Our History

In 1971, Bernard K Peters, George P Wiebe, and Bill Fehr, together with Jake Elias recognized the potential for an automotive and industrial parts supply company in the small town of La Crete, Alberta. These four purchased a lot and a small building (approx. 24’x30′) from Henry Schlamp and on February 22, 1972, Norpine Auto Supply Ltd was open for business. In 1974 a new, big, 40’x70′ building was built with offices, a warehouse and a washroom. Bernard K Peters sold his share of the business in 1973 to the other three partners. In April of 1977 George P Wiebe sold his share of the business to pursue farming. In September of 1977, we had a fire which did a lot of damage and forced us to move back into the original building while the damage was rebuilt and the cleanup was done. In 1979, Jake and his wife Eva bought out Bill Fehr.

In 1980 we installed our first computer. It weighed around 500 lbs and had a huge 10 megabytes of storage. In 1984 we added the first addition to the new building. It was also in 1984 that we rented a place and opened a store in High Level. In 1986 another addition was added to the La Crete store. In 1986 we bought the Caribou Motors building in High Level.

In 1996 Jake & Eva sold part of the business to 8 long time employees. This would be the start of a new era at Norpine. Later that same year a new 10,700 sq. ft. building was built in High Level and in fall we moved in. In August of 2001 a new 22,500 sq. ft. building was started in La Crete and on Feb 6, 2002 was our first day of business in this location. We celebrated with a Grand Re-Opening on Nov 15, 2002.

In spring of 2014 we started another expansion in La Crete and by April, 2015 we were moved in. This time more then doubling our space, giving us a total of 45,900 sq. ft. of retail and warehouse under one roof. At this time Jake and Eva sold their final shares to the partners.

Throughout the years our ownership structure has changed somewhat but we are still owned & operated by a group of people that are all employed by Norpine.

Norpine is one of Alberta’s largest suppliers of automotive, agricultural, forestry, oilfield, and industrial parts & services.

Established in 1972, Norpine is a locally owned and operated company.

Magazine Articles