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In 14 seasons of running her store, Sheila Purcell says she has never seen it snow over the May long weekend at Pike Lake Provincial Park.
This May long, Purcell and her sister, Shirley Whiteside, are training new owners to take over The Huddle — the park’s go-to, on-site grocery store and restaurant.
Purcell has owned the shop since 2008. For the past four years, Whiteside and their other sister, Sharon Wenner, have run the park store with Purcell.
Now, though, they’ve decided to throw in the beach towel and retire their aprons.
“My body told me it was time (to retire),” Purcell said with a laugh. “We put in a lot of long hours. It’s a lot of hard work. It has been enjoyable over the years.”
Purcell is grateful for all the wonderful people she has been able to meet over the years. Whiteside agreed.
“That’s going to be the hard part, (not) seeing the regulars year after year,” Purcell said.
Sihan Wang and Jerry Qian are now in charge, and the couple is thankful for the colder weather this weekend.
“Because of the weather (Thursday), we only (had) one customer,” Wang said with a chuckle.
She and Qian expect things to pick up, but they’re still getting their feet under them this weekend. Purcell and Whiteside are spending their long weekend helping them learn the ropes.
“(There are) a lot of things for us to learn. It’s kind of overwhelming,” Wang said. “Right now I still have problems learning the cash register.”
Wang and Qian are married and planning to manage the store for the owner. They come into the position with some industry experience — before taking this job, Qian was a sushi chef and Sihan worked at the bubble tea shop, Gongcha.
Qian said some language barriers, learning the ins and outs of the restaurant and managing both the retail and food sides of the business have been some of the most difficult hurdles so far.
Purcell also feels the weather is a forgiving start for the new managers.
“It’s actually good that way so we can spend more time with them and show them the ropes,” she said.
Whiteside chimed in: “Iron out all the hiccups while it’s not crazy busy.”
The sisters are grateful to the customers they’ve had over the years and are excited for the future of the business now that it’s in new hands.
