MORDEN — Prairie Barnwood Ltd. may be a small furniture operation in southern Manitoba’s Pembina Valley but when owner Blayne Wyton was thinking about changing the company’s focus, he looked to a Japanese conglomerate and an Italian sports car business for encouragement.

Before Sony was known for audio and video equipment, its first product was an electric rice cooker; and before Ferruccio Lamborghini turned his attention to luxury automobiles, he made tractors.

To Wyton, those shifts seemed much greater than the one he was contemplating and ultimately chose to pursue. If they could evolve and find success, maybe he could, too.

At the end of May, Wyton announced in an open letter to customers that after almost two decades, Prairie Barnwood was stepping away from offering made-to-order f

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