#Businessbuzz – Brandon Sun

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Pathway Rehabilitation in the Sunset Mall on Victoria Avenue

Thanks for helping me make a go of it

Uncredited 5 minute read Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016

Today we bid adieu to #businessbuzz. Unfortunately, the management team at The Brandon Sun had to make some difficult decisions for the upcoming year and as such the column that I’ve been writing since April 12, 2014, for the Saturday edition of The Brandon Sun will no longer exist. The Sun has decided to go in a different direction for the Saturday business page.

I remember when former Sun editor James O’Connor and I first met to discuss the column. My only trepidation was whether I would be able to come up with enough content for a weekly column. That fear quickly diminished.

There is always, always something happening in the Brandon business world. It’s actually amazing how much the landscape does change —new businesses take flight, longtime businesses close, management changes, names change, new products and services are introduced, businesses move, they expand and they proudly celebrate milestone anniversaries and events.

I consistently had a well-populated list of businesses that I intended to mention or highlight at some point in time. Looking back this week, I realized that there were still so many that I never got a chance to write about. Stories such as …

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Karrouze celebrates by expanding

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Karrouze celebrates by expanding

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016

Pride. I can honestly say that after speaking with more than four dozen business owners this past year, the one thing that stands out is that they are all really proud of their accomplishments and the businesses they’ve created. This is especially true of Mo Karrouze.

Karrouze is the proud owner of two businesses —Hairistocracy, a busy hair salon in Brandon, and now the new Tranquility Spa. Even though this entrepreneur could be entertaining the possibility of retirement, he has decided instead to expand his operations.

“It’s kind of a celebration for being in business for 25 years, it’s a celebration for me and a celebration for my clients. It will be part of my legacy,” Karrouze said.

The new spa features esthetician Sydney Ransom, who uses a product line that is unique to this region called [comfort zone], which comes from Italy and is from the skin care division of Davines Group — the product line that is used in the hair salon.

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Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Sydney Ransom, Meaghan Karrouze, Mo Karrouze, Jenna Karrouze, Kristy Fischer and Alex Park with Hairistocracy and Tranquility Spa at the hair salon on Princess Avenue.

Windsor Plywood in renovation mode

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Windsor Plywood in renovation mode

None 4 minute read Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016

As you drive along 18th Street North, you might have noticed that Windsor Plywood is in the middle of a renovation. I spoke with general manager Jason Kusnick, and he said the store was due for an update.

“We’ve started with a facelift on the front of the store and we’re slowly starting on the inside, with the hope of having everything complete by spring,” Kusnick said.

The interior renovations will include new shelving, re-merchandising the majority of the store, and a fresh, new look for customers.

Windsor Plywood has been part of the Brandon business community for 37 years and switched to a corporate-owned store last spring; Kusnick came on board shortly after. They carry everything from doors and flooring to domestic and exotic species of wood including a large variety of natural live edge wood, accessories and decking. They primarily specialize in hard-to-source products.

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Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Brandon’s Windsor Plywood store will soon have a new look on the exterior as well as inside.

Antique collection inspires new store

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Antique collection inspires new store

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016

If you build it, they will come. While this isn’t always the case, it certainly is for Crow’s General Store. This unique ice cream and coffee shop has already been dubbed as a great new attraction for Brandon.

Owner Don Ditchfield isn’t new to the business world. He had a landscape business for years, a sod farm, a driving range and he opened the first Ski-Doo/Bombardier snowmobile dealership in the city years and years ago. His collection of antiques, however, is what spurred the idea for his latest venture.

“Collecting antiques and old stuff has been a hobby of mine for years, pretty much my entire life,” Ditchfield said.

The antiques that Ditchfield has collected, along with the location, is what makes the ice cream shop so unique. There are literally antiques everywhere, inside and out, for guests to admire and reminisce about. The building that houses the ice cream parlour was built in 2008; the second storey is where Ditchfield lives.

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Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016

Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun
Crow’s General Store owner Don Ditchfield looks through a collection of records at his business, located at 33 17th St. East.

Foster surprised by Trend’s growth

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Foster surprised by Trend’s growth

Uncredited 5 minute read Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016

When entrepreneurs get into business, part of the process is predicting how the business might grow in five or 10 years. As there are many factors that affect growth, things sometimes don’t go according to plan.

However, some business owners are pleasantly surprised when they realize that their business has actually grown beyond their expectations. Pamela Foster is one of those entrepreneurs.

Foster bought Trend Collection and Bailiff Services 11 years ago. The business had already been operating for 20 years.

At that time, there were two people working in the local office.

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Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Pamela Foster, owner of Trend Collection and Bailiff Services, has recently moved her business from The Town Centre to 921 Rosser Ave.

Serving up coffee with unique home decor

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Serving up coffee with unique home decor

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016

There’s more good news for downtown Brandon, specifically for the 100 block of 10th Street.

Back in April, I shared with you that Pirouette, a dance, swim, skate and gymnastics shop owned by Lorinda Abbey, recently opened a new location at 121 10th St.

