Home-share provider 'crisis'
Nine Inch Nails tour coming
'A break from reality'
1st bison hunt in 145 years
Moe wary of retaliation
Former teacher accused 
Freeze on civil rights cases
May withhold aid for L.A.
Clean energy records fall
2025 top vehicle awards
Amazon warehouses closing
What's next for EVs?
Vipers hire new coach
Vees sign Danish forward
Penalties Rockets undoing
Beckham always a royalist
O’Brien’s house survives
Sting postpones concerts
Agricultural supplier Growers Supply will reportedly be permanently closing its doors across the Okanagan Valley by the end of the year, as its operator BC Tree Fruits is sold off in parts through bankruptcy proceedings.
The co-operative ceased operations earlier this year and the sale of BC Tree Fruits' assets has been underway for several months.
A Growers source told Castanet that the closures will be complete by December.
In August, Alvarez & Marsal was appointed to monitor the sales of BC Tree Fruits Cooperative and Growers Supply Company after the cooperative filed for creditor protection.
Growers Supply’s 1.2-hectare property at 2605 Acland Road in Kelowna received a $9.5 million offer from developer Taz Holdings. The courts approved the sale on Oct. 15 along with the liquidation of other inventory and properties.
Since BC Tree Fruits Cooperative shut its doors, Growers Supply has still been operating mostly to sell off remaining inventory. It has locations in Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Oliver, and Creston.
Some employees left with the closure of BC Tree Fruits in August, while others were retained by Alvarez & Marsal, given retention bonuses in order to liquidate the assets.
By the end of December, those remaining employees will no longer be employed. Some affected Okanagan residents have taken to social media, expressing frustration over the closure.
According to industry insiders, the gap left by BC Tree Fruits and Growers Supply is currently being filled by other similar private companies such as TerraLink and Okanagan Fertilizer.
As of September, the remaining inventory at BC Tree Fruits reportedly had a book value of around $5 million, which is expected to be recovered at 45 to 55 per cent of its value.
According to the books and records of BCTF, 192 grower members are owed approximately $3.7 million in relation to unpaid late 2023 apple pool and 2024 cherry and plum pool distributions.
A report filed from Alvarez & Marsal says the B.C. Investment Agriculture Foundation has proposed to take those claims, pay the growers for the 2023 and 2024 fruit deliveries, and "assume the risk, as an unsecured creditor, of recovering the amounts of the growers claims assigned to it" in the bankruptcy proceedings.
