Sitting in Dowe’s Diner, Carl Gimse smiled at me and asked, “Why would you want to interview me?”
I asked him to tell me about his life and how he ended up in the Cariboo, and why he bought the grocery store?
Carl said he grew up on his family’s farm in Birkin, a small community located in the northeast of the Pemberton Valley.
He handed me an old black-and-white photograph of his family – his dad, Gunnar, mom, Marjory, two sisters, him and younger brother, and started to talk about his memories of how his life unfolded.
Carl laughed as he recalled his chores at the farm, including chopping wood and milking the cows, and how the chores grew in scope as he grew up.
Carl stayed on the family farm until he graduated from high school in 1965 and got his first job as a surveyor.
His grandfather, Geoffrey Murray Downton, was a well-respected surveyor in the Cariboo and Carl said he wanted to follow in his footsteps.
He tried his hand at surveying for a year, but soon realized that he just didn’t have the patience it took to be a surveyor.
Then he decided to try logging, but broke his leg during the first year on the job.
After his recuperation, Carl moved to Vancouver and took a job in a sawmill, but said he quickly realized this wasn’t the life for him.
In 1967, Carl got his log-scaling licence and started a job with BC Forest Service, and he worked for the BCFS for the next three years. He travelled up and down the coast from Stewart to Vancouver Island.
In 1969, Carl said he fell in love with a young woman in Prince Rupert and moved there, but it didn’t work out.
However, his career took another turn and Carl left the BCFS and accepted a management job with Prince Rupert Forest Products as a log buyer. Carl noted he would be in management positions for the rest of his working life.
From 1969 to 1986, Carl worked for several different logging companies, including Eurocan Pulp and Paper and Evans Forest Products where he was a contract logger superintendent and a contract logger.
Carl said he enjoyed these jobs and was always learning new ways to complete his work and came up with a lot of new ideas.
In 1986, he decided to start his own company, Inter Coastal Log Service Ltd., in Squamish.
In 1987, Carl and his partner, Sally, married and merged their families. They now had five children between them, and Carl says times were great.
He was scaling logs mainly for Interfor and his own company was very successful.
“Life was really good.”
In 2006, Interfor sold its timber licence and sawmill in Squamish, and with regret, Carl said he shut down his company.
Over the next year, he worked as an independent contractor for private companies, including CRB Logging Co. in Squamish.
In 2007, his youngest sister, Thyra, who lives at Bridge Lake encouraged Carl to come to the Cariboo and look at taking a job with West Fraser.
Carl said he and Sally fell in love with the Cariboo and started to look for a home here. While looking at homes, he learned the 108 grocery store was for sale.
Carl said he started to think about his future and the future of logging and decided to take a look at the store “just for fun.”
“After all people always have to eat.”
Carl said he met with Shelan Tessaro, a young data entry employee with the store, and they talked for hours.
Noting he didn’t know very much about the grocery business, Carl said he saw a new opportunity and a great staff. So armed with optimism and faith, he decided to buy the 108 Mile Supermarket.
There were many bumps on the way, but Carl said he knew that with hard work, it would be a success.
On Jan. 10, 2008, Carl became the official owner the 108 Mile Supermarket.
Now, he beams as he talked about his staff and grocery store. Carl added that without his employee’s dedication and hard work, it wouldn’t have been possible.
Shelan is now the manager of the store.
Carl chuckles as he noted that he went from “counting logs to lettuce leaves.”
Shelan fondly recalled the first summer Carl owned the store and one of his major purchases was a truckload of rhubarb. She said the staff had a good laugh because everyone in the 108 grows rhubarb.
Shelan and employee Angela Batalha say it’s great working for Carl and Sally.
Angela remembered she was so surprised that one of the first things Carl did when he took over the store was give the staff a raise.
They add he is constantly trying to improve the store and you can see his handiwork in the woodwork throughout the facility.
Carl also laughed when he talked about his first day and arriving early to open his store.
“I arrived early, and as I pulled into a parking lot, I noticed there was a car parked by the door. A woman was pulling a paper out of the bundle and walking back to her car.
“I got out of my vehicle and she looked up and said, ’Is this where you get your copy of the Free Press, too?’
“When I told her I was the new owner, she was obviously embarrassed and told me it wouldn’t happen again.”
Carl said he tells people he’s retired because now he does what he wants to do everyday.
Always part of their plan, Carl and Sally have purchased a home in the 108 Mile Ranch and are currently making adjustments to their liking.
“It’s our last place; we’re here for the long run. These are the happiest days for me and Sally.”