And now, just a few months later, the One and Only Design Studio (plus O&O Coffee) opened across the street.

The One and Only Design Studio is a furniture store, a home decor retail outlet, a lighting boutique and a wholesale showroom. With 4,000 square feet, there’s plenty of room to display the wall art, coffee and side tables, sofas, accent chairs, lighting fixtures and everything else that’s available for retail and wholesale customers.

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Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Jenny Kang, co-owner of One and Only Design Studio on 10th Stree, relaxes in the studio space on Thursday.

Renovated Huggy’s sports bar sure to be a hit

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Renovated Huggy’s sports bar sure to be a hit

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016

Bright lights, parties, sweet treats … before we know it, we’ll be enjoying all the festivities of the Christmas season. For many local businesses in the hospitality industry, this is without a doubt one of the busiest times of the year.

While the folks at Thunderbird Bowl, Huggy’s Family Restaurant and Huggy’s Neighbourhood Sports Bar & Grill generally start prepping for the holiday season well in advance, this year they were busy sprucing things up earlier than ever.

Local owners Trevor Peters and Debbie Nadon (who also happen to be brother and sister) opened the three businesses 15 years ago, so they thought it was time to freshen things up in the sports bar. They shut down operations for 30 days earlier this fall while local contractors rolled in to do a complete renovation on the second-floor bar.

“When you’re in the food and beverage business, staying modern and relevant to consumer trends is very important,” Peters said.

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Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Trevor Peters, Debbie Nadon and Skylar Peters, owners of Huggy’s Neighbourhood Sports Bar & Grill at 2140 Currie Blvd. The second-floor bar, which underwent extensive renovations earlier this fall, has new decor, seating and additional TV screens for visitors to enjoy.

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Signing on for new opportunity

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Signing on for new opportunity

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016

Sam Mulaw isn’t new to the local business scene. As a graduate of the auto technician program from Red River College, Mulaw opened his own repair shop, ABC Auto Service, in 2011 on Pacific Avenue. Although he really enjoys his chosen career of working on cars and other vehicles, a back injury kept him away from work and left him recovering for months.

During his time off, Mulaw started researching other business opportunities that weren’t as physically demanding. That’s when he stumbled across the Fast Signs franchise.

Mulaw opened Fast Signs at 30 11th St. in downtown Brandon in the middle of September. He had looked into other companies, but felt that Fast Signs was a better fit as the company allows owners to be more independent.

He said that with more than 600 locations across the United States and Canada, there’s a great affiliation and network with these other stores. As such, this allows him to provide his customers with a wide range of products to help them with their businesses, events or projects.

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Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Sam Mulaw is the owner and manager of Fast Signs at 30 11th St. in Brandon.

‘Store for everybody’ opens doors on city’s North Hill

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‘Store for everybody’ opens doors on city’s North Hill

Uncredited 3 minute read Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016

Peavey Mart is a 100 per cent Canadian-owned retailer that has stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The company recently announced that it had acquired TSC Stores and began the transformation of the location in Brandon from a TSC Store to a Peavey Mart.

The TSC Store closed mid-September and, after close to six weeks of transitioning, reopened as a Peavey Mart on Oct. 17.

Director of customer experience Jest Sidloski said logistically it made sense to convert the two Manitoba locations — the other is in Winkler — to Peavey Mart stores.

“The other existing TSC Stores are centralized in Ontario, but there’s already an existing network of Peavey Mart stores nearby in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, so we thought it would help serve our customers better by converting the two locations in Manitoba,” Sidloski said.

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Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016

The Brandon Sun
Peavey Mart, located at 1545 18th St. North, began operating in Brandon on Oct. 17. The store, which currently employs 17 workers, will celebrate its grand opening next weekend.

Falloon brings years of experience to Prairie Bliss

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016

Release tension, get rid of sore muscles, relax into oblivion. Ahhh, the benefits of a good massage.

Oct. 23-29 is National Massage Therapy Week, a week dedicated to raising the awareness of the massage therapy profession. We’re fortunate to have many qualified and amazing therapists in Brandon and the surrounding area.

Jamie Falloon of Prairie Bliss Massage Therapy is new to the local scene, but has 11 years of experience in the industry.

Falloon grew up in Brandon and continued her studies, graduating with a two-year diploma, at the Massage Therapy College of Manitoba in Winnipeg. She then spent some time travelling and working in different areas of Canada, as well as in Grand Cayman.

Time to celebrate Small Business Week

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016

Oct. 16-22 is Small Business Week in Canada. If you’re not immersed in the business world, you might not recognize the importance of this week, but it is a great opportunity to take some time to thank the small business owners, entrepreneurs and innovators for the contributions they make to the communities in which they operate, the economic impact and the products and services they provide.

Many believe that small businesses are indeed the backbone to the Manitoba and Canadian economy. It’s who we work for, it’s where we take our pets to be cared for, it’s the shop that fixes our computer, the garage that rotates our tires, the eatery where we pick up our coffee every morning, the local farmer who supplies our vegetables or the boutique where we buy a special outfit for an upcoming event.

