The Nearly New Shop in Brandon is a local charity that first opened on September 17th, 1984. It is run by 100 dedicated volunteers and a full time manager. Volunteers commit to at least one 3.5 hour shift (either 10-1:30 or 1:30-5), one day per week, Monday through Saturday. The staff say that they do the work because they believe that it benefits our community. Nearly New profits are donated to the Brandon hospital to buy equipment for patient care. The store, at 601-9th St in Brandon, has recently expanded its hours to Mon to Sat 10-5. The volunteers have also installed new shelving and racks (all donated by local businesses) and have expanded the storage space to allow them to take in more donations. They gratefully accept donations of new, gently used & complete items at the back alley door at 601-9th St. Except not this week. This week, The Nearly New Shop is closed getting ready for their Spring & Summer Grand Reopening on Friday Feb 23rd at 10am. In preparation for the Grand Reopening the volunteers have emptied the shop, washed all of the racks and shelves and had the carpets shampooed. Now they are working hard restocking the shop with all of the spring & summer clothing that they have been accepting as donations over the winter. According to the Nearly New facebook page, “Changing over our complete inventory for each Grand Reopening is our way of thanking everyone who shops with us. This Friday, the store will be filled with all sorts of treasures at Nearly New prices. So come in, get a fabulous deal or two, and contribute to maintaining top quality patient care in our community. Thanks to everyone out there who supports The Nearly New Shop. We hope to see you this Friday!” Due to their great prices, high quality merchandise and the fact that shoppers know that they are spending money in support of patient care at Brandon Hospital, the Nearly New Shop motto is “Feel Good Shopping”. So whether you are a long-time customer or just learning about the store for the first time, this Friday is a great opportunity to check out a fantastic charity in Brandon.

The Redfern Farm Services Virden branch was recently named the 2017 Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers retailer of the year at the CAAR annual choice awards banquet dinner. Each winner was celebrated for their commitment to business excellence, sustainability and their local communities. Redfern Farm Services in Virden is known as a leader in adopting new technology - whether it’s the newest hybrid seed technology or adoption of variable rate, mapping and data management. The Virden location also offers their customers access to Farmers Edge and Decisive Farming VRA services as part of their agronomy package. Since joining Redfern Farm Services in 2015, manager Lane Wanless has seen his location grow rapidly – adding both staff and physical space to the Virden location – and 2018 will be no exception. This summer, the team is looking forward to upgrades to the fertilizer plant, which will increase both capacity and speed of loading.

The Shell gas station at 510-1st St will be closed permanently on February 26th, as per a sign placed in their store window.  An employee at the location indicated that the owner operates several other gas stations in Brandon, so no one would be losing their jobs.

Brandon Computers is on the move. The popular retail computer store will be relocating from their current location on Richmond Avenue to the Cornerstone Mall at 99-18th Street. The Cornerstone Mall is also currently the home of M&M Meats, Papa John's and more.  The store will remain open, at their current location on Richmond Avenue, throughout the move and the plan calls for them to be fully transitioned into the new space for the start of March 2018. The reason for the move, according to owner Danny Taylor is quite simple, they have run out of space (900 sq ft) at the Richmond address.  The business started in August of 2012, and in January of this year Danny bought out his business partner and became the sole proprietor. In that time the business grew to now include 5 employees and each month they recycle close to 10,000 pounds of e-waste, so the new space (2,100 sq ft) will come in handy.  With the increased space Danny said they have some plans to expand the business and those plans will be announced in the coming months.  For now, they are excited to add Don Semenowich to their team to help grow the business and to implement exciting and innovative new products and procedures. In addition to selling new and refurbished laptops and pc's, Brandon Computers also carries a wide array of computer accessories and hardware. They offer both in-store and on-site service/support for your computers and are a EPRA Authorized E-Waste Collection site.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words...so, in this case we will let the pictures tell most of the story.   Shawarma Queen Kebob House is now open in Brandon at 908 Rosser Ave.  Hours of operation:  Monday-Saturday: 11am-9pm, Sunday: 4pm-9pm.