In today’s unstable business climate, any business that has served for 70 years is worth celebrating. Andrea and Jeff Marshall have only owned the Picton Canadian Tire for three years, but their passion and commitment to this community is remarkable. Both Andrea and Jeff are from Ontario – the couple met at Queens University, and spent time in the County during their studies. An opportunity to buy a Canadian Tire store in North Battleford, Saskatchewan offered this tight knit family the ability to work together – led them to own Picton’s own Canadian Tire outlet.

The Marshalls are passionate about supporting local business, and strong advocates for the slow food movement. They make every effort to incorporate this passion into their lives – from educating their young children about eating real food, to incorporating as many indigenous plants (both landscape and edible) into their garden centre. “We are tremendously inspired by farmers like Vicky Emlaw of Vicky’s Veggies,” confesses Andrea, so inspired that the family planted their own veggie garden using all of Vicky’s plants. This led to their garden centre being stocked with Emlaws plants, an innovative addition unique to their store. In addition to supporting the high quality, organic, heirloom plants, the Marshalls make every effort to stock their garden centre with native species – reinstating deciduous elm trees and stocking trillium and jack in the pulpit plants ensure they’re doing their part to support our local ecosystems.

With such a passion for local food and agriculture, it’s not surprising that they’ve backed an event like TASTE! a celebration of regional cuisine. Now a major sponsor of the event, they attended the celebration the year they moved here and were blown away by the way it showcased the culture of Prince Edward County. According to Andrea, “The food, the local winemakers, all proved that this is such an interesting place to live – we felt it was important to support something like that.” Their support and enthusiasm for both the TASTE! event and for their business is backed by a genuine love for this place – for Prince Edward County. When asked what their favourite part of living in the County is, Andrea laughs. “That’s a very difficult question – food, wine, people, beaches, the biking trails – there’s so much to love about this place!”

Canadian Tire can be found at 13321 Loyalist Parkway in Picton, Ontario – stop by and support one of our longest standing businesses.

Tags: camping, Canadian Tire, hardware, Shopping, Tools