Yellowknife’s Canadian Tire changes ownership

Karen Butorac says she and husband Jason thought they would never leave the NWT. But after four years owning the city’s Canadian Tire, they’re bound for Thunder Bay.

The couple say they loved the community of Yellowknife and the adventure of northern life but, when another store was offered to them in the northern Ontario city, they began to reconsider. 

Wednesday this week will now be their last day at the store. A new owner – yet to be revealed, though understood to be from Ontario – takes over from Thursday onward.

“The way that Canadian Tire works is that you do have the opportunity to be offered other stores, sort-of based on a complicated formula, and Thunder Bay came up and was offered to us,” Karen Butorac told Cabin Radio.

“We have family, we have two kids in Ontario … we didn’t think we were going to move but when we started contemplating the idea of a store, and then being closer to our kids, we thought maybe it was, in fact, the right decision for us.”

Looking back on their time in Yellowknife, Butorac said she and Jason are proud of what they achieved (the list ranges from Extreme Duck Racing to an accessible playground).

“We just look back on the past four years so fondly, and we’re really going to miss the community and definitely the entire [Canadian Tire] family here,” she said.

“We went through Covid-19 together with them, which was a challenging time, but they all rose up so strong, and we really feel like the store looks amazing.

“And we’re really proud of all that they accomplished, and helped raise the store up, in our opinion.”