Subway, Co-op show Ile des Chenes growth

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This article was published 07/08/2014 (3928 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The rapid growth of Ile des Chenes has attracted the world’s largest restaurant chain.

Jim Matthewman opened his eighth Subway outlet on July 15.

The sandwich eatery becomes the first of six 1,000 sq. ft units to set up shop in this strip mall on the western edge of town.

Once the mall is leased, there are plans for two more strip malls to be constructed.

Matthewman, who owns a majority of his Subway outlets in rural communities like Oakbank and Dugald, said he’s been closely following Ile des Chenes’ growth between the twinned Highway 59 and the old highway route.

“We’ve been coming here for years for hockey. We knew it was a good town.”

Ile des Chenes’ blossoming development has also intrigued Ste Anne Co-op, which is planning to relocate its community gas bar from Main Street to the new development by the end of 2015.

Ste Anne Co-op general manager Henry Nickel said they didn’t have space in their current venue to expand.

“We needed more (gas) pumps, we needed a bigger convenience store, we needed a bigger car wash,” he said. “We needed a bigger everything.”

Nickel said Co-op’s plans are so far preliminary as they only recently purchased land north of Dumaine Road.

Ile des Chenes’ grand development plan was approved in early 2012. The necessary zoning changes accepted by the RM of Ritchot permitted a total of 232 multi-family housing units to be built in the next few years.

“The town is almost double when you count every door,” said Dan Vermette, the leasing agent for the strip mall. “People get a good bang for their buck out here.”