Hundreds of customers were up before the sun Tuesday morning, standing in line for the grand opening of Saskatoon’s new Princess Auto location.  

Dave Matthes Vice President of Retail Operations West says the second location, at 3005 Meadows Parkway near the south Costco in Rosewood, is 50,000 square feet in size.  

“A lot of customers we saw, based on their postal codes, were driving a long, long ways to come into the north store. We had some opportunities with real estate and buying a spot in the south, and this one came up…we thought it would be an awesome spot to put a second store in the city.”

Matthes says building will be home to up to 90 new staff and the same products that are offered at the north location off Idylwyld,  plus some new products in the tire and tool departments.  

He also cleared up some rumours regarding a fire that occurred at the new building prior to its opening.

“It was a garbage can that someone threw a cigarette butt into, and it started on fire. I think it was blown out a lot bigger than what it was. Just had some black smoke that came out, so no harm no foul.”

The grand opening went at 6:50 a.m., complete with donuts, coffee, free tool bags, and deals.