Aunty's Korner Store is thriving in its second year of business, according to Darlene Sibbeston, one of the Fort Smith shop's three owners.
"The community has received us very well," she said. "I really can't say enough for the community. We have regulars that come in every morning for their breakfast, and those same regulars come every day at lunch to have the soup and sandwich."
Sibbeston, who is originally from Fort Simpson, operates Aunty's Korner Store with her son, Daniel Scott, and Scott's aunt on his father's side, Michelle Scott. The trio opened their store in February 2023, filling a space that has long been occupied by convenience stores in the community of about 2,200 people.
In addition to its wide range of soup and sandwiches, the store sells other fresh food items like pizza, wraps, and donairs, treats like ice cream and a long list of other snacks and supplies.
There have been surprisingly few growing pains through the venture's first two years, according to Sibbeston. While many businesses struggle with staffing, she said Aunty's has lucked out with a roster of dedicated employees who help keep the shop running smoothly and consistently.
"There's always somebody here to keep the doors open," she said. "Knock on wood, so far, so good. We have a really, really dedicated staff, so we haven't had to go through those pains."
Things have gone well enough at Aunty's that Sibbeston and her partners recently opened a small, secondary location called Uncle's on the local Aurora College campus.
"Every year they put out a tender for interested parties in the community to bid on the space, so we did that this year," she said. "Basically, it's just a mini Aunty's which obviously we called Uncle's. We don't sell a lot of the stuff that we do here at Aunty's, it's just kind of scaled down, but we do the homemade soup there, the homemade sandwiches, and then the typical canteen stuff SA国际影视传媒� chips, chocolate bars, that type of stuff."
Sibbeston has had a great time running Aunty's and Uncle's with her family members. She admits they occasionally butt heads, but they're always able to hash out their disagreements.
"Sometimes we don't have all the same ideas," she said. "We're able to see each other's vision and kind of mesh all our visions together. That's the nice thing. Like any family, we have disputes, but we're able to overcome those, because he have a vested interest in this business's success."
