Deloraine’s TD Bank has stood empty since August 2018, was gifted to the municipality in October 2020, and is planning to be open again for business this coming April 2022 – not as a financial institution but as office space and store front for 2 new businesses moving to town.

‘Prairie Pro Renos’ and ‘Crafted & More Deloraine’ will be sharing the TD space located on Broadway Street South.

Upon purchasing the building Colin and Faye Leforte have been busy preparing the interior to accommodate both businesses for an April 1st opening.

Colin’s mother, Jackie Leforte, started Prairie Pro Renos from her home in the community of Napinka in 2017.  They were now ready to expand their business.

“They started small, doing basic home renovations,” shares daughter-in-law, Faye. “The company has been expanding as now they do both interior and exterior renovations from start to finish.  The new space will be a combination of office space and a showroom.”

“I work for Prairie Pro Renos,” shares Faye, “and we were looking for an office space and Deloraine has been really good to work with and we’ve enjoyed the town.  So, we decided that would be a good spot to make the new home for Prairie Pro Renos.”

As the square footage of the building was larger than needed for the renovation business, the Leforte’s decided to use half of the building for a ‘Made-in-Manitoba’ store, ‘Crafted & More Deloraine’.

“Crafted & More will have a lot of hand-crafted items,” she explains.  “We’re also going to have an area where people can come and have coffee and dessert while they’re shopping.  We put out an invitation to people who are artists and artisans and crafters who might want to rent space in the building to sell their products year-round.”

The new shop will also feature children’s clothing, décor items, and a section for family wellness.  Leforte says the coffee company they have partnered with is ‘Writers and Rockers’, a Manitoba-based coffee company that were invited to the MTV Awards as well as the Grammy Awards.  In addition, they will carry the product of the Canadian chalk paint company, Colorantic, the Deloraine store being its first Manitoba location.

Over the next 6 weeks the crew at Prairie Pro Renos will be focusing on taking the look and feel of the TD Bank out of the interior of the building - with the bank vault will remaining right where it is.  “The vault is in the back corner so its really not in my way,” shares Faye.  “We’ll just close up the door and use it for storage space!”

“We’re so excited!  I’m so looking forward to visiting with everyone that’s going to come in for coffee and shopping and look for décor items.  I can’t wait to help everybody!”