Pik-A-Dilly Trailers & RV

f the British American Oil Company (B/A) Service Station on the corner of 10th Street and Victoria Avenue – across from Brandon’s arena. After a year of operation, “B/A” added an additional service bay. At one point, the company employed four licensed mechanics including Frank.

1962: Always interested in expansion and growth and with a large lot at the service station, Frank began selling and renting soft top folding campers and truck campers. He was a pioneer in the RV business and found a great demand for this family oriented RVing lifestyle. Sales grew rapidly and soon the business outgrew its space on the service station lot!

1964: Viscount travel trailers were added to the RV lineup. They were built in Winnipeg and many nights after a long day at work, Frank and Shirley would head to Winnipeg to pick up another unit.

1966: Sales grew rapidly and soon the business outgrew its space on the service station lot! Land was purchased up the street on the 400 block of 10th Street and the old homes occupying the space were demolished to make way for a stand-alone RV Dealership. The name of the company was changed from Arena Servicentre Trailer Sales to Pik-A-Dilly Trailer Sales.

1967: The service station was sold and now Frank and Shirley could concentrate solely on the RV business.

1969: The company was on the rise! The RV industry was growing rapidly and the company had quickly outgrown its 10th Street location. A bold commitment was made to purchase what amounted to a small gravel pit and a building on the southwest corner of 34th Street and Victoria Avenue in Brandon. The building had been occupied by the Corbin Construction Company who was in the road building business. Most of the year was spent filling in the gravel pit, renovating the building and getting ready for the move to the new premises in the fall of the year. Prior to the move to the new premises and given they had an entire square block of land, a decision was taken to sell mobile homes in addition to RV’s. A small, 30 unit mobile home park was constructed on the south 2/3 of the block, providing the company with a location for purchasers of the new homes. Also, the move inspired the entry into the marine business.

1970: Son, Don Main, was encouraged to become an employee, ostensibly to watch over the new marine division. In order to include the new division, the company operating name was changed to Pik-A-Dilly Trailer and Marine Sales. During the first few years in the new location, business grew, employees were added and a large addition to the service building was erected.

1970: Pik-A-Dilly became one of the founding members of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers of Manitoba (RVDA Manitoba).

1973: A bold move: the addition of the Airstream and Argosy Trailer lines ultimately landed us in the middle of the negotiations to attract the 1975 Wally Byam Airstream Rally held in Brandon, with in excess of 4200 trailers visiting the city and surrounding district.

1974: Another bold move: the construction of a second location on the Trans-Canada Highway on the north side of the city named Brandon’s Camper City.

1977: Negotiations began with the prospective builders of the Victoria Inn Hotel and Conference Centre who were anxious to locate on the home of Pik-A-Dilly Trailer and Marine Sales and Larkhill Mobile Home Park. Ultimately, a deal was completed and the company had a year to relocate. Marine and mobile home inventory was sold off and in the fall of the year, the business was sold to son Don Main and Frank Main officially retired (for the first time).

1978: The company name was again changed to reflect new ownership and a streamlined product offering. We were now known as Pik-A-Dilly Trailer Sales (1978) Ltd. Plans were underway to expand the Camper City location to accommodate the amalgamation of the two dealerships. The move was completed in the fall of 1978.

1980: A new indoor showroom was added.

1986: Pik-A-Dilly became one of the founders of the first Canadian Spader 20 Group – a group of non-competing dealers from Coast to Coast in Canada that share strategies, marketing concepts and financial numbers in order that each can continually improve and offer better value to its customers. The Group meets three times annually for two and a half days at one of the member dealerships with a Spader Company facilitator. One of the agenda items is to perform a dealership critique on the host dealership. We are always striving to improve and in the 1980’s the company’s growth necessitated the addition of more land for display to the immediate west of the dealership. This expansion would cover the needs of the company into the 1990’s.

1995: A large addition to the service department and complete renovation of the building would bring us to our current size, with a drive-thru service department, large parts and accessory store and indoor showroom in which we currently operate.

1999: Began the use of our new operating name – Pik-A-Dilly RV Centre – reflecting more appropriately the type of business we operate in. A new modern logo was refreshed to correspond with the operating name change.

2001: Pik-A-Dilly became one of the founding members of the RV Care Company. RV Care is a group of like-minded dealers from across Canada committed to providing our customers with the same quality of care and service while traveling that they could expect at home. A side benefit to RV Care Is a buying group which ensures that our dealers are purchasing every day products at high volume discounts to pass on to our valued customers. Purchasing from an RV Care Dealership provides comfort and peace of mind during and after the sale. RV Care has grown exponentially since its inception and now boasts a total of 59 dealerships.

2006: Ryan Main, son of President Don Main, joined the company with a business degree and a background in coaching hockey.

2011: Ryan is appointed the General Manager of the Dealership, becoming the third generation to take the helm of the company.

2012: The Company will celebrate its 50th year in business – a rare accomplishment in today’s business community, a fact that we are very proud of and intend to celebrate for the entire 12 months. Over the years we have been proud to have acquired many industry and business awards. We attained Fleetwood’s “Circle of Excellence Award” for outstanding Customer Service for the 12 consecutive years the award was offered. We were honoured with the prestigious “Triple E Presidents Award” for outstanding sales and customer service and were the inaugural recipient of Starcraft’s “James F. Kalb Award” given in honour of their long standing VP of Service. Company President Don Main has served the industry in many capacities over the years including stints as President of RVDA Manitoba, Chair of the Board of RVDA Canada as well as four years as the Canadian representative to the RVDA of America and serves as a director of RV Care Inc. He was also awarded the Business Person of the Year Award by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce. Our longevity in the industry has allowed us to forge relationships throughout the Dealer Network in North America as well as with most of the industry’s leading manufacturers. As a result, we represent only the top quality names from the most reputable manufacturers in our product line-up.