Made in Saskatchewan: The Shake Shop Cedar Warehouse and Brian’s Equipment Rentals

Every other week on The Greg Morgan Morning Show, Greg profiles a local business with Made in Saskatchewan, as entrepreneurs go from dreams to reality.

In this episode, he talks to Brian Sinclair of The Shake Shop Cedar Warehouse and Brian’s Equipment Rentals about how the business has persevered through adversity.

Read more:

• Made in Saskatchewan: Suds Car Wash
• Made in Saskatchewan: Elle’s Cafe
• What happens when you bring Saskatchewan’s wind indoors?

Listen to the full interview, or read the transcript below:

GREG MORGAN: Brian Sinclair, owner-operator of the Shake Shop, 15 105th Avenue, over 35,000 square feet of everything cedar. Brian, previously in an automotive business right across the street from it, was always aware of Ted Korman, the Shake Shop’s original owner. And after Ted passed in 2008, Brian was given an opportunity to become its new owner.

BRIAN SINCLAIR: It was mentioned to me, “Why don’t you buy that? And I thought, “Well, I know nothing about the cedar business.

Just smelled good!

SINCLAIR: Oh, it smelled awesome. Well, I came here and I bought my two-by-fours for a deck around my pool, and I bought a cedar fence from the shake shop. And every time I came in, it smelled so great. And they would always comment that they couldn’t smell it. There’s no, they were nose blind to it.

Can you smell it today?

SINCLAIR: No, I’m nose blind to it unless we open up a fresh lift.

Believe me, he may not be able to smell it, but man, it smells so good in there. Brian took over in ’08, he retained all the staff and told them, “You guys, you know what you’re doing. You run it for me.” Went great the first couple of years, but then in 2010, the shop fell victim to an arson fire.

SINCLAIR: This warehouse is about 35,000, 37,000 square feet, and there’s about 10,000 square feet of it that was burnt. The fire department did a fantastic job getting the fire out, but we did lose some wood. And at the time, the part that burnt was housing mainly my equipment rental business and cars. So the shake shop was actually only physically closed for three days. Yet everything reported on TV and whatnot, a lot of people thought the shake shop was burnt to the ground.

He said sales suffered a few years as he tried to spread the word: “No, we’re still open!” And although the fire took the wind out of his sails, just two years into owning the shop, he never thought about giving up.

SINCLAIR: Heck no! How could I do it? I had to mortgage my life just to get the funds to pay for it, and you know it wasn’t a total loss.

So the shake shop and Brian Sinclair persevered, but the fire wasn’t his only obstacle. Then came COVID, which ironically turned out to be a good thing, but also a detriment.

SINCLAIR: Now you would think, okay, is that going to be a problem? But no, it wasn’t a problem. COVID actually helped the lumber business because people were stuck at home; they couldn’t travel, their kids couldn’t play sports, so they had all this extra money available. So what do they do? They build a new fence. They build a new deck. They spent money, so we couldn’t help but make money.

And as the world got back to normal, sales slowed again. However, good prior business management of his finances kept them from sinking.

SINCLAIR: By that time in life, I had the shake shop, you know, paid for, so I didn’t have any mortgages or loans or anything, so I could weather the storm. Now today, unfortunately, if you go to the grocery store, you go to buy anything, everything is two to three times what it used to be. But the hardworking people, their earnings haven’t doubled or tripled, and so cedar is a luxury, and so they look for a cheaper alternative.

Fortunately, Brian keeps a low overhead and doesn’t have any outstanding debt and can keep afloat for now. He’s a pretty tough cookie too. Only a couple of years ago, he had an accident up north at his cabin where a skill saw got away on him. Running across his thigh, he cut himself badly. All alone, he worked desperately to stop the bleeding until STARS could airlift him out of there.

SINCLAIR: You know, it’s amazing that I did keep my wits about me. I didn’t go lightheaded or pass out. I knew what I had to do. I had to get up to the bedroom. I had to get my belt, tighten it on my leg, and then call for help.

Almost 60 stitches later, he was on the mend, and immediately thought, “I gotta find a way to give back.”

SINCLAIR: Well, first of all, I now give $50 a month to STARS. They’re in my will.

Brian Sinclair from the Shake Shop, persevering after a fire nearly ruined his business, and then surviving an accident that almost killed him. He certainly feels grateful, and that this is still the city in which to open up a business and live the dream. And shares this bit of advice for anyone looking to get into business:

SINCLAIR: I would tell them to do their due diligence, make sure that they’re prepared for what’s to come. If they want to pursue a dream, they should follow that.

Seems simple enough. Oh, and if you’re dreaming of a rental that might include cedar, follow your instinct and shop local.