Lowes Furniture moving to Fort Frances

By Ken Johnston Editor Rainy River will be losing one of its biggest businesses in the upcoming weeks as Lowes Furniture moves to Fort Frances. The business was a spin off from Lowes Lumber and Furniture in Sleeman about 12 years ago and has been an anchor on Rainy River’s Main Street ever since. However, owner and operator Dale Lowes said that it has stopped growing and in any business that is not good. “We were not losing money here but (we) need to grow.” Lowes said that he feels Fort Frances is the place to do that. “Many of our customers come from the Fort Frances, Devlin and Nestor Falls areas. We see the potential to capitalize on that by locating there.” For the past several weeks work crews have been busy renovating the former Northern Do It Center in Fort Frances; which is located just west of Fort Frances. Once the renovations are complete Lowes Furniture will move up there. Lowes said the new store will be an Ashley Furniture Store featuring a full line of furniture and appliances. As for customers in the Rainy River area, Lowes said there will be some stock located in Sleeman at Lowes Lumber, which will remain at that location, but not nearly as large a selection as in Fort Frances. He noted that they have run free delivery to Fort Frances for a number of years and will do so back this way for customers. “We hope to capture consumers before they enter Fort Frances (at the new location).” While no date is etched in stone yet, Lowes hopes to be open in Fort Frances by mid-November, but that will depend on progress in renovating the new location. In the mean time the store in Rainy River is hosting a huge inventory clearance sale.