Premier Equipment and Stubbe’s Team Up to Announce Construction of a New Dealership in Oxford County
Premier Equipment and Stubbe’s Property Development are teaming up to build a 60 thousand plus square foot facility for the farm equipment dealer. The new John Deere dealership will be located just south of Norwich off highway 59 and a ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for the spring.
Allan Dueck, General Manager at Premier said this will be their first-ever partnership with Stubbe’s who are well-known in the area. “We like to support local business whenever possible and they are a solid, well-respected local business that has expertise in commercial construction. They are a logical partner for us in this venture.
One of the most difficult decisions in a development like this is simply where to build it. Allan said Premier had several meetings with Rural Oxford Development Corporation who praised Oxford as the right place for the new build. “We felt welcome and were given advice as well as answers to our questions. ROEDC was willing to chat with people who owned potential locations on our behalf,” said Allan. Premier was looking for a 25-acre piece of property to facilitate future growth, but the location has a few other key advantages. “We wanted to be close to the 401 and 403 and the growing city of Woodstock. It will help with our urban consumer business and attracting new employees,” said Allan. He added that it is also important for them to keep the operations in rural areas to best serve their agricultural customers. Among the other research, the company undertook was traffic patterns, census data and sales history. “The Norwich area was the best fit.”
Premier’s new site will combine the operations at two of their 10 current locations. “We will be transitioning roughly 60 jobs from our existing Simcoe and Courtland operations to this new facility and may be adding positions if deemed necessary once the transition is complete,” added Allan. He is hoping to have the project completed by the spring of 2022. “It is hard to say when we will open because of the size of the project and potential delays during the pandemic.”
