Ritchie Bros. is closing five of its locations in North America, saying it wants to focus on online sales and larger places like Grande Prairie. Along with four other cities being shut down in the United States, the auctioneers are pulling out of Prince George.
Vice-President of Canadian Operations Brian Glenn says the move is due to current customer buying habits.
“We’ve seen preference from northern B.C. contractors to participate in typically larger events such as those in Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Chilliwack. Obviously, a lot more companies are comfortable trading assets with buying and selling their equipment on an online platform as well.”
Glenn adds the closure will affect five full-time employees in Prince George, but he believes there’s a chance they could come back.
“As time goes on, we will be more than willing and able to come back up to Prince George to conduct off-site auctions and there’s certainly sale staff that will still covered this region. Basically, our site optimization realizes that the closing of this location here at the end of the year for push the business.”
Ritchie Bros. has an auction scheduled for November 24th, but the final gavel will drop December 31st. The next event in Grande Prairie is scheduled for November 21st and 22nd.
Written by Kyle Balzer, 94.3 The Goat
