After more than 86 years of service, Ste. Anne Co-op has announced a name change.

General Manager Henry Nickel explains they became incorporated on December 31st, 1931 after a group of farmers from the Blumenort area pooled their money and purchased a railway car of distillate. Because the railway went through Ste. Anne, that is where the car was parked. He notes in those days co-ops were named after the community they were in.

(Henry Nickel says there was an average turnout at Thursday's AGM.)The name Ste. Anne Co-op stuck and remained that way until it went to a vote Thursday night at its annual general meeting. Nickel says there was overwhelming support to change the name to Clearview Co-op. He explains there are a couple of reasons why they suggested this name.

"The reason for this is we're on the prairies, we have a clear view forward, that's part of the reason," he says. "We just needed a name that was inclusive for all our communities that we serve."

Nickel says Clearview Co-op speaks to the history and the vision for customer service, member equity returns and community commitment.

Nickel says there has been very little pushback from residents of Ste. Anne concerning the name change. He adds this was probably their third attempt, noting the previous two times resulted in narrow defeats.

According to Nickel, the cost to make the change will be minimal. He says there will be some time spent by administration, though changes to signage will only be done as needed. Further to that, he says the Ste. Anne Co-op name does not appear on their gas stations and so there shouldn't be much to change. Nickel expects the new name to become official within the next month or two.

Meanwhile, Nickel says they are coming off a great year. Sales for 2017 reached $121 million, up 12 per cent from 2016. He adds savings were up nearly 10 per cent and they were able to return $6.6 million back to members. A total of 21,735 dividend cheques were mailed out, up 2.1 per cent from 2016.

A number of capital projects were completed in 2017. Nickel says they opened their new location in Ile des Chenes, completed the new cardlock in Steinbach, purchased a gas bar and convenience store in Vita and began work on a carwash at the Stone Creek location in Steinbach. That carwash is expected to open in spring.