The parking lot at the 4th Street Co-op was full Thursday evening with people looking for some help with supper. After power was knocked out to much of southern Saskatchewan, many people were left in the dark, both literally and figuratively. With not many options and only one grocery store with power, many came to the Co-op looking for help.

"The night went quite chaotic actually," described Jamie George at Southern Plains Co-op. "It was pretty hectic."

"We made the decision to open because we had a lot of people in the parking lot for the gas station and the food store. Knowing that we were the only store in town, we decided that we had no choice but to open."

Earlier, after hearing that the power might not be restored for up to 2-3 days, they had pulled all of their refrigerated items off the shelves. 

"When the power did come back on and we decided to open, it was chaotic with all the people and trying to get everything back on the shelves."

"It was definitely a learning experience and nobody got hurt so that was the main thing."

He added that around 300 people passed through the store in roughly two and a half hours.

"Staff stepped up to the plate. They were actually phoning me to see if they could come in and even the ones who didn't phone, stopped in and were willing to give a hand. All in all, it was 100% participation which was nice."

He shared that when the power went out, they canceled the next food truck delivery but once the power returned, they were able to contact the warehouse to bring the shipment fro early Friday morning. 

"We put some extra people on and we're pretty close to getting back to where we want to be."

"We were glad to be able to open for the general public. A lot of people came in and got the necessities they needed and it was win-win for everyone."