Small businesses are everywhere and I try to celebrate their successes through my column on a weekly basis.

I don’t ever seem to have a shortage of news to share and since I started #businessbuzz in April 2014, I’ve featured hundreds of local business owners.

Store owner says response has been Sew Crazy

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Store owner says response has been Sew Crazy

None 5 minute read Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016

Sandra O’Neill is crazy about her business. So much so, her only regret is that she didn’t set up a commercial location years ago.

She’s the proud owner of Sew Crazy Services, located at 920 Sixth St. O’Neill has been in the industry for 15 years and realized it was time to branch out and expand her services.

“I’ve always loved the saying ‘do what you love and you’ll never have to work another day in your life.’ If you love what you do, then you don’t find yourself hating your job or life. Everyone wants to be happy and sewing makes me happy,” O’Neill said.

Sew Crazy Services opened at the beginning of August and provides the type of services you’d expect a seamstress shop would provide — everything from hemming and zipper replacement to repairs and alterations. They also specialize in military and police uniforms and heavy duty repairs on canvas, leather, tarps, etc.

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Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016

Colin Corneau
Sandra O’Neill has opened up Sew Crazy Services at 920 Sixth St. for custom tailoring and sewing work. (Colin Corneau/The Brandon Sun)

Elite Safety Services set for grand opening

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Elite Safety Services set for grand opening

None 5 minute read Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016

After months of planning, constructing, organizing, moving and settling in to their new facility, the owners and staff of Elite Safety Services Inc. are ready to show off their new digs. The grand opening of their 12,508-square-foot building will be held on Oct. 6 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Local owners Marc Watt and Darren Brick said even though they’ve grown substantially in the last five to eight years, they are still very much a family-run operation.

“We try to make our employees come first and we treat them like they are family because they are family. Our employees are our biggest and best assets, and I think that’s one of the main reasons why we’ve grown over the years. They are invested in the company and treat it like it’s their own. It’s a family-run business, and we’ve very much tried to keep it that way,” Brick said.

Elite Safety Services Inc. offers customized safety training programs and services including H2S Alive, first aid, WHMIS, confined space entry, tower climbing and rescue, fall protection and defensive driving. As former firefighters, Watt and Brick believed that some of the calls they were responding to possibly could have been prevented had more safety measures been taken. As such, they slowly developed their safety business, which started out of their homes in 2003.

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Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016

File
Elite Safety Services’ Darren Brick and Marc Watt stand outside their new training facility on 17th Street East earlier this year.

Sell Off Vacations travels across town

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Sell Off Vacations travels across town

Uncredited 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 24, 2016

Sell Off Vacations didn’t travel a far distance, but they did make a new home for themselves in Brandon. The company moved from their Eighth Street location (across from the Real Canadian Superstore) to 1300 18th St. in June.

Manager Jennifer Murray said the business has been growing, so they were looking for a bit more space.

“We’ve been in Brandon for 10 years and we knew there was an opportunity to grow the business even more. We now have a bigger office and the Sell Off branch in Brandon is actually a flagship store with the complete renovations that were done. It’s very exciting,” Murray said.

Although the company has had a retail location for a decade in Brandon, Murray said that many people only think of Sell Off Vacations as an online business, so the added visibility of being on one of the busiest streets in Brandon has made more of their customers aware of their local office.

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Saturday, Sep. 24, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Jennifer Murray of Sell Off Vacations at her office on 18th Street.

Retreat offers short-term stays with comforts of home

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Retreat offers short-term stays with comforts of home

Uncredited 4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 17, 2016

The Wheat City Retreat is a home away from home. It is also one of Brandon’s newest businesses that launched this past April.

This new venture is an executive condominium that is available for rent on a short-term basis with daily, weekly and monthly rates. Manager Michelle Budiwski said the property is perfectly suited to meet the needs of a variety of clients.

“It’s ideal for business people who are travelling to the city, user groups, community groups, people who are putting on workshops, or it can even be used for interim housing while families are waiting for a possession date on their new home,” said Budiwski.

The Wheat City Retreat is located at 456 McDiarmid Drive and is owned by John Ellis and Palla Gillis. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living area and is fully furnished.

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Saturday, Sep. 17, 2016

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun
Wheat City Retreat manager Michelle Budiwski sits in the spacious kitchen of the fully-furnished executive condominium on McDiarmid Drive. The condo is available for rent on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

New space for MCM Architects

None 4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 3, 2016

A building that Heritage Brandon has listed on the Significant Building List couldn’t have fallen into better hands.

MCM Architects purchased the building at 260 Eighth St. last fall.

According to the Heritage Brandon website, the Significant Buildings List exists to preserve buildings or sites in Brandon that are of interest due to their historical or architectural value.

Guy Hewlko, partner and certified engineering technologist with MCM Architects, said they had been in Lindenburg Seeds at 158 Eighth St. since 1983, but that the company has actually been part of downtown Brandon since 1958.

September 10, 2025

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