SEARS HIGH-BAY
What was once a state-of-the-art automated warehouse — the first and perhaps the only one of its kind in Canada — will soon be a pile of twisted steel and concrete rubble, as the former Sears “high-bay” warehouse at 855 Park St. in north Regina falls to the wrecker’s ball.

But the 40-year-old warehouse — or at least its component parts — will live again, as 96 to 98 per cent of the metal and concrete material will be recycled.
However, the Sears automated warehouse does pose some unique challenges, namely the complex maze of steel racking that forms the superstructure of the building.
In fact, the building itself is held up by the racking, which was covered by metal cladding and roofing material.
An employee of Sears, who didn’t want to be identified, said the automated warehouse was “one of a kind” when it was built in the mid-1970s.

“This warehouse was built to service the catalogue and retail customer needs for Sears for Western Canada. The warehouse was built for big-ticket items — appliances and furniture.”

The automated warehouse ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week processing orders, and operated for about 25 years before the technology became “functionally obsolete.”
During the period, retailing moved away from warehousing products and toward “just-in-time” inventory control.

“We built a brand-new facility in Calgary that took over that business, and so the need to use the facility was not there.
We used it for temporary storage, excess supplies, shipping supplies. It was like having an extra storage shed.”