Applications continue to pour in for a small Cape Breton business offering free land with a rustic backdrop for labour.
In the fall of 2016, the owners of The Farmer’s Daughter Country Market offered free land and a job to anyone interested in working at the family roadside general store in Whycocomagh, N.S.
The owners say the offer still stands and they’ve received inquiries from as far away as Syria, Egypt, Ireland, Scotland, Colombia, South Africa and more.
Store owner, Heather Coulombe says the store still receives roughly 100 emails a day, amounting to tens of thousands.
When their offer went viral, the owners limited their hires to within Canada, but now because they’re fully staffed for the winter, they’re hoping to bring two new people on board in the spring.
"With the pilot project going on for immigration in Atlantic Canada right now, we can hire outside the country if we do so wish,” says Coulombe.
The owners say due to the large number of applications coming in from across the globe, they’ve received help from the Cape Breton Partnership in Sydney.
Keith MacDonald from the partnership says the store has interns and students sift through emails from people interested in living or working in the area.
"The inquiries range from everything from employment opportunities at The Farmer’s Daughter to: 'How can we move to Nova Scotia?' 'How can we set up a business in Nova Scotia?' Or 'How do I move my company to Cape Breton?” says MacDonald.
Meanwhile, all of their success has The Farmer’s Daughter looking at the possibility of expansion, which could mean more hires for land on the horizon.
“If everything goes according to plan and I can get my ducks in a row and expand, maybe over the course of the next few years we’ll hire maybe another ten people,” says Coulombe.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
