the works for a book chronicling his Northern experiences -- in other parts of the North.
"I'll miss the people," he says. "They tell me in Nahanni that I'm more native than the natives which is about as high a compliment as anyone can get." |