The assets of Babe’s Honey Farm are being liquidated and an auction at the Saanich property is being held to sell off farm equipment and trucks.
Honey and beeswax candles are being sold off at the 334 Walton Pl. farm store. The auction to sell heavy equipment starts at 10 a.m. on June 29. The preview is June 28 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“I think we will have a pretty good turnout,” Kevin Joiner, co-owner of Joiner Sales Corp. of Abbotsford, said Monday. Joiner Sales auctioneers and liquidators bought the assets of the defunct honey operation and Island Vineyards Corp. early this month.
This liquidation is another stage in the closing of the popular honey business founded by Alison (Babe) Warner in 1954. After Warner’s death in 2006, a group of a dozen investors bought the business in 2007. The company was led by accountant Ernest Mark Pitcher, who was charged in January with defrauding clients of close to $1 million.
Babe’s went into receivership in February. Trustee Russ Law of Vancouver-based MacKay and Co. said the courts approved the sale of assets for $172,000 to Joiner Sales.
Coast Capital Savings Credit Union has the power of sale for the land but it is not listed at this time. The credit union said in a court document it is owed $908,000 in mortgage payments at 5.75 per cent interest.
Greater Victoria residents were used to buying Babe’s Honey from the farm’s store and at local grocery stores. Now liquidators have a “large quantity” of clover and spearmint honey to sell. The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Customers packed the store Sunday, lining up outside, Joiner said. “There are a lot of saddened people.”
Joiner Sales is selling 130 bee hive colonies in Port Alberni, as well as a large amount of honey and beeswax related equipment. This includes a honey extractor, wax melter, bee suits, a bulk honey dispensing tank, 1,100 bee feeders, bee nets, and more than 100 molds for candles and wax.
Wine-making equipment includes filters, bottle fillers, grape crusher, bags of cane sugar, wine press, and champagne and wine bottles. Other auction items include a backhoe, tractor, various trucks, generators and other tools.
cjwilson@timescolonist.